“Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of
God.”-Matthew 5:9 (KJV)
“Shalom”
is a Hebrew greeting that has several meanings, the most
important of which is to wish personal well-being, prosperity, bodily
health and peace to the one greeted. Jesus taught us in the
beatitudes that peacemakers are blessed and are called the children
of God, for God is the Master Peacemaker. Peacemaking was
exemplified in the life and ministry of Jesus. Where hatred and
strife existed, He taught us how to seek and pursue the ways of
peace. A peacemaker is not static, hoping that peace will come if a
situation is left alone to work itself out. Instead, a peacemaker
actively works to bring about reconciliation where enmity and hatred
exist.
Those
who work for peace are sharing in Christ’s ministry of
reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 teaches us that being a
peacemaker is part of our Christian way of life: “All this is
from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation: that is, in Christ God was reconciling
the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them and
entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
Paul’s
teachings on Jesus and the Christian as peacemaker are further
clarified in Ephesians 2:14: “For He Himself is our peace, who
has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing
wall of hostility.” In Colossians 1:19-20 the importance of
peace and how it is generated is expressed thusly: “For in Him
(Jesus) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him
to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven,
making peace by the blood of His cross.”
Saint
Francis of Assissi lived and worked in the 13th century.
A study of his life shows that he was a noted peacemaker. He left
behind an often-quoted prayer that has been set to music. The words
of his prayer bear out the truth of the seventh Beatitude:
“Lord,
make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where
there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where
there is injury, pardon;
Where
there is doubt, faith;
Where
there is despair, hope;
Where
there is darkness, light;
Where
there is sadness, joy.
O
Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
Seek
to be consoled as to console;
To
be understood as to understand;
To
be loved as to love.
For
it is in giving that we receive;
It
is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Amen.
–
Ethelene
Dyer Jones 02.22.2015
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