What do you think about when you think about peace?
On February 3, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln made the trip south by train and by steamboat to a location near the front lines of the Civil War.
I’m not a history buff. Some of you may know more about the Hampton Roads Peace Conference that I do. But from what I understand his hope was to put an end to 4 years of Civil War. His hope was for peaceful reconciliation. So he met with representatives from the Confederacy aboard a steamboat named the River Queen. It was risky and dangerous. He was exposing himself to political attack and maybe even physical attack.
Many people in the North wanted to put an end to the war, but they would rather hang the rebel leaders than enter into a negotiation. But a man by the name of Francis Preston Blair was a mentor to President Lincoln and a father figure to Jefferson Davis. It was his idea to bring the two sides together hoping for a peaceful resolution.
Lincoln wanted to bring peace to “our one common country.” Davis had given his representatives the mandate to bring peace to “two countries.”
The two sides wanted very different things. They stood for very different things. And because of that it seemed that even though they had agreed to meet, an end to the conflict and a period of peace was far removed.
Absence of Conflict
For many of us, when we think about peace we think about an end to or the absence of conflict.
When we as parents say we just want a moment of peace… what we’re saying is that we just want a moment when the kids aren’t screaming at each other and we can sit for 2 minutes without someone calling out, Mommy or Daddy!
When we say that we just want a little peace at work… what we’re hoping for is a ceasefire between co-workers, or for the disagreements between those at the top and those down below to settle down.
When we say we want peace in the world… what we’re saying is we want our people in uniform to come home safely and for there to be an end to hostility and war.
What about God?
But what does God think about when He thinks about peace?
What was Jesus talking about when He talked about peace?
When Jesus began his ministry He gathered some of His very first disciples on a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee. And it was there that He began to teach them about what life looks like in His kingdom, in the Kingdom of Heaven. In His opening statements, I want you to hear what Jesus says to these people living in the 1st Century.
Jesus begins by pronouncing these blessings over different kinds of people. Over the poor and those who mourn. Over the humble and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And then, Jesus says this…
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God. – NIV
Another translation says it this way…
God blesses those who work for peace… – NLT
What is Jesus talking about?
Remember at that time in Galilee, Rome was in charge. Everyone was living under Roman rule and the Romans considered themselves “peacemakers.” They considered themselves “sons of god.”
And if you’re a Jew in the audience that day in front of Jesus and you hear Him say, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” you might want to call a time out and ask him to explain. Because the Roman idea of making peace meant using violence to put an end to anything or anyone who would threaten their way of life.
This is what Empires do, this is how they accomplish ”peace.” They use their power to keep the “peace.” And because they believed their Emperor was divine, they believed they were sons of god employed with authority to rule the world through dominance, power, and force to keep the peace. And Roman crosses lined the streets as a warning to anyone who didn’t want to keep the peace.
So what was Jesus talking about when He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers… blessed are those who work for peace, for they will be called sons of God.”?
You might think you could look at the life of Jesus to see what He meant. But Jesus had a bit of a reputation.
He seemed to challenge the Pharisees and other religious leaders every where He went. He even called them names like, “You brood of vipers!” And more often that not he went around disturbing the peace hanging out with sinners and tax collectors and the like. He even caused trouble in the temple courts one day when he flipped over the tables of the moneychangers and drove them out of there with a whip! And before it was all said and done, he was nailed on one of those Roman crosses precisely because he wouldn’t keep the peace. He disrupted the status quo. And so they killed Him.
So what is peace?
Jesus had come NOT to KEEP THE PEACE, but to WORK FOR PEACE. He came NOT as a PEACE KEEPER, but as a PEACE MAKER. He came to put an end to HOSTILITY, and to bring in a new era of HOSPITALITY.
What’s interesting is that those very same religious leaders who would end up manipulating the system to have Jesus crucified should have understood what Jesus was doing. If they had only remembered the words of the prophet Isaiah then they might have better understood Jesus.
In Isaiah 2.1-4, here’s the vision of the future that Isaiah had from God…
The Lord will mediate between nations
and will settle international disputes.
They will hammer their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will no longer fight against nation,
nor train for war anymore.
And if they had any doubt who would usher in this new era, they could have kept reading the word of Isaiah and seen this prophecy in chapter 11.1-9:
Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
Isaiah is talking about Jesus who was born into the family of David.
And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
It was at His baptism when the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove, and it was through the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus accomplished His ministry.
He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
nor make a decision based on hearsay.
He will give justice to the poor
and make fair decisions for the exploited.
How many times did Jesus welcome children, women, sinners, tax collectors, the marginalized, the vulnerable, the poor, the sick, into His presence?
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
He will wear righteousness like a belt
and truth like an undergarment.
In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;
the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.
The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,
and a little child will lead them all.
The cow will graze near the bear.
The cub and the calf will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.
Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.
Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
for as the waters fill the sea,
so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.
Shalom
Here, Isaiah gives us a picture of the way things ought to be. A world that is at peace. Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace, means universal flourishing, wholeness, it’s the way things are supposed to be.
And this is what Jesus did… he worked to make things the way they were supposed to be.
This is why He healed the sick and raised the dead. This is why he forgave the sinner and challenged the religious institution. This is why He taught us to forgive those who hurt us and pray for those who persecute us. Because he was teaching us how to work for peace. How to be Peacemakers!
1865
When the Hampton Roads Peace Conference of 1865 ended, the talks had failed. And because the peace talks had failed, 10,000 men and boys who were alive when the two sides met to discuss peace on the River Queen were dead 3 months later. And in many ways we’ve been dealing with the consequences ever sense.
What we so often fail to realize is that when we cease to work for peace, there is a high price to be paid.
We see this in marriages that end in divorce. In businesses that divide. In churches that split. And please hear me, I’m not casting judgement on any area in your life in which conflict has led to separation. I’m just saying what you already know through your own experience. That anytime we are unable for any reason to make things the way they ought to be, we experience pain, heartache, and loss.
That’s why it’s so important as followers of Jesus that we continue to work for peace. That we remain committed to being peacemakers, NOT peace keepers. That we lean into being people of hospitality, not people caught up in hostility.
Because…
What the world needs now is people who work for peace.
People who aren’t simply committed to keeping the peace, but making peace. Making things the way they ought to be. Working for peace. For shalom.
And as followers of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, it’s time for us to get to work.
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