Beatitude: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
In my office, I have a framed image of military fighter jets. Overlaid on the image is a quote by
Menno Simons that says, “Christ is our fortress; patience our weapon of defense; the word of
God our sword, and our victory is a courageous, firm, unfeigned faith in Christ. Iron and metal
spears and swords we leave to those who, alas, regard human blood and swine’s blood as well neigh equal value.”
It’s a provocative quote, especially when it overlays fighter jets. Menno certainly had a way
with words. His quote combines healthy doses of both conviction and snark. His snark makes
me grin. His conviction unsettles me.
The image and the quote make us consider what it means to be peacemakers. One of the
Mennonite/Anabaptist distinctives is that we are a “peace church” that believes in “peace” and
hold to a “peace position.” Classically, for Menno and the other early Anabaptists, this meant
the rejection of the sword; in other words, nonviolence and pacifism. Certainly a complex topic
in a messy, sin-sick world.
Our passage today from Matthew 5:38-45 comes just a few verses after the beatitudes. It
contains the last two of Jesus’ “you have heard…” sayings. It’s a familiar passage to me, and
perhaps to many of you. Yet as I read these words from Jesus, it strikes me again just how hard
it is to love my enemies.
It’s easier to love those my nation calls enemies and to be a peacemaker when it has to do with
nameless, faceless people far away. I can step back and dispassionately analyze the impact of
this or that policy and theorize about what would work better. Yet it’s much harder to love that
up-close and personal enemy.
It’s humiliating to be slapped, physically, verbally, or emotionally. It’s infuriating to have things
taken from you. It’s unfair when someone makes you do something you don’t want to do.
What’s worse is when these things are done by people who have more power than you, so you
feel stuck. All the examples Jesus gives are things that the Roman occupiers would do toward
the Jewish people to exert their dominance over them. What does it mean to love that kind of
enemy? What does it mean to be a peacemaker in that kind of situation?
Or what about that uncle who always posts “alternative facts”?
What about that cousin who is a social justice warrior?
What about that co-worker you are constantly butting heads with?
What about that Republican, or that Democrat, or that Candidate?
What about your rival?
What about that preacher who you don’t agree with?
What about that biased author or news outlet?
How do we love them? How do we make peace with them?
This is the real stuff of flesh-and-blood life. Jesus doesn’t always make it easy for us.
Sometimes following Jesus puts questions and struggles right in front of us that we can’t
escape, except to face them head-on and go right to the very heart of it all, just like Jesus did on
the cross. The question of the cross loomed before him, and he did not escape it. The question
of the cross looms before us too.
Part of faith means that we live in those questions. The Jewish concept of faith means to
struggle. Remember Jacob wrestling with God? These are the questions and the challenges of
discipleship that we must consider when we read Jesus’ words about blessed are the
peacemakers and loving your enemies.
It doesn’t mean that a person must stay in an abusive relationship. It doesn’t mean that a
person can’t move on from a toxic environment. It doesn’t mean we do nothing in the face of
injustice. But it does mean that when we act we do so oriented toward a higher love. It does
mean that we consider follow-up questions such as:
- Who, according to Jesus, is it ok to hate?
- To whom, according to Jesus, is it ok to do violence?
- Who, according to Jesus, is it ok to belittle?
- Who, according to Jesus, should we not try to make peace with?
It strikes me that on this topic the world is simpler. It is simple to label people as friends or
enemies and then to love my friends and hate my enemies. We have all heard the world say
that we should hate our enemies. We have all heard our fallen nature say that we should hate
our enemies, that we should not make peace with “those people,” and that we would be
justified not to. If we go by what the world says, we have no reason to love our enemies.
But Jesus says something different. He says to us, “Love your Enemies.” And he says to us,
“Blessed are the peacemakers.”
At the very least, we must not dismiss these words of Jesus. We must not say they aren’t
practical or they aren’t possible. We must not explain them away. Jesus meant what he said,
and he said it to us. Are we listening? Are we wrestling with the challenge of Jesus’ call?
As the saying goes, the way of Jesus Christ has not been tried and found wanting, it has been
found hard and never tried.
Following Jesus won’t always be easy. It won’t always “work” the way we want it to. Yet Jesus
doesn’t call us to be successful. He calls us to be faithful; faithful children of God.
The righteousness of the Kingdom is unlike anything else on earth for Jesus’ kingdom is not of
this world. Yet we do have hope that another kind of life is possible and that another kind of
already at work in the world like mustard seeds. Jesus is alive. He lives and moves, and works
among us. He gives us signs that his kingdom is coming and is here now.
Wherever there is peace, where there was once conflict, that is a sign of the kingdom.
Wherever there is reconciliation, where once two groups were estranged, that is a sign of the
kingdom. Whenever someone lays down his or her weapons, that is a sign of the kingdom.
Wherever people resist the urge for vengeance and instead chooses to pray for and bless their
enemy, that is a sign of the kingdom.
The good news is that Jesus came to show us another kingdom, and we can all be a part of it.
Each of us can choose peace over vengeance, love over festering hate.
Jesus has shown us the narrow way that leads to everlasting life. So as we face the days ahead,
the ongoing COVID-Pandemic, the coming elections, the coming work week, and the coming
Holiday dinners, let us do it all with the words of Jesus written on our hearts.
AMEN.
Joel Shenk is the pastor of Toledo Mennonite Church and lives in Toledo with his wife and two daughters. Originally from Scottdale, PA, Joel studied at Hesston College, Eastern Mennonite University, and Fuller Theological Seminary. He has been pastoring since 2010 and is also an amateur blacksmith apart of the RAW Tools disarming network turning guns into garden tools. He likes baseball and is an avid fly angler.
What does it mean to be a gathering space for thoughtful and creative reflections on the history, theology, and modern practices of the Church of the Brethren and related movements? Brethren Life & Thought has a long history of working to be such a space. We’re excited to bring our content online through DEVOTION: A Blog by Brethren Life & Thought. Here, you’ll find sermons and other writings from Brethren, Mennonite, and Quaker writers from a variety of theological and social contexts. Some weeks, you might read a piece that resonates with you. Some weeks, you might read a piece that challenges you. Some weeks, you might read a piece you think is heretical. For good or for ill, the Anabaptist and Peace Church movements are remarkably diverse in faith and practice. This blog attempts to expose our readers to the vastness of that diversity – even when it makes us uncomfortable. As you comment, which we highly encourage you to do back on our Facebook page, please remember to do so in light of our membership in the Body of Christ. Let us be different than the world for Jesus truly does invite us to another way of living.