This Advent season, Jude determined that we were going to get posts out for each week. I insisted that we have multiple eyes on drafts to spot typos and ensure readability before we publish. Jude obliged, of course, because quality content is a shared goal. However, Jude gave me comment access to his drafts knowing full well that I can be a bit of a “nitpick.” I averaged about one comment for every 35 words. Now, many of us would receive these comments and be irritated as if the one leaving them was being a smart aleck, but not Jude. Instead, he took the time to read them and consider each one. This is because as brothers in Christ, Jude is able to operate under the assumption that I’m acting in good faith rather than defaulting to suspicion of malice. Even if somehow my “suggestions” were examples of me insisting on my own way, Jude’s initial response can be one of making peace.
This week we are reflecting on peace. If you have looked around at all, I’m sure you are aware that peace is one thing distinctly lacking in the world. “World peace” is a meme at this point, something that only beauty pageant contestants can ask for as part of a well-rehearsed performance. However, peace is not something the believer is called to merely wait on expectantly. On the contrary, peace is something that believers are called to bring into the world now as fruit1 of the Kingdom that has already arrived in the first coming of Christ. Let us look at just a few scriptures that demonstrate our calling to peacemaking.
Ephesians 4:17-24 makes it clear that our calling as followers of Jesus is to become like Him and reflect His character. Scripture informs us that our God is the “God of peace2” and the “Prince of Peace3.” In fact, the instruction to show peace to the world is not a suggestion or menial task; it’s a high calling and mandate for those who would represent the One upon whose shoulder the government rests4.
In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus instructs His disciples how to pray. In doing so, He also tells them how they should live. One of the things they are instructed to pray for is for their debts to be forgiven as they forgive others. However, they pray this in the context of the first requests of the prayer: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The disciples have been told that they should pray for the kingdom to come. This means they should live as if the Kingdom has come. This requires them to forgive others in the manner they wish to be forgiven. This prayer directly cites the Kingdom entering earth and is in the greater context of the inaugural speech Jesus gives concerning the Kingdom: The Sermon on The Mount.
During this very same speech that the Lord’s Prayer was given, Jesus also gives the Beatitudes. The seventh of these says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.” Did you catch that? Just like Jesus says His disciples will be known by their love for one another,5 He also says that those who make peace upon the earth will be known as the “sons of God.” To make it even weightier, He contrasts peacemaking with hatred as if to make participation in the faith into an ultimatum:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
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You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:9, 21-22)
As we reflect on peace this week, may we understand that while we wait, we are to also be working and doing all we can to make the world a place of order, righteousness, and peace.
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