Matthew 5:10
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Has there ever been a time of greater need for peacemakers? In these days everything from politics to dietary preferences divides people. What will bring us back together?
Years ago now, I took a team to Thailand to help lead a conference for missionaries working in Northwest China. One of our responsibilities for that week was to provide programs for the children of those missionaries. All the children spoke good English, but their families came from different parts of the world. Most of them probably also spoke one of the minority languages of Xinjiang Province. It may or may not surprise you to learn that some of those missionary children reflected stress on their lives. And we had to deal with conflicts nearly every day.
One afternoon one of the boys who seemed to be in emotional high gear all the time, ran right in front of me, accidentally knocking a smaller child down, and hit another boy in the back of the head with his fist. The boy who was hit was not hurt severely, though he did put his hand on the back of his head and look around for who had smacked him.
We were in the process of taking the children into the next room for one of their twice-a-day VeggieTale treats. I caught the offender by the arm and detained him while the other workers directed the rest of the children to gather around the television set to watch the video.
“What did you do wrong?” I asked the boy.
On the verge of tears he screamed at me, “I want to go watch VeggieTales!”
“But what did you do wrong?” I asked the second time.
“But he said . . .”
I cut him off. “What did you do wrong?” He wouldn't answer. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. I held him as he struggled to go into the next room. We were near the open door and he could hear the introductory song of VeggieTales.
“I want to go see the movie.” He yelled again.
“You have to tell me what you did wrong.”
“But I want to go!”
“You evidently don't want to go badly enough to talk to me about what you did wrong.”
“But Joshua. . .”
I stopped him again. “I'm not talking to Joshua. I am asking you to tell me what you did wrong.”
He struggled with me for about 20 minutes before he began to calm down.
He finally admitted that he had hit the other boy in the back of the head because he was mad. He evidently didn't know he had knocked the small girl down as he charged across the room.
“What do you think you need to do about this?” I asked. He was at first willing to miss the rest of the VeggieTales video rather than apologize. But the video was still playing within earshot. His restrained tears finally began to run as he agreed to apologise to the other two children as soon as the video was over. I took him in to see the rest of the video. He scooted in among the other children seated on the floor around the TV. He was still obviously upset.
After he was settled in, the boy he was angry at touched his shoulder and motioned for him to sit by him. He scooted back to be next to the other boy who grinned at him. He didn't wait until the video was over to say he was sorry to the boy who reached out to him.
I did not tell you this story so you would identify the peacemaker here. But I do think it highlights some of the dynamics of peacemaking that Jesus gives us in Matthew 5:10.
First, peace comes from a peacemaker rather than a situation.
A peacemaker is always someone who is at peace with God. Note I did not say someone who has made peace with God. If you are at peace with God, God has made peace with you. But you must humble yourself to respond to His grace.
Those who have received God's peace have had their arrogance washed away at the cross of Jesus.
And finally, peacemakers reach out to others as God has reached out to us.
These are not necessarily a sequence of steps. The relationship, humility, and purpose of God's peace are fundamental our relationship with God. People will see and recognize a radical difference in God's peacemakers. And God Himself will not be ashamed to identify us as His own.
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