Blessed Are The Peacemakers

A Recent Sermon

Well good morning Lakeside! So great to be back with us this morning.

You know when Pastor Robyn asked me to teach on being a peacemaker, I was a bit surprised.

Because I don’t really know if “peacemaker” is the word a lot of people would choose to describe me as. “Troublemaker”, probably. But you know, “good trouble”.

But I can see why many of you think of me as a peacemaker and it’s probably because of my work at International Justice Mission or IJM. But let me tell you, twelve year old Joash was not a peacemaker.

In fact, I remember lunch breaks in 7th grade in India at the private school I went to. Usually, a few minutes into lunch, a fight would break out. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a school fight but here’s what you need to know: there are three sides in a school fight – Side A, Side B and then the third side – the side that just loves watching people fight. And that was MY side - the side that’s just going, “Yes, a fight!” Not a peacemaker.

But I’ll never forget one afternoon at lunch when there was a fight. And this new kid at school was mortified. And he jumped in – right in between the two fighters – and started screaming,“Stop! Stop!” A real peacemaker – literally throwing his body in between the fight.

Now, I wish I could tell you that this peacemaker succeeded in stopping the fight. But he didn’t.

In fact, this peacemaker got accidentally punched in the face for jumping in and throwing his body in between the fight.

And I thought this was the perfect opening illustration for a sermon on peacemaking. Because peacemaking is costly work. And sometimes, you might even get punched in the face.

In Matthew 5:9, Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

But what do we mean by peacemakers? Like, what does it look like for Jesus followers to be peacemakers today? And what does the peace of Jesus even look like?

I want to try shed some clarity on these questions by drawing us closer to the original context of Matthew 5:9 in Scripture. You know, we do this at Lakeside a lot – instead of dismissing Scripture, we take the Bible seriously - so we draw closer to the original context. I don’t know if you realize this but the work of drawing closer to the original context of Scripture, like we do at Lakeside, that is the work of decolonization. It’s decolonization work.

I once heard my dear friend, Canadian pastor and theologian, Nikayla Reize talking about a very colonial way of interpreting the Bible – where instead of going to Scripture and being respectful of its original context, we adopt this colonizing attitude of just extracting whatever resources we want to extract, and using Scripture for our own purposes.

I don’t want to do that this morning. So I’m going to try to draw us closer to the original context of Matthew 5.

When Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers”, how did Jesus’ audience receive this message?

Well, let’s first talk about Jesus’ audience. Who was Jesus’ audience when he preached the Beatitudes? Here’s the demographic Jesus was speaking to – poor, oppressed, colonized and occupied Jewish people in modern day Palestine. These were people who were physically poor and physically oppressed. You know, I’ve often heard western preachers explain away, “Blessed are the poor” as something Jesus was saying only to the spiritually poor and the spiritually oppressed. But Jesus’ audience was spiritually poor because they physically poor. And they were spiritually oppressed because they were physically oppressed. Anyone – anyone who has seen poverty and oppression firsthand (like Jesus or my colleagues at IJM) will tell you that physical oppression and spiritual oppression always go together – hand-in-hand.

“Blessed are the peacemakers”. “Peacemakers”. Such an interesting word. In fact, the word “Peacemaker” exists in the English language today mainly because of this Bible verse. Because this word peacemaker in the original Greek is made up of two words – “peace” and “doer” or “peace” and “maker”.

But you see, when Jesus preached the Beatitudes, Jesus was preaching in Aramaic.

And the Aramaic word for Peace is “Shlama” which is very similar to the Arabic word for peace, “Salaam” or the Hebrew word for peace – “Shalom”.

Here’s my first point: The Peace of Jesus is Shalom. The Peace of Jesus is Shalom.

You see, the word “Shlama” or “Shalom” had a very specific meaning for Jesus’ Jewish audience. Because the Jewish understanding of peace is “Shalom”. And Shalom is more than just peace. Shalom is wholeness. And Shalom is the end result of justice – peace.

Jeremiah 29:11 is another text that gets colonized a lot in the Western Church. If you grew up in the evangelical church, you probably know Jeremiah 29:11. Here’s Jeremiah 29:11: “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”

You’ve probably seen this on a fridge magnet or a birthday card or a graduation card. But Jeremiah 29:11 or Jeremiah 29 was not written to a 21st century high school graduate. Jeremiah 29:11 was not even written for a Christian audience. It was written for a Jewish people in exile who were occupied, oppressed and colonized by the Babylonian Empire.

And I don’t know if we realize this when we see Jeremiah 29:11 but people living under oppression and captivity do not think of the future with hope. They think of the future with hopelessness and dread. Maybe some of you here resonate with that this morning.

But here’s God speaking through the Prophet Jeremiah to the Jewish people in captivity saying, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for harm.”

