Those disturbing the peace in Jesus’ time were the rulers. The rulers waged war on the people using capricious decisions, financial burdens, and punitive unto violent behaviors. Those restoring the peace included commoners like Jesus, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives peace do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be disturbed.” The rulers who disturbed the peace called their peace, Pax Romana, but it referred to constant military invasions and occupations. It was devised by Augustus Caesar who described Pax Romana as: “the situation that existed when all opponents had been beaten down and lost the ability to resist.”
Resistance is a very tempting reaction to Caesar’s very disturbing peace but resistance too is of Caesar. It is like a ship’s captain caught in a storm who drops anchor along a rocky coast to fight it. Putting our energy into that fight, against that force, in that setting will only keep us ensnared in Caesar’s disturbing peace. We will be endlessly battered, buffeted, and broken. We will be disturbed of heart, mind, and actions. It is not the mission of peacemakers to enlist recruits to fight storms. It is our mission to gather people into communities that peacefully calm them. Jesus did not resist Caesar types – he engaged with Caesar types. He did so calmly with empowered people and witnessed to his very different and genuinely peaceful way. As such Jesus was always disturbing Caesar’s peace. Jesus did this by not setting out to batter, buffet, and break opponents in return. He instead did his best to lift opponents up. It was the same lifting up he did with commoners by creating within and among them the powerfully peaceful Community of God. A peaceful community will always disturb Caesar’s very disturbing warfare.
One such Spirit filled commoner was Ammon Hennacy (1893-1970). Ammon described himself as a person who “does not depend upon bullets or ballots to achieve his ideal; he achieves his ideal daily by … facing a decadent, confused, and dying world” with Christian Anarchy (It means being Christ-like and to “volunteer for good”). Ammon’s witness took shape in Catholic Worker houses. He spent his life, labor, and resources in soup kitchens and homeless shelters. As he went about co-creating the peaceful Community of God he was disturbing the peace of Caesar. He was therefore periodically arrested. The arrests varied – for not paying federal income tax because it is used for war or for not cooperating with defense drills that taught people that to duck and cover was a survival technique in nuclear war. When Ammon was hauled before the rulers of his age, the usual charge set against him was disturbing the peace. His usual response was: “I’m not disturbing the peace. I’m disturbing the war.”
Prayer: “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you.” “Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world. Yours are the feet with which Christ is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which Christ is to bless all the people.” (Teresa of Avila)
Question: What can I do to share Christ’s peace and disturb Caesar’s?
May 1, 2016 Gospel John 14:23-39 Sixth Sunday of Easter