Twenty Pieces of Silver

 Twenty Pieces of Silver

Friday of the Second Week of Lent

Then they sat down to eat. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, balm, and resin to be taken down to Egypt.  Judah said to his brothers: “What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood? Come, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. Midianite traders passed by, and they pulled Joseph up out of the cistern. They sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver^* to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. Genesis 37:25-28

“Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.' They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?"  Matthew 21:37-40

Piety

I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield, down by the riverside
Down by the riverside, down by the riverside
I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside
I'm gonna study war no more

Louis Armstrong – Down by the Riverside

Study

Too many years ago, I was sitting in a seminar after work somewhere in Dupont Circle area.  This would have been pre-9/11 days in Washington.  Colman McCarthy, the former Washington Post columnist, author, and the founder of The Center for Teaching Peace, was giving a lecture about peacemaking and violence – a topic which seems to be in the news almost as often as it is in Sacred Scriptures.

McCarthy, in his best Socratic method, asked those in the room a question but prefaced it with a scenario.  Imagine, (and I paraphrase) that you are walking down an unfamiliar street at night and a large man is walking toward you.  He asked, how many people would cross the street in fear?  The class vote was near unanimous.

Next, he probed further, “How many of you have been a victim – or know personally someone who has been a victim of violence inflicted by a stranger?” About three hands went up (out of 50 adults in the seminar). 

Finally, he asked, how many of you have been a victim – or know personally someone who has been a victim of violence inflicted by a family member or “friend?”  The vote was again near unanimous.

Today in our readings, Joseph and the vineyard owner’s son experienced exactly the point that Colman McCarthy was trying to make. It is not always the stranger we should fear.  Sometimes it is the friend or family member.  That may be a hidden point in Parkland’s Stoneman Douglas High School Valentine’s Day Massacre.  Those seventeen dead students and teachers were not mowed down by some stranger in a dark alley.  They were killed by a classmate whom many likely recognized as he pulled the trigger.

Action

Our children go to conventional schools, said McCarthy, “where we teach everything but (nonviolence). We graduate high school peace illiterates.” 

“We don’t teach our children the way to be peaceful,” McCarthy said. “And if we don’t teach them peace, someone else will teach them violence.”

While the perception of peacekeepers generally evokes ideas of military and war, or civil rights movements, McCarthy says it is also important to stop the wars at home.

Domestic violence, emotional violence, political violence, sexual violence, and even verbal violence are problems in every community — even those as small and seemingly peaceful as Fairfax, VA; Muncie, IN; Staten Island, NY; New Monmouth, NJ; Belmont, NC; and Sugar Land, TX. 

Maybe the debate is on all the wrong terms.  Maybe it is not solely about banning assault weapons…or bump stocks…or high capacity magazines…or better background checks.  Maybe it is not about arming teachers or locking school doors, or adding x-ray screening for visitors, or placing more armed guards in schools.  

Maybe it is about teaching peace instead of war.

Maybe we should not only debate the efficacy of removing the statues of Confederate generals but maybe we should consider removing the statues of all generals and replace them with teachers, or flower gardens, or Peace Poles.

How can you teach peace during this Lenten season? Teach Peace…and pursue it.