In today's Gospel, Jesus says: 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.' (Matthew 5:9) These are good words to ponder on Remembrance Sunday as we call to mind those who have died in wars in the past and those who are suffering and dying in wars today, and as we pray for the peace of the world.
These words of Jesus are one of a series of sayings, known as the Beatitudes, that define key characteristics of those who follow him, living in this world with their hearts set on God's ways. All these sayings have the same two-part structure. First: 'Blessed are ...': 'Blessed are the merciful ... the pure in heart ... the peacemakers ...' Then in the second part Jesus describes God's perspective on such people – what God will do for them, what God says about them: ' ... for they will receive mercy [from God] ... for they will see God ... for they will be called children of God.'
'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.' I'll come back later to the first part, 'Blessed are the peacemakers', and what that says about how we are called to live; I'll focus first on the second part: peacemakers 'will be called children of God.' The background idea here is that children reflect the character, the way of living, of their parents. But the point here is not how the character of human parents is reflected in their children but how the character and the activity of God are reflected in those who follow his ways. In a nutshell: God is a God of peace, so his children live in peace and make peace.
Peace is a defining attribute of God. God is the 'God of peace' (Romans 16:20; Philippians 4:9), not just giving peace but existing in peace. God is eternally the God of love and joy and peace, abundant life in loving harmony forever, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And God pours out on his creation the blessings of love and joy and peace.
So we start today with the God of peace. But God's creation, God's world as we know it, is not at peace. In ourselves, the human race, we see God's good creation gone far astray, losing touch with the love and joy and peace that God is eternally and that God wants to share with us. There is an almost unbearable tension in our faith: we are created by the God of peace to live at peace with God and one another, but we turn from God and lose God's peace; and what's true of us as individuals is true more widely of the human family, which is torn apart by conflict. Nevertheless, we still long for peace with God and one another, and our hearts are restless without it.
Today's first reading, from the prophet Micah, reflects this longing for the peace of God to transform this violent world. Micah hopes for a world reshaped by the God of peace, where 'swords are beaten into ploughshares' and 'spears into pruning hooks'; where weapons of war that kill and maim countless people are turned into tools for farmers – tools to bring in food for everyone; where all the resources that fuel war go instead into building peace and well-being, so that everyone may 'sit under their own vines and ... fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.'
Micah longs for the God of peace to draw the world into the ways of peace. Turning to the New Testament, as Christians we believe that the God of peace has come more fully into focus for us by stepping into the midst of this world in the person of Jesus Christ. We recognize Jesus as 'the prince of peace' described by the prophet Isaiah (9:6). St Paul writes that Jesus 'came and proclaimed peace' to all (Ephesians 2:17). We read many stories of Jesus bringing peace to all kinds of disturbed, frightened, un-peaceful people (for example, the series of stories told by Mark from 4:35 to 5:43). He weeps over Jerusalem because he knows it doesn't understand 'what makes for peace' (Luke 19:41-42). In Jesus the God of peace is present in this world, with tears in his eyes, because his peace is rejected. But the heart of the Gospel is that in Jesus God absorbs this rejection and turns it to the world's blessing, because it's above all in the weakness, suffering and death of Jesus that the God of peace acts in the power of love to reconcile the world to himself and to draw together in peace the divided peoples of the world: so Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, 'is our peace' (Ephesians 2:14-18; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
Jesus said: 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.' God is the God of peace, the peacemaking God, and we see fully what that means in Jesus. Jesus is the eternal Son of God, the perfect child of God, the prince of peace. In him the character and the action of God are seen perfectly. But Jesus is not a solitary maestro in isolated perfection; that would only depress us because of how infinitely unlike him we are. No. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, draws us into who he is and into what he does. He takes us by the hand and calls us his sisters and brothers (Hebrews 2:11), teaching us to call his Father 'our Father'; so by baptism and faith in Jesus, we are adopted as children of God. And God wants us, his beloved children, to be like him (Matthew 5:48), like Jesus: shaped by his peace, and becoming channels of his peace in the world.
What, then, will it look like for us to be peacemakers, following in the way of Jesus? That's a great question to ask on Remembrance Sunday, as we pray for the peace of the world. Soon I'll address that question at the level of ordinary people, like most of us, with little or no access to the kind of political, diplomatic, military, financial or other types of power which might directly influence and even solve situations of conflict in the world. But first let's recognise that some people do have that kind of power and influence, and particularly we should remember to pray for those who hold high political office. Our reading today from Paul's first letter to Timothy tells us to pray 'for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity...' (2:2) Politics is not everything – it cannot fix everything – but politics is important in the eyes of God, because wise, honest, compassionate politicians, along with others influential in public life, can be a great blessing to their people; and the opposite is of course also true. God cares about politics and public life, and so should we. So we pray that God will guide the rulers of the nations, of Switzerland and other nations to which we belong, and especially at this tumultuous time we pray for the rulers of the world's great powers, that they will seek not only the good of their own people but also the peace of the world and justice for all its peoples.
