What did Jesus mean when he said, “Blessed are the peacemakers?” He was the prince of peace who taught us to turn the other cheek and love our enemies.
… "Jesus taught us how to die, not how to kill."
One of the most challenging parts of the Book of Matthew for many Christians, which is one reason that they ignore it, is the desire to avoid violence, hatred, anger, and war.
Jesus did not just say that violence and war are wrong. Violence in our own lives, whether verbal or physical, is a devastating factor in our society today. Yet, that is what Jesus was preaching when he said “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemies.”
We must eliminate violence and war, according to Jesus. This is not easy, but it is at the root of our Christian heritage, though even Paul the follower of Christ questioned it.
The promise of peace
That is anathema to many Christians and particularly many Catholics. However, a group called Pax Christi emerged years ago in an attempt to call attention to Jesus’ quest for a peaceful world.
In “The Peace Pulpit,” Bishop Thomas Gumbleton wrote about this,
Some time ago, the peace movement in the Catholic Church called Pax Christi developed a promise for people to make that would bring about a conversion from our culture of violence to a culture of peace, that each one of us could participate in, could help bring about. They put it into the form of a promise that we can make in our spiritual lives as a way of following Jesus.
Thomas Gumbleton, “Promise to be peacemakers,” “The Peace Pulpit,”
National Catholic Reporter, February 28, 2019
Pax Christi Promise
The promise that Bishop Gumbleton talks about is presented here in full,
RECOGNIZING THE VIOLENCE IN MY OWN HEART, yet trusting in the goodness and mercy of God, I vow for one year to practice the nonviolence of Jesus who taught us in the Sermon on the Mount:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God…You have learned how it was said, ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy’; but I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. In this way, you will be daughters and sons of your Creator in heaven.”
I vow to carry out in my life the love and example of Jesus:
- by striving for peace within myself and seeking to be a peacemaker in my daily life;
- by refusing to retaliate in the face of provocation and violence; by persevering in nonviolence of tongue and heart;
- by living conscientiously and simply so that I do not deprive others of the means to live;
- by actively resisting evil and working nonviolently to abolish war and the causes of war from my own heart and from the face of the earth.
God, I trust in Your sustaining love and believe that just as You gave me the grace and desire to offer this, so You will also bestow abundant grace to fulfill it.
Eileen Egan and Rev. John Dear, S.J.“Vow of nonviolence,” Pax Christi USA, 2020
All of us can be peacemakers
The most obvious impediment to peace is war. However, it goes beyond that. Violence of any sort is wrong, and those who fight to stop violence are indeed peacemakers.
According to theologian Rev. John McKenzie,
"If Jesus did not reject violence for any reason whatsoever, we know nothing about Jesus. Jesus taught us how to die, not how to kill."
Thomas Gumbleton, National Catholic Reporter, February 28, 2019
Archbishop Óscar Romero personified the words of Jesus
Last year, an El Salvador archbishop who was killed because he tried to end violence in his country was made a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
What was amazing is how he acted despite knowing that he would likely be killed because of his quest for peace,
A few months ago in October, Pope Francis canonized a modern-day saint, Archbishop Óscar Romero from El Salvador. You may remember the archbishop. He spoke out very boldly and clearly against the injustice and the violence in his country. He was hated by those who wanted to perpetrate violence, by those — the military and the rich who looked down on the poor. He was hated because he was working for justice, rejecting violence, and rejecting war.
As you may remember, he was shot in that tiny chapel where he used to say Mass every day near a hospital where he lived. Standing at the altar as he was about to offer the gifts, an assailant opened the back door of the church, took aim and shot. The archbishop fell to the floor and died in a matter of minutes. But just two weeks before that happened, he had been interviewed. The reporter asked him about all the threats against his life. "Shouldn't you leave your country? Or at least shouldn't you at least be silent?"
The archbishop told the reporter, "I have been threatened with violence many, many times. But I do not believe in death without resurrection, and even if they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadoran people." That did happen. He's remembered everywhere in El Salvador. But then he went on to say, "As a shepherd, I am obliged by divine mandate to give my life for my people." That's what he accepted when he became the bishop, the shepherd, so he's willing to be killed if it takes that.
Finally he told the reporter, "In fact, you may tell them if they do kill me, even now I forgive and bless those who do it." So when that door opened and the gun was raised less than 100 feet away, he knew what would happen. When he looked at that person who had the gun, it wasn't a look of hatred or fear; it was a look of love, forgiveness. Now that's extraordinary and it isn't going to happen that way for us, but certainly that's a model, even as Jesus is our model on the cross, "Father forgive them, forgive those putting me to death."
That's the kind of love Jesus taught. That's the kind of love Jesus exhibited in every part of his life. That's the kind of love that we're called to strive for. So today as we hear this Gospel, perhaps we can pray and ask God to let the Word of God penetrate our minds, our hearts, our spirit so that gradually, we are converted and that we accept the challenge of the Gospel:
"Don't just love those who love you, love your enemies. Do good to those who hurt you." In every part of our life, every minute of every day, we must try to live this message of Jesus to bring peace into our families, our communities, and into our world.
Thomas Gumbleton, National Catholic Reporter, February 28, 2019
Peace in our hearts and in our lives
The reality is that we should seek peace too, but perhaps not world peace as much as it is peace in our lives, in our hearts.
A woman in Arkansas explained that to her biblical followers,
Perhaps it is easier to identify “not peace” than to nail down the meaning of “peace.” War is not peace; anxiety is not peace; holding grudges is not peace. The list could go on and on. We feel it in our guts when we are not at peace, not at one with the world around us and within us, and not at one with our God. There is a sense of fear or “dis-ease” or even loss. Still, we have not identified peace.
In Hebrew, the original language of most of the Old Testament, the word translated as peace is “shalom.” Along with justice and truth, shalom is to be a hallmark of God’s people. In these virtues, we find a reflection of the very nature of God. Shalom is well-being, tranquility, at-oneness or wholeness.
The prophet Isaiah (9:5-6) spoke of a time when the “Prince of Peace” would rule over a vast and forever peaceful domain. As with much in our biblical tradition, this is a now-and-not-yet reality.
As Christians we believe the Prince of Peace was born in a manger, walked the roads and trails of Israel inviting listeners into this peaceable and just kingdom, then was put to death and rose from death to seal this promise.
And yet we live in a world that has, for centuries, valued external displays of power, crippling one’s enemies and brandishing weapons meant to cause destruction. Where is this peace that was promised? This unity with God and others that gives witness to the power of God’s kingdom?
The words of Jesus, proclaimed in Matthew’s Gospel, shockingly tell us that this peace is still among us, this peace is within us, and this peace is what the world still needs. Blessed are the peacemakers! We are to be that peace of God in the world.
Cackie Upchurch, “Blessed are the peacemakers,”
Little Rock Scripture Study, September 15, 2017
We can bring that peace into our own lives in so many ways. Simply by loving others, by giving what we have to give to others emotionally and spiritually, and by avoiding the violence that Jesus preached against.
Conclusion
One of the amusing pieces that I read in preparing for this week was a person who wrote that “Jesus Christ said ‘peacemakers’ to show that he was not a pacifist, but was a warrior’.”
I read no further. Jesus was not a warrior, he was one who exemplified and preached about how we must have peace in our lives. We can do that in so many ways, and by reading more about this topic, you and I can also become a better “peacemaker.”
Links
Comments
Post a Comment