Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Title: "Peace Be With You"

Text: John 20:19-31

The movie – titled "The Day the Earth Stood Still" – told of the arrival of an elegantly costumed extraterrestrial named Klaatu (portrayed by the elegant Englishman Michael Rennie) who lands his flying saucer on the Mall in Washington, D.C. He emerges with his implacable robot companion Gort to announce that the governments on Earth must lay down their nuclear weapons and begin to follow a path toward peace. The American President and other world leaders scoffed at Klaatu’s proclamation.

Determined to find out more about this strange world, Klaatu takes on the form of a man, assumes the name Carpenter, and goes out among the people, eventually encountering a young boy named Billy who takes him home to his mother’s house, which just happens to have a room for rent. Mr. Carpenter asks young Billy (played by Billy Gray) who is the smartest man in the world – and is told that it must be Prof. Barnhardt, an Albert Einstein type character played by the venerable Sam Jaffe.

Klaatu/Carpenter goes to Barnhardt’s home but finds that the Professor is out for the afternoon. As a calling card, he goes to a wall-sized blackboard and, much to the horror of the housekeeper, corrects the equations on the board, thus solving in a few seconds a problem related to the space-time continuum that had been stumping the professor for many years. This little miracle serves to convince Barnhardt to assemble all the great scientists of the world to meet Klaatu at the flying saucer on the Washington Mall.

As further proof of his powers, Klaatu stops the earth’s electrical power at noon the next day – thus the title of the movie. Conveniently alone with Carpenter in an elevator during the power outage, Billy’s widowed mother Helen Benson (played by Patricia Neal) is told his real identity and his purpose for coming to the earth. She agrees to help him, but fails to consider the greed of her fiancé (portrayed by Hugh Marlowe), who eventually betrays Klaatu to the military authorities in return for a substantial reward. Before being pursued, shot, and killed, Klaatu sends Helen Benson to the flying saucer where the great robot Gort is standing, having been immobilized by the American military within a block of plastic. In fear and trepidation, the widow Benson utters one of the most mis-quoted lines in movie history, "Klaatu barada nikto." Upon hearing this command, Gort used his laser-like eyes to melt his plastic prison, stun the guards, and then set off to retrieve Klaatu’s lifeless form. Later, back in the flying saucer, Klaatu is brought back to life, at least temporarily.

Donning his spacesuit, and accompanied by Gort and Benson, Klaatu emerges from the flying saucer to meet the world’s scientists, who had been assembling outside, unaware of his death, rescue, and resurrection. In an impassioned proclamation, delivered with his impeccable English accent, Klaatu declared:

I am leaving soon, and you will forgive me if I speak bluntly. The universe grows smaller every day, and the threat of aggression by any group, anywhere, can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all, or no one is secure. . . . Your choice is simple ... join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer ... the decision rests with you.

Then the flying saucer ascended into the heavens and the assembly of scientists – and the theater audience – is left to ponder the future.

As I am sure you noticed, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" offers some all-too-obvious parallels to the story of Jesus, even down to the name "Carpenter" that Klaatu adopted while on earth. Like Jesus, he came from beyond this world to deliver a message about the importance of peace during a time of global strife (in 1951, the U.S. was involved in the Korean War and the so-called Cold War with the USSR). Near the beginning of the movie, when Klaatu tried to demonstrate a device for universal healing, he was shot in the hand by a soldier. As a result the device fell to the ground, broken and useless. Already, the audience can sense the fear that humans have in the face of unfamiliar and extraordinary power. Eventually, a greedy and self-interested man turned him over to the authorities. He suffered death, only to be revived in a miraculous fashion. Finally, he appeared to the assembly, charged them to bring peace to the world, and then ascended to the heavens.

Whatever we may think about the parallel between this science fiction movie from 1951 and this morning’s gospel text from John 20:19-31, we hardly can miss the focus of both sources on the relationship between power and peace. When Klaatu caused the earth’s electrical system to stop (except, of course, in places like hospitals and planes in the air), he demonstrated his power to be far greater than that of humankind. When he died and was resurrected – at least temporarily – his power surpassed human understanding. But, in the end, Klaatu departed the earth and has not yet come again. Perhaps some enterprising producer will make a sequel titled "The Day the Earth Stood Still Again." It seems just as timely as it was during the Cold War of the early 1950s.

Today, some fifty-five years after the release of "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and nearly two thousand years after Jesus suffered the consequences for advocating peace and healing, we human beings are still not at peace with one another. Far from it! Indeed, among all the nations of the earth, our own nation has been especially active in not being at peace with other nations. Since 1951, we have sent military forces into more than forty nations – in Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East – yet the world hardly seems to be a more peaceable kingdom for all the best intentions of our leaders – from Truman to the current Bush.

So, more than ever, we need to hear a proclamation of peace over power. This is the underlying message of our gospel lesson in John 20. Just imagine that you were Jesus, returned to life after death on a cross and three days in a tomb. Emerging from death, you go to visit a group of those who had listened to your message and had followed you as disciples. When you appear to them, what would you say? What would be your first words? Would it be, "I’m back" or "Surprise!" or even "Did you miss me?" My guess is that you would not say, "Peace be with you." And, yet, this is precisely what Jesus said to the disciples in the house on that Sunday evening after his resurrection.

When Jesus appeared for the first time among his disciples after his appearance to Mary Magdalene outside the tomb, Jesus first words to the disciples were "Peace be with you" – and nothing else. Then, again Jesus said to them, "Peace be with you," – this time adding the phrase "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And then Jesus breathed on them to infuse them with the Holy Spirit and he charged them to deal with the sins of those around them. Thus ends John’s account of that first Sunday evening.

A week later, Jesus appeared again, this time in the presence of his disciple Thomas (who was called the Twin), who had been absent a week earlier. Again, Jesus stood among the disciples and said to them, "Peace be with you." And then he had his exchange with Thomas, ending with the famous beatitude, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

Three times Jesus said to his disciples, "Peace be with you." Is this to be understood simply as a salutation or as something more? One clue comes from the only two other places in John’s gospel where Jesus spoke about peace. First, in John 14:27, he said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. And then again in John 16:33, he declared, "I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace."

Clearly, Jesus had something special in mind when he speaks of "peace." You and I would not be so bold as to say to our friends, "my peace I give to you" much less "in me you may have peace." Jesus, however, left his disciples with a mission, and this mission was to seek peace for their community and the world. As Gail R. O’Day has written in her commentary on John’s Gospel (The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. IX, p. 783),

The disciples’ place in the world and the world’s power over them is transformed because of Jesus. . . . Jesus’ peace is the definitive eschatological gift, because it marks the ultimate defeat of the powers of the world that stand in opposition to God. Jesus’ words of hope and reassurance . . . thus are not idle words of hope, but are grounded in the reality of the guaranteed victory of God’s love in Jesus.

And so it is with us, here and now. Some of us might yearn for a Klaatu to come from outer space and set us on the path to world peace, especially since we are unable to find the path on our own human terms. As individuals and as a nation, we continue to ignore the path that has been available to us for nearly two thousand years – the path laid out by Jesus.

Witnessing to peace, we recognize that we need God’s intervention to overcome our own sins. Engaging in ministries of peace in our own communities, we make a difference in our neighbors’ lives. Serving as ambassadors for peace throughout the world, we become Jesus’ disciples. And as his disciples, each day we recall his undying proclamation, "Peace be with you."

Amen.

© 2006 Van Kemper (e-mail: rkemper@trinitypresdallas.org)