An important point in passing here. I've been speaking of the motivation and the obligation to seek peace that flow from our faith in Jesus Christ, but that is not to suggest at all that peace and peace-making are Christian monopolies. Christians are often very far from being peacemakers; and people of other faiths or none can be outstanding peacemakers. Think of the Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi, for example; he paid with his life for his commitment to peace, to reconciliation across political and religious boundaries. We as Christians are called by our Lord to seek peace and pray for it. Where God inspires courageous and effective peacemaking in others beyond our faith, we thank God for them and we pray for them.
But coming back to us ordinary folk, who have little power or influence, what does the peacemaking described by Jesus mean for us? As well as praying for peace and for the leaders of the nations, we can also use our rights as citizens to vote and sometimes also to campaign in favour of politicians and causes that we believe will best align with the purposes of the God who wants peace and justice for all people. Of course, we will not always agree on who are the politicians and causes deserving our support as Christians. But we must at least ask ourselves this question, because in carrying out our responsibilities as citizens, as in everything else in our lives, we should be motivated by the commandments to love God and all our neighbours (in this land and beyond), remembering that the peace and security we expect for ourselves and our children we should also expect – and demand – for all our neighbours in this world. So as Christians we should ask ourselves: to what forms of political commitment are we pointed by those two great commandments to love God and neighbour, and by the call of Jesus to be peacemakers?
But, again, politics is not everything, and it would be quite wrong in thinking about peacemaking to limit ourselves to political questions. For most of us, most of the time, the call of Jesus to be peacemakers challenges us most directly, and sometimes in the most difficult ways, in the daily realities of our relationships: with our spouses, our families, our friends, our colleagues at work, and also with our sisters and brothers in Christ in the church community. I expect most of us can think of relationships in which we are involved, or between other people close to us, which have been damaged by conflicts that have not been resolved and may have been causing pain for many years. In some cases, if we are honest, we know that we have contributed significantly to these problems. In other cases we may have been wronged and badly hurt. Or again we may be aware of conflicts between others, which we haven't caused, but which weigh on our hearts and minds. In all such situations, can we ask ourselves the question, and bring it before God in prayer: what does it mean for me that Jesus says: 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God'? How can I be a peacemaker?
Sometimes, to be peacemakers, we may need to apologize and ask for forgiveness; or we may feel we have to tell someone they have hurt us badly, which may be the right thing to do but also a very difficult prospect – perhaps requiring someone else's help to mediate; sometimes we may have to discern if we should try to mediate ourselves in a conflict between others. The prospect of trying to make peace can be frightening, embarrassing, confusing. We may leave these situations in the 'too difficult' tray for years on end. And even if we try, and pray for God's help, there's no guarantee we will succeed.
I think of one situation in which I largely failed in my attempt to be a channel of peaceful communication between two people close to me whose relationship had broken down terribly. It's a very uncomfortable place to be, standing between two people who are very angry with each other, and, to put it mildly, don't always appreciate your efforts. Could I have done better? God alone knows, though I suspect that mediation of this kind is not my forte. But some people do have the disposition, the gifts, and indeed the calling from God to play that kind of peacemaking role in a very specific, intentional way. I think gratefully of someone who did so very effectively in a situation of painful conflict (that was my fault) within a church community, between another church-member and me. She carefully prepared a meeting between the two of us that was very effective in helping us to be reconciled. It is a wonderful thing to be involved in that kind of experience of the making of peace. Churches sometimes badly need peacemaking of that kind among their own members if they are to be genuine Christian communities. What does it say, what does it look like, if Sunday by Sunday we pray for the peace of the world out there, but cannot live in the peace of Christ among ourselves, right here?
We are gathered here in church in the name of Jesus Christ. In him the God of peace has stepped into our world to proclaim peace to all. The world is not very good at hearing that message and receiving the gift of God's peace. Frankly, neither are we, much of the time. But our Lord Jesus continues to greet us with the words 'Peace be with you' and calls us to share that greeting with each other and live it out in our lives. So as God's beloved children, we pray that we may learn to live in peace with one another, to have the courage to make peace when that's necessary, and to pray and work for peace for all our neighbours in God's world.
In The Cost of Discipleship (Nachfolge), published in 1937 as Nazi power was growing and Europe was on the verge of war, Dietrich Bonhoeffer offers the following comments on Christ's words 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God':
'The followers of Jesus have been called to peace. When he called them, they found their peace, for he is their peace. But now they are told that they must not only have peace but make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult. In the cause of Christ nothing is to be gained by such methods. His kingdom is one of peace, and the mutual greeting of his flock is a greeting of peace. His disciples keep the peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. They maintain fellowship where others would break it off. They renounce all self-assertion, and quietly suffer in the face of hatred and wrong. In so doing, they overcome evil with good, and establish the peace of God in the midst of a world of war and hate. But nowhere will that peace be more manifest than where they meet the wicked in peace and are ready to suffer at their hands. The peacemakers will carry the cross with their Lord, for it was on the cross that peace was made. Now that they are partners in Christ's work of reconciliation, they are called the sons of God as he is the Son of God'. (p. 102)