Jesus said that peacemakers would be “called the sons of God.” He did not mean this is any messianic sense. It was common in Jewish culture to use “son” or “sons” to attach someone to a characteristic or identity. For example, Jesus called the Pharisees “sons of serpents” (Matthew 23:33) because of their hypocrisy. Peacemakers are called “sons of God” because our heavenly Father is also a peacemaker, but the way God makes peace is important to clarify.
Our popular perception of peacemakers, perhaps influenced by the word’s negative connotations in counseling and therapy-speak, is that of weakness and avoidance. A peacemaker is seen as a person who desires the appearance of serenity by suppressing any visible conflict and who avoids the difficult and costly work of forging real reconciliation. Such a person is not a true peacemaker but rather a peace-faker, and cannot be called a child of God.
The sort of peacemaking Jesus is referring to in his sermon, and the kind that reflects the character of God, is costly. It is not the avoidance of conflict, but the courage to face the struggle in order to forge the peace that is only possible on the other side. At a time when multiple wars are erupting around the globe, Pope Leo spoke about the kind of peacemaking God’s kingdom pursues. “To be a peacemaker is no easy matter: it forces us out of our comfort zones of distraction and indifference, and may well be resisted by those who have an interest in perpetuating conflicts.”
The Apostle Paul tells us that God has “reconciled to himself all things . . . making peace by the blood of the cross” (Colossians 1:20). The cross reveals God’s kind of peacemaking. It is costly and painful. Jesus did not forge peace by denying the evil in the world or by avoiding its power, but by facing it directly. It was a hard-won peace worthy of God’s praise.
What difficult circumstance or relationship are you avoiding for the sake of “peace?” Pray for the courage to do the hard, costly work of real peacemaking.
Daily Scripture
Matthew 5:3–12
Ephesians 2:11–18
Weekly Prayer
From the Liturgy of St. Basil (329 -379)
Remember, O Lord,
those who are poor and in need,
the widows, the orphans, the strangers,
those in captivity and those in exile,
the sick and the suffering.
Remember, O Lord, those who love us
and those who hate us;
those who have asked us to pray for them,
and those whom we have not remembered through ignorance.
