Peace-Makers Not Peace-Keepers: Micah 5:2-5a and Matthew 5:9
Most of us do not like
conflict. There are some who I believe thrive on conflict, but for the most
part, many of us will try to avoid conflict no matter what the cost. It doesn’t
matter if we see something that isn’t quite right, if we think it might cause
an argument or start some fighting, we choose silence and/or inaction, and we
will encourage those around us to keep that same silence and remain inactive. Anita will tell y’all that I tend to be one
of those folks that doesn’t like conflict and will try to avoid it if I
can. It happens from time to time, and
even happened within the last few weeks.
I can’t remember where we were or what the circumstances were, but Anita
brought up something that was going on, and felt like she might want to address
it because she thought that what was going on was wrong. Most of the time when this happens, Anita
will ask me if she should say something or just let it go and most of the time,
I will tell her that I think we
ought to just let it slide because saying something might start a major
argument. You know…I just want to be a
peace-keeper.
They are in the Western Sahara...the Central African
Republic…Mali…Haiti…Democratic Republic of the Congo…Dafur…Golan…Cyprus…Lebanon…Abbie…Kosovo…Liberia…South
Sudan…India…Pakistan…Cote d’Ivorie…and the Middle East.[i] They are United Nations
peacekeepers. What is their role? Their role is to “provide
security and the political peace-building support to help countries make the
difficult, early transition from conflict to peace.” They are guided by these
principles, “consent of the parties...impartiality…non-use of force except in
self-defense and defense of the mandate.”[ii] At times we’ve seen them
go in, seek to stop an uprising, and in some, but not all cases, simply
reestablish the status-quo without addressing the root causes of the uprising.
In both these situations—myself and others
remaining quiet or avoiding discussions and disagreements in an effort to keep
the peace and the UN forces re-establishing the status quo—the peace we achieve
is simply a false peace that is only temporary and hides what is always on the
verge of erupting into conflict. It
reminds me of the first hurricane that I experienced. It was Hurricane Fran. The storm began in the early hours of the
morning. When the sun broke the horizon
the clouds had parted. I decided to
drive around the community to survey the damage, as I hadn’t even been in my
first appointment a full year at that point, and had heard that part of the
roof of the church had been torn back. Not
too long after I arrived at the church, the misleading peace of the eye came to
an end as the storm resumed destructive efforts. Peace-keeping can cause us to feel like we
are in the eye of the storm, but the storm is still raging and soon the
temporary quiet will come to an end.
My colleague and covenant group member,
Pastor Jeanne Neal (whom some of you know), pointed out in a devotional last
month, the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus did not say as He taught on that
mountainside, “Blessed be the Peace-keepers.”
He did not say, “Blessed be the folks who avoid conflict at all
cost.” He did not say, “Blessed be the
folks who help maintain the status quo.”
Jesus said, “Blessed be the Peacemakers.”
What’s the difference? Aren’t they the same? No.
Peacekeepers avoid conflict, Peacemakers may bring about conflict. Peacekeepers may try to help return things to
the way they always have been, Peacemakers seek to find the root of the
conflict and attempt to fix it. Peacekeepers
may attempt to avoid the issue, Peacemakers may try and force the issue.
We can see the difference in Jesus’ day. Rome was all about Peacekeeping. There were Roman Peacekeepers everywhere. Their job was to make sure that, either by
their presence, or by the threat of force, that the status-quo was
maintained. Pilate was one of those peacekeepers. Pilate was charged with keeping the peace of
Rome within the area of Judea. It was to
Pilate that Jesus was brought by the Sanhedrin.
Pilate, who had to have heard about Jesus by that time, and knew that
Jesus had entered Jerusalem to a king’s parade.
He tried to stay out of it. He
tried to tell the religious leaders that it was their matter and to deal with
it themselves—He knew Jesus was no threat to Rome—but at the leaders kept
pushing, he decided to take Jesus from them and investigate the matter, rather
than let them start an uproar. Pilate
investigated and tried Jesus and found nothing to convict Him, he told that to
the leaders, and they accused Pilate of being a traitor to Rome. Pilate took Jesus and had him beaten half to
death—thinking maybe that would satisfy the religious leaders, yet wouldn’t
make Jesus a martyr that the people could rally around (knew what the Greeks
had to deal with when the Maccabeans revolted).