Let me pause here. So the Old Testament that Jeremiah is a part of was written in Hebrew. And do you know the original Hebrew word in this text for “welfare”? Take a wild guess – It’s Shalom. Shalom.

And this isn’t the only place in Jeremiah 29 where the word “welfare” or “Shalom” is used. We also see it in Jeremiah 29:4-7:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.”

Here's my favourite part:

“But seek the welfare (Shalom) of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare (Shalom) you will find your welfare (Shalom).”

In its Shalom you will find your Shalom. Wow! Because this is the peace that God desires for us – wholeness or Shalom.

A few week ago, Pastor Robyn talked to us a little bit about Empires. We live right next door to perhaps the most powerful Empire ever on planet earth. And in many ways we’re a part of the American Empire. Throughout the Bible, you see the people of God living in faithful resistance to a wide variety of Empires – Jeremiah was written the context of the Babylonian Empire. Jesus teaches the Beatitudes to a Jewish people oppressed by another Empire – the Roman Empire.

The people of God were always meant to be a people on the margins of Empire. So that we can be faithful from the margins by pushing back and doing the work of peacemaking.

The God of the oppressed looks at people who are broken-hearted by Empire. And he tells them, “Build houses, plant gardens, eat well, be fruitful and multiply. And seek the Shalom of your city – and in its Shalom, you will find your Shalom.” Because this is also what peacemaking looks like – advancing the flourishing of life by building houses, planting gardens, and yeah - eating organic, farm to table food.

Here’s my second point: Jesus is the ultimate peacemaker. Jesus is the ultimate peacemaker.

Much like my classmate who stepped in to broker the peace and got punched in the face, Jesus also stepped into our mess and brokered peace – just like we’ve talked about in our Restoration series: Jesus brokered peace between us and God; between us and each other; between us and creation; and between us and our bodies. And guess what? Just like my friend, the peacemaker,

Jesus also gets punched in the face for doing the work of peacemaking.

The work of restoration and peacemaking cost Jesus something – it cost him his life at the hands of the Roman Empire. Because the work of peacemaking is always going to be a threat to the ways of Empire. Always. When the early church said, Jesus is Lord, they were also saying that Caesar is not.

Because while Jesus came to reconcile all things to each other and to himself, Empires thrive by dividing and conquering. The British Empire for example, that colonized my ancestors, thrived by turning Indians against each other. Hindus against Muslims, Muslims against Christians, Upper Caste Hindus against Lower Caste Hindus, and so on.

But Jesus takes down the dividing walls of hostilities between us. He makes us all one at the cross. And he makes us all one at the Table.

But here’s the thing - peacemaking Jesus’ way is expensive. It will cost you something. And in fact, it may even cost you everything. Are we willing to lay down our lives to bring Shalom into our neighbourhoods? Are we willing to lay down our privileges to bring Shalom into the most hopeless places on earth? Are we willing to lay down our wealth and our rights like Jesus did, to advance the cause of Shalom on earth as in heaven?

Which brings me to my next point (we at Lakeside have been saying that Restoration is the core mission of the Body of Christ; Peacemaking is a part of that restoration). Here’s my next point – Restorative Peacemaking is THE core mission of the Body of Christ. Restorative Peacemaking is THE core mission of the Body of Christ.

Think about it – if Jesus threw his body – his literal body – into the work of peacemaking, then we, the Body of Christ, the Church are to also throw our bodies into this work of peacemaking.

Peacemaking isn’t optional for the Body of Christ; it’s the reason for our existence. We’re to be the physical and spiritual body of Christ here on earth until the literal body of Christ (Jesus) returns to usher in permanent Shalom.

Peacemaking, the work of ushering in wholeness or Shalom, is our reason for existing as the Church. It’s the reason for everything we do as the Church – helping people discover and fully follow Jesus, Bible translation, justice work, mercy ministries, Celebrate Recovery, Divorce Care, Grief Walk – ALL of it is to bring Shalom on this earth. For it is in pursuing Shalom on this earth, it’s in pursuing the wholeness of this earth that we’ll our find our Shalom and our wholeness.

We at IJM call ourselves a community of spiritual formation. Because we believe that as we seek Shalom in this world, God is also bringing Shalom into our lives. And this has definitely been my experience. I came into the work of peacemaking as a burned out American political consultant. I came in with dread and hopelessness. But the work of peacemaking with Jesus on the margins has transformed me forever. And it’s allowed me to find my own Shalom.

Because when we do the work of peacemaking, we join hands with Jesus who is already doing the work of peacemaking through the reconciling Spirit of God all over the world today.

And it’s in joining Jesus as peacemakers that we become brothers and sisters of Jesus – think about that – brothers and sisters of Jesus! And we become children of God. And this is why Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers”.

Because blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God - as brothers and sisters of Jesus – doing the work of peacemaking with him.

