Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God
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2 Corinthians 5:11-21; Matthew 5:9
To be the child of a great ruler is an incredible privilege. Others can grab precious minutes with your father if they are very important. But you, without any of their qualifications, belong at the very heart of power. Others will call him King or President, you will call him Daddy. And, if it’s a hereditary monarchy, you not only have intimacy and privilege, you have incredible status and power.
Well the Apostle John writes this:
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” (1 John 3:1)
Our Father is the Emperor of the universe! The Emperor of the Universe is our Father! How can this be?
Well we’ve already seen this truth: What Jesus is uniquely and originally, His people become in Him. He is the Light of the world, and therefore so are His people (John 8:12; Matthew 5:14). He is the Son of God, and His people are drawn into Himself. Now we share His own relationship with the One He calls Father. In Jesus we are God’s children.
And children are peacemakers. This holds true particularly in more traditional cultures. In family disputes, the eldest son especially would be the mediator. He would go out and broker a peace between warring factions.
Therefore what does this beatitude tell us about Jesus? And what does it tell us about ourselves?
Well Jesus as the Son of God is, at heart, the Peacemaker. As Paul says:
“For it pleased the Father that in Jesus should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; ….” (Colossians 1:19-20)
Who else could save the world and reconcile it to the Father? Only the Son! It’s the job of the children to be peacemakers because it’s the glory of the Son to make peace with God.
What about us? How are we meant to be “peacemakers”?
Well this verse might have limited application to “Truth and Reconciliation” commissions and armistice treaties. But remember, Jesus did not broker a peace-deal between Jerusalem and Rome! That was not His mission. He makes peace with God. And we – adopted by Him into His kind of life – make that kind of peace. Just as those who have been shown mercy show mercy, so those who have been reconciled go out to reconcile.
Are you a child of God? Then your role in life is peacemaker. Just listen to the position, the privileges and the purposes of God’s children in the world:
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
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