Yet, the when he presented Jesus to be possibly released as opposed to
the violent Barabbas, the Sanhedrin whipped the people into such a frenzy they
called for Jesus’ crucifixion. Afraid of
losing the peace of Rome in Jerusalem, Pilate became a peacemaker, and for the
sake of the status-quo, handed Jesus over to be put to death. Peacekeeping at its best, leading to the
death of the innocent.
Jesus, on the other hand, was all about being
a Peacemaker, and everywhere He went, conflict erupted.
But wait, some I am sure wants to ask, wasn’t
Jesus proclaimed to be the Prince of Peace?
Didn’t Micah promise that Jesus shall be the one of peace? Didn’t Jesus promise peace? Yes.
Yes. And Yes. Yet Jesus, as he
promised His peace, told those to whom He promised it that He did not give as
the world gave…suggesting that His peace was different that the definition of
an absence of conflict. Jesus made it
clear that His peacemaking had the potential to bring about conflict (“Do not
think I have come to bring peace to the earth,I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”[iii])
As Jesus sought to bring peace to the man
lowered through the roof by his friends, offering him forgiveness of his sins,
he brought about conflict from those who were more worried about the sins of
the sick than about caring for their needs.
When Jesus healed other members of the community on the Sabbath, seeking
to bring peace to their bodies, he brought about conflict with those who were
more concerned about religious rules than compassion. When Jesus ate with the tax collectors,
prostitutes, and other sinners, seeking to bring peace between them and God, he
brought about conflict with those who thought that righteous should only associate
with the righteous. When Jesus let his
disciples gather food on the Sabbath seeking to bring peace to the physical needs
of the disciples, he brought about conflict with those cared more about
“righteous” appearance than caring for the hungry. When Jesus brought peace to the man possessed
by demons, resulting in the demons being cast into the pigs who ran off the
cliff to their death, he brought about conflict with those in the town who were
more concerned about their financial bottom line, than their community members
sanity. We can be sure that if the
religious leaders found out about Jesus’ physical contact with the lepers and
other outcasts bringing peace to their bodies and their relationship with the
rest of they community, conflict would erupt over Jesus’ compassion versus
holiness laws. When Jesus sought to
bring peace to Mary and Martha by calling their brother Lazarus from the tomb,
we see that the conflict with the religious leaders led them to begin plotting
His death. Finally, as Jesus’ efforts to
bring peace between all of Creation and God brought His Peacemaking efforts in
direct conflict with Pilate’s Peacekeeping efforts, we end up with the cross
and the tomb for Jesus.
So, what does it mean for us in this season
of Advent—that the Prince of Peace whose birth we are preparing to celebrate
brought about conflict as He brought peace?
It means that we need to focus less on the absence of conflict and be
more about the peace that reduces or cancels out their struggles, knowing that
in doing so, we may be wielding the sword of the Spirit that brings about
conflict.
It means that when we hear of someone (or an
entire race of someones) being ridiculed or just made fun of because the color
of their skin is different or the fact that the don’t speak the same language
we speak, we step up to be Peacemakers and call on the hatred to stop—an act
that may bring us into conflict with those we have called friends.
It means that when we encounter those who are
hungry, thirsty, without clothes or shelter, that we seek to bring peace into
their lives by meeting their needs. In
doing so, we may find ourselves in conflict with those who want to continue
their pain by judging them on their past decisions.
It means when we learn of someone whose
lifestyle we don’t agree with being bullied, assaulted, or condemned, we seek
to make peace available to them by stepping in between them and those who are
attacking.
It means when refugees are seeking asylum
from the conflict and war ravaging their own country, that we seek to bring
them peace by providing them with a safe place to stay, knowing that decisions
will bring us into conflict with who are fearful of that those asylum seekers
may have ulterior motives.
It means, my brothers and sisters, that we,
as those who have been called to follow Jesus, that we are to follow Him…making
the easy uneasy, and bringing the uneasy peace—knowing that as Peacemakers, we
will bring conflict out and find ourselves amid the storms, and possibly
“crucified.”
Why would we do any of this? Why would we do anything that might bring
conflict into our lives? In order that
we may be found to be faithfully following Christ.
So, my friends, as we make our way through
this Advent season, preparing to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace and
anticipating His return that will bring about an age where there is no conflict,
let us find ourselves to be Peacemakers like our Savior, that we might, with
Him, be called children of God.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit let there be peace on earth, and let us be the peacemakers.
Amen.
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