Peace: The True Christian Calling
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (Matt. 5:9)
Jesus begins his sermon on the mount with a list of blessings that would have shocked his contemporary Jewish audience. These oppressed people, who believed they were still in exile, longed for the coming kingdom of God, when YHWH would finally become king and vindicate his children. And they were prepared to help bring it about with violence and deadly struggle.
So when Jesus says that the poor in spirit would have the kingdom, and that the meek would inherit the earth, it would have been something they had never heard before, and a direct challenge to the prevailing revolutionary agenda of the time. When Jesus says that the peacemakers are the ones who will be called the sons of God, it would have resonated with a core belief.
Were not the people of Israel already sons of God? Were they not God’s firstborn by default? (Deut. 14:1, Ex. 4:22) Was not this status already solidified by Torah and Temple?
Jesus cuts off their objections by talking about salt and light (Matt. 5:13-14). Israel was always meant to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. (Isa. 2:2-4, 49:6) But the salt had lost its flavor. The light had been hidden under a bushel, jealously kept in secret for their own twisted sense of righteousness, and used to justify the killing and murder of the Romans.
How were the Gentiles to come and learn of YHWH if there was no light to guide them? Israel’s true vocation had been lost and forgotten.
Jesus tells them how to get it back, and among many other things, how to be peacemakers. Let their righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 5:20). They must reconcile with their brothers or sisters as soon as possible, turn the other cheek, give their cloaks away along with their coats, and go two miles when requisitioned by a Roman soldier to go one.
They must be a people of peace. Those who wished to bring the kingdom about by force would not be children of God.
We, the church, are now the children of God, descendants of Abraham, and the new Israel, called to fulfill Israel’s original vocation. Jesus has inaugurated the kingdom, not by being a new David, conquering Israel’s enemies with bloodshed and violence, but by a tremendous act of love, submission, and peace. He is now both Lord and Messiah of this earth.
And he has an army.
We, his body, must strive to finish the job he has started and which will not be completed until all of the nations bow down at his feet. Just as Israel was led through the wilderness by the Spirit, we are imbued by the Spirit, equipped to conquer our promised inheritance. And so we must necessarily show the fruit of that Spirit.
We are an army that does not kill, but one that pricks hearts. We are an army that does not steal and pillage, but one that builds up and loves. We are an army that is strong and courageous, because death itself has already been defeated. We are an army that calms the storms of the nations. We are an army of peacemakers.
The coming kingdom of YHWH was always about renewal and peace, as opposed to destruction and bloodshed. Isaiah gives us the pictures of beating swords into plowshares, beating spears into pruning hooks, war no longer being taught in the nations, fruitful vineyards, long life, and everyone desiring to learn of YHWH.
But this renewal and peace is not just limited to the realm of man, but all of creation, as we also see the wolf and lamb feeding together and the lion eating straw like an ox. The kingdom will eventually encompass everything in a glorious renewal of all of creation itself, in a truly new heavens and new earth (Isa. 65:17, Rev. 21:1), and Jesus hands the kingdom over to the Father, so God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15:24, 28).
Make no mistake, the warfare is very real and the tactics required are much more difficult than the simple swinging of a sword or the firing of a gun, so the temptation will always be there to follow Israel down its misguided path.
Or worse.
We could choose to take on the polar opposite attitude of first century Israel’s revolutionary desire, and revel in that twisted sense of self righteousness, using it as an excuse for apathy and idleness toward the rest of the world that is crumbling in sin, war, and rage. But focusing our light inward and claiming to be children of God because we are supposedly “going to heaven when we die” is just as absurd and is the farthest thing from being the fruit that heals the nations (Rev 22:2).
People who are not peacemakers, choosing to take either the violent route or the apathetic route, are not spreading the kingdom of YHWH, and are therefore not children of YHWH. It is very telling that our Lord tied our adopted status to such a difficult, this-worldly calling.
But thankfully the Spirit does not leave us alone to produce its fruits. Our army grows every day regardless of our shortcomings. The kingdom grows every day regardless of the resistance, both from inside and outside the ranks. The gates of Hades will never overcome it.
YHWH has created His true salt and light. YHWH will be all in all.
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I’m not sure if Jesus agrees with you: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” -Jesus (Matt 10:34-39)
Or, maybe Jesus does not agree with himself? If so, that’s not so impressive as God’s son!
Tom,
That’s a good point to bring up. It has to do with the distinction between the age we’re living in now, and the age that Jesus ministers too, as well as a distinction between the function of a King versus the function of a King’s subjects or servants.
Jesus himself certainly didn’t bring immediate peace, as one of his main messages was a message of judgment on the current rulers. He also thought he was inaugurating the kingdom, which necessitated some kind of battle. And as looked at elsewhere in scripture, it’s possible to look at his return to Jerusalem and the Cross as his battle to bring the kingdom in.
Jesus was unique. Unless you want to say that all of his subjects (Christians) are now called to the exact same ministry, including dying on a cross as an atonement sacrifice for the world’s sins.
So while it was necessary for Jesus to battle, as was the tradition for a Jewish Messiah, his followers are called to finish the work in a different way.
First I would like to say that I am not a Jew. Yes I believe that we are children of God, only through Grace though. We are not the New Israel as most of the Churches are starting to teach and it is sad. The Jews are still “Gods chosen People.
Jerry
Jerry,
It’s pretty clear from Jesus’ ministry that he was redefining exactly what it meant to be the people of God.
Also, if the church is not the new Israel, how do you explain Paul saying that Abraham was “our ancestor”, including both the Jews and Gentiles? This basically means that the church, made up of both Jews and Gentiles, is the inheritor of the promises of Abraham, therefore the new Israel.
Which is completely consistent with Jesus’ redefinition of the people of God as those who were loyal to him, the new family, the ultimate fulfillment of the law and the prophets.
[…] fact, this was one of the core messages of Jesus in his warnings to his contemporary Jews. Repay violence with violence, and it will catch up to you. And it certainly did with the […]
He said we were the “seed of Abraham” through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It is beyond my comprehension to understand why even some Christians hate the Jewish people. JESUS WAS A JEW!! Jesus had very little to do with the gentles during his time on earth.
The entire Bible was written by Jews. This country is mentioned no where in the Bible. Where is he going to make his return? Israel. Even Paul said “to the Jew first and then to the Gentile”. When I want to know what is going on in the world I don’t look to the Pope or some Evangelist. I look to Israel.
By the way, there is no such thing as a Palastinian. They are a combination of Arabs, druse, and people banished from their Klans who started setteling there when the Jews scattered through out the world
after their defeat by the Romans. God gave that land to the Jews forever. I am a Christian for one reason. Through Grace and the Shed Blood of Jesus Christ. I love Israel and I love his people.
Jerry
Um…I don’t hate Jews. I’m with you on this.
It would do some people well to remember that. Our government has become an idol.
Not sure where you get that idea. But I could go along with it if you recognized that Christians, the church, both Jew and Gentile, is the new Israel.
And he did go to the Jew first, as you have already pointed out.
And, in the long line of prophetic tradition, he was one of their harshest critics. They had lost their vocation. The reason God chose Israel was so she could be a light to the nations, the salt of the earth, that caused the Gentiles to come and learn of YHWH.
They had lost their way in putting their faith in revolutionary violence, and had turned their light inward.
And so Jesus, primarily in the Sermon on the Mount, let them know how to get back to their true vocation, and redefined what it meant to be the people of God.
The Jews first, yes, but also to the Gentile, so all nations may share in the blessing of Abraham, and be part of the same united family.
Remember the parables of the vineyard, how the tenants would be thrown out and the vineyard given to others. Remember also that Jesus said that God could raise children of Abraham from stones, and not to put trust in simple lineage as they were doing.
And remember how Paul says that God can graft new branches onto the tree, while old ones can be cut off. This tree is obviously Israel, God’s chosen people.
I have no idea how this has any relation to the current article.
Quit buying into the Zionist propaganda. It was precisely this establishment of a traditional, earthly kingdom that Jesus rejected and warned the Jews about.
And did he really give it to them forever? Was it no contingent upon their choosing, as Moses says in Deuteronomy, between life and death, blessing and curse?
Well, Jesus said he was the Life, so choosing him is choosing life. Many of his contemporary Jews, however, unfortunately chose death and put their trust into violent revolutionary, earthly tactics that brought the might of Rome down on them.
As am I. But being a Christian also means we have been grafted onto the tree.
I have been really enjoying your well reasoned blog posts. What is your view on self defense, from a Christian perspective, particularly self defense against violent government gone evil. Is violence against the state always wrong?
That’s certainly a complicated question.
I will say that I’m only a pure pacifist at the moment when it comes to the violence of the State(pretty much every action it takes) and it’s wars.
Right now, I’m at the point where I only think it right to do violence when you can personally prevent great injustice. If I came across a women getting raped, I would certainly feel it’s right to do everything in my power to stop it. In fact, it would be reprehensible if I didn’t do anything.
Jesus used violence of his own in the temple to drive out the moneychangers. Now this wasn’t exactly violence for violence sake, as it was meant to be symbolic, as all of Jesus’ actions were.
But I currently don’t have any firm ground to stand on at the moment in regards to this issue. I probably never will
Thank you for the answer. It is a very complex question and one that I am struggling with.