You know, because I work at a Christian organization doing the work of peacemaking that many Lakesiders actually support, I feel like I have to give an example of what Christian peacemaking on earth could look like today.

In one of the countries that we work in, Bolivia, a country that I get to visit in March, 1 in 2 women, 1 in 2 women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Think about that for a moment.

In Canada, that statistic is more like 1 in 3 women which is also unacceptable. Now Canada doesn’t have a perfect justice system. But we have a functional justice system. And we actually have one of the world’s most trauma-informed justice systems.

But you see, women and girls in Bolivia who have been sexually violated have very little trust in their justice system.

When we first started working in Bolivia around 15 years ago, studies showed that 70% of Bolivian women were victims of sexual abuse. 70% versus the 50% today. The same studies also showed us that only 0.04% of those cases saw any kind of judicial resolution – convictions or non-convictions. So for many years, our team in Bolivia worked with local justice system officials to train them on trauma informed justice work. And because Canada has one of the world’s most trauma-informed justice systems, we started a judicial training program in Bolivia – where we sent Canadian judges to train Bolivian judges with IJM Bolivia. And many of our Canadian church partners stepped in to fund this peacemaking work – of bringing Shalom and making peace between Bolivian survivors and their justice systems.

We were told that the Bolivian justice system was too broken for women & children. Why?

Because these justice systems were set up by colonial powers to protect colonial interests. These justice systems were never set up for women and children; especially poor and indigenous women and children. But over time, we started seeing some signs of Shalom in this Shalom-less justice system. IJM cases and partner cases started to move faster through the court system and just last year, we got our 150th criminal conviction!

But we still have SO much more peacemaking work to do. Because even though we’re seeing signs of Shalom, the numbers are still not that great. 15 years ago, the criminal sentencing numbers (both convictions and non-convictions) were 0.04%. Today, the conviction numbers are at 4%. Now that might not feel like a lot but 0.04% to 4% over 15 years in a judicial system is HUGE. But there’s still SO much work to be done.

I wish I could stand up here and tell you that peacemaking work is easy work but it’s really not.

It takes time. And it takes patience. And it takes significant resources – and it takes our long obedience in the same direction.

Which brings me to my final point – the Eucharistic Table, the Communion Table is a center of Shalom in our communities. The Table is a center of Shalom in our communities.

The Table is where we gather regularly to experience the physical presence of Jesus, the physical embodiment of Shalom. And the Table is the place we disperse from to embody this Shalom with us – wherever we go this week and this month.

I cannot make a point about the Table being a center of Shalom in our communities without sharing this story about one of my favourite Christian peacemakers, Archbishop Oscar Romero, the Catholic Archbishop of the capital city of El Salvador. If you don’t know anything about Oscar Romero, you need to look him up! Because St. Romero was literally assassinated, gunned down actually, for his work of peacemaking.

But one of my favourite Oscar Romero stories is about how he once led a Eucharistic procession, a Communion procession from the Church into the poor neighbourhoods of his city. But on this day, the National Guard showed up and blocked the path. Because El Salvador’s government leaders, backed by the American Empire hated Romero’s peacemaking and justice work among people in poverty. Everyone stopped and turned to Romero, who was at the back of the procession. Romero lifted his staff higher and cried out “Adelante!” which means ‘Let us go forward!”

Little by little, the people pushed forward, with the Communion Table, until the National Guard retreated peacefully, lowering their guns.

The Table is the one place where both the oppressed and the oppressor are visibly one in Christ.

It’s the one place where there is neither Jew nor Palestinian, neither Conservative nor Liberal, neither affirming nor non-affirming, neither Trump supporter nor Kamala Harris supporter, for all of us are in Christ, and Christ is in all. And Christ and his Shalom is at the Table.

Let me close with this: Because the reality is that many of you feel like Jesus’ audience right now – poor, oppressed, heartbroken, marginalized. For those of you in that place today, if you got nothing else from my sermon, I want you to get this:

“Jesus knows what it’s like to be poor in spirit. Jesus knows what it’s to mourn. Jesus knows what it’s like to be humbled. Jesus knows what it’s like to hunger and thirst for righteousness / justice. Jesus knows what it’s like to need mercy. Jesus knows what it’s like to not see God. Jesus knows what it’s like to be a peacemaker. Jesus knows what it’s like to be persecuted for righteousness / justice. Jesus knows what it’s like to be bullied. Jesus knows what it’s like to have anxiety. He knows what you’re going through. And he cares. And he has come down to rescue you. And he will come again to make everything right and to bring Shalom!”

So let us prepare our hearts to meet Jesus at the Table this morning. At Lakeside Church, we believe that all are truly welcome at Jesus’ Table. Because Jesus never turns anyone away. And if Jesus is at the Table, then all are welcome.

Preached at Lakeside Church on November 17, 2024.