Righteousness and Peace Have Kissed

Proper 10B; Ps 85:8-13; Mark 6:14-29 St. Paul’s Smithfield, NC 7/15/2018

Jim Melnyk: “Righteousness and Peace Have Kissed”

Every now and then the psalm for the day offers a particular verse that captures my imagination.  Psalm 85 is one of those.  About halfway through the poetic hymn the Psalmist declares, “Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other,” (85:10) and I find myself wondering, what exactly does something like that look like?  What does it look like for mercy and truth to meet – or for righteousness and peace to kiss?  Metaphors can certainly be amazing!  I thought about famous kisses like Romeo and Juliet or Scarlet and Rhett, and infamous kisses like Michael Corleone and Fredo or Judas and Jesus, but none of those seemed to fit.  Then an old TV episode came to mind.

Fifty years ago this coming November TV audiences across the nation, especially in the Deep South, were stunned by what many refer to as TV’s first ever interracial kiss.  On November 22, 1968, in a Star Trek episode called “Plato’s Stepchildren,” Captain James T. Kirk of the Star Ship Enterprise kissed his Communications Officer Lieutenant Uhura while NBC executives – who at one point wanted an edited scene for southern TV stations to air – watched, and waited, and held their breath.  And although it wasn’t actually the first interracial kiss on TV, and the script had the characters coerced into the act, it was a powerful moment, and its legacy lives on in the minds of many.  At 13 years of age I don’t recall giving it a second thought until I heard some adults complaining about it over the next few days.

Those of us who lived through the mid-to-late 1960s will probably never forget our nation’s unrest at that time – and for some it was much more horrific than for others.  We lived through Vietnam and the many protests against our nation’s involvement.  We also lived through the height of the Civil Rights Movement as a significant portion of our fellow citizens protested, marched, and fought for equal rights for all people, while others tried to shut them down or drown them out.  Scenes of water cannons turned on protesters, snarling police dogs, and flag-draped coffins were common place on the evening news.  In 1968 we witnessed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the riots that followed across the nation as sorrow, fear, and anger exploded and cities burned in the night.

And into the midst of all that tension and terror two actors on NBC kissed.  It wasn’t part of a long-winded manifesto.  It wasn’t part of a sit-in, a march, or a pitched battle.  It was simply two actors, whose skin color happened to be different from each other’s, kissing.  The Psalmist proclaims, “Mercy and truth – or steadfast love and faithfulness – have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” and perhaps that’s an apt metaphor for what took place in an NBC TV studio set those fifty years ago. 

In the midst of a nation fraught with anger, fear, and conflict, actors Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner kissed and perhaps a nation was able to catch a brief glimpse of new possibilities yet to come – a prophetic statement about our need as human beings to see beyond the colors of our many diverse skin tones.  And because we all know too well what often befalls prophets, NBC held its collective breath once they finally decided to let the episode air as written.

On the surface Psalm 85, which we just recited this morning, has nothing to do with modern day science fiction.  Yet one of the core structures of science fiction is how it can speak a challenging word to society through the use of a neutral setting – a different world – or even a different race of beings.  Science fiction utilizes metaphor to capture our imaginations and allow us to think about our present reality in possibly less threatening ways.  The writers for Star Trek were able to pull that off on a regular basis.

The metaphorical language in the psalm about mercy and truth meeting and righteousness and peace kissing speaks to the human longing for connection – for relationship – and to God’s desires for humanity to come together at a challenging time in Israel’s life.  The psalm was most likely written shortly after the end of Judah’s exile in Babylon.  God’s people have come home to find Jerusalem devastated and the temple in ruins.  The memories of Babylon and the sense of guilt over what brought about the exile are still fresh in their minds.

Those returning from exile have been charged by God to rebuild the city walls and the temple – something King Cyrus of Persia is willing to let happen as long as Jerusalem acknowledges itself as a vassal state and continues to send its tributes east.  The Psalmist recognizes that Jerusalem is still in a fragile place, but is encouraged by God’s presence in the most unlikely of relationships – the faithful of Judah tied to Cyrus, a Persian messiah and a Gentile, who has heard and responded to the God of Israel.  Israel and Persia – as unlikely a couple as Kirk and Uhura – as unlikely a relationship as the covenant between God and humanity.

The Psalmist declares the unthinkable is possible – not because of humanity’s great track record – not because Israel’s leaders had suddenly grown a social conscience toward the poor and the needy – not because Israel had become a beacon of faithfulness overnight – but because of who God is and how God chooses to be made known in their lives.  When we see words like “mercy,” “truth,” “righteousness,” and “peace,” or as other translations offer: “steadfast love,” “faithfulness,” “justice,” and “well-being,” we are being offered a glimpse into the divine attributes of God.

These words are divine watch-words of God’s character and activity in the world – and they are words of invitation for humanity to respond in kind to one another and to God.  They are prophetic words when spoken in places that hold little understanding of the divine character – and even smaller understandings of what it means for human beings to live together in the love of God.  “Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace – or justice and well-being – have kissed each other.”

Throughout the life of this world the Divine One has sought to sweep us up in the arms of God’s saving embrace.  Amos comes on the scene before the fall of the Northern Kingdom – before the Psalmist’s words about righteousness and peace kissing one another.  Amos tells the people that God has shown him a plumb line set in the midst of Israel – and has found their foundation out of line.  The leaders have turned on the people, disenfranchising the poor and the powerless.  Those in power seek to shut Amos down.  He speaks the Word of God and in response he is told to shut up and go back home to take care of his herds and his trees.  Mercy and truth, it seems, are strangers to each other.  Justice and well-being aren’t even on speaking terms.  And the Northern Kingdom falls to Assyria.

Centuries later John the Baptizer comes on the scene and the only kissing going on there seems to be between Herod and his wife – whom he stole from his brother Philip.  John the Baptizer, like Amos before him, speaks the word of God to power – and instead of being sent home to tend sheep he finds himself thrown in prison by the very powers he is challenging.  Mercy and truth are once again strangers to each other.  Justice and well-being are not even on speaking terms.  Herod boxes himself into a corner over John.  Make no mistake about it – just like Pilate and Jesus, Herod has complete control over his actions.  We can’t blame John’s death on his wife’s lust for revenge or his step-daughter’s childish dancing.  Herod’s rule is absolute – it is Herod who pulls the trigger the moment he sentences the prophet of God to his death.  There is no mercy – there is no truth – there is no righteousness – there is no peace – in the court of Herod.

Into all the wild machinations of history steps Jesus.  He is not the first to proclaim Good News to God’s people, nor is he the last.  But like an unexpected kiss that can capture our imaginations and shake us from the complacency of what has always been, Jesus incarnates the divine character of God in one solitary human life, and invites us into the fullness of the divine/human encounter.  Jesus invites us to see the divine character – the divine image of God in one another – in family and friends – in companions along the way and in strangers met on the way – and even as Jesus reminds us, in our enemies – the divine image in each of us meeting one another and joining hands with one another.  

In Jesus, as in the prophets of old and in women and men of faith throughout the ages, the steadfast love and faithfulness of God meet – and in that meeting the whole of creation, in all its diversity, is joined together.  Mercy and truth meet.  Justice and well-being kiss.  And we all find ourselves invited to revel in the joy of being God’s own beloved.