Blessed are the Peacemakers

Peacekeeping and peacemaking are not the same thing, but our culture has forgotten that and we have tossed them together into one big peaceful salad. 

No.

Let's do the holy work of separating those two concepts today. They both have their place, but they are not the same. 

Peacekeeping is the silencing of one voice for the purpose of maintaining order. You silence your own voice to keep peace, or you silence the voice of the other party to keep peace. Either way, there is no shared understanding, there is no reconciliation, and there is certainly no unity. There is just one minimized voice who believes they're right but can't speak and one amplified voice who believes they're right because they are loudest. I am a peacekeeper when I "choose my battles" with my children or when I am invited into an argument and decline the invitation. I am a peacekeeper when I put a stop to back-talk in my home by holding up my hand so that it's clear the conversation is over and my word is the last one we'll be hearing. Peacekeeping is a handy tool, and we often need to use it.

But Jesus did not say, "Blessed are the peacekeepers." Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." 

Peacemakers are empowered to use their voices. Peacemakers listen to the other person. Peacemakers have empathy. Peacemakers are serious about identifying and calling out the diseases of the heart and of society, not just putting bandages on the symptoms. And peacemakers roll up their sleeves to do the hard work of rooting out evil not through silencing voices but through elevating dialogue. Peacemaking means hard conversations, self-examination, accountability, confession, repentance, and healing. Jesus knew what many of us have forgotten: you cannot move forward in unity and reconciliation until peace has been MADE - not merely KEPT. 

Blessed are the peacemakers.