Everyday Peacemakers

‘Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God’.

This famous line comes from the 'beatitudes'  in Matthew 5.The beatitudes are like a highlight reel of Jesus teaching to the broader community.
What on earth was Jesus meaning here, and in one famously recorded part of Jesus life, one could be forgiven for mistaking Jesus as anything but a peace maker, more like a peace breaker.

Right after Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, he turns left and goes to the temple. Everyone expected the messiah to turn right and head to the Antonia Fortress and give the 500 plus Romans their marching orders.
He did not. He turned left and went to the temple, right to the court of the gentiles. Instead of being a place where the Gentiles could meet and pray to God, it had become a place of commerce where foreign currency could be exchanged for temple ‘pure coins’, where animals were being sold off at inflated prices so people could receive through prescribed ceremony the forgiveness of sins.

In Mark 11 the testimony here of Jesus actions tell us he didn’t permit people from crossing the temple with goods, he turned over money lenders tables and the stalls of people trading, and John tells us in chapter 2 that he even made a whip of chords with which to drive people and animals out. Jesus didn't just clear the temple, he effectively stopped the temple for a short time and in the eyes of the controlling Sadducees, Jesus stopped forgiveness.. well for a short time.

That doesn't sound a lot like peace making.

Well, perhaps not unless we understand properly what being peacemaker really entails.

Peace itself isn’t just the absence of conflict, it’s actually about having right relationships, justice and truth with reconciliation. Bringing this about is messy business.

Peace making is not passive. Peace making actively addresses the lack of peace in our world.
We can actively follow Jesus’ example not by overturning the local church notice board and calling everyone a heretic, (as tempting as that sounds) but by actively stepping into situations where there may be fractured relationships. Being the person who calls out wrong behavior to a friend, being someone who does not tolerate racial slurs in the office. Inviting those people to dinner who you do not know or feel drawn away from inviting, or by getting involved with some of the restorative justice programs offered by some churches.

Being a peace maker between folks means you step into the firing line. There is a fair chance if muds being slung, you will wear a fair share of it. But by bringing truth and justice into a situation, just like Jesus did, you stand to be called one of the ‘sons or daughters of God’.

In a culture where we are easily offended, opportunity abounds to be a peacemaker. To bring the prince of peace into every situation of life we may find our feet take us.
Today ask Jesus, where does He require you to be a peacemaker today? What around you requires the touch of Jesus. In a world that knows no real peace, but is so familiar with strife, anxiety, and worry, we could do with more peacemakers.
 
Dave Maharey