According to Jesus. Yet increasingly it seems as though the beatitude of this world says that the divisive and violent are blessed. If there is one single beatitude that has been proven to be extremely difficult in the past few few years, it’s this one. Being a peacemaker in a polarized culture is hard as hell.
Peacemakers intentionally sit in the middle ground, not because their beliefs or values are centrist, but because they know that only from a common middle ground can divided people be drawn together.
If you believe the media hype—or if you allow yourself to be shaped by it—there is no tolerance for the unpolarized. You must pick a side! This whole-sale partisanship, this refusal of civil discourse, this complete breaking of relationships over such differences is, I believe, the single greatest threat to our country.
Recall what Jesus said about the peacemakers: they will be called “children of God.” By whom? By everyone. Because it will be obvious who their father is: the Great Peacemaker.
Luke, in his gospel, includes corresponding Woes to his version of the Beatitudes: “Woe to you who are rich… Woe to you who are well fed now… Woe to you who laugh now… Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you.” Why? Because, in short, you’ve already got your reward in hand.
Now, Luke doesn’t include a corresponding woe to the peacemakers, but I think we can safely imagine what Jesus might have said: “Woe to you who are divisive and violent, for you will be called children of Satan.” Which means “accuser.” Those who are always trying to destroy others by accusations, however false or true they might be. Those who stand up in the courtroom of public opinion to slander and point fingers. Satan is a twister of words and manipulator public perception. So are his kids.
As I said, being a peacemaker in a polarized culture is hard as hell. That’s no mere figure of speech. The struggle is real, as they say.
Yet again, the good news: The peacemakers are blessed. They are the truly favored ones in the government of God because they already reflect his political value of peaceful rulership.
I would humbly suggest that our culture has more than it’s fair share of children of Satan. It doesn’t need any more, particularly from within the Church. Let us do the hard, against-the-grain work of making peace. That we might be blessed. That others might be blessed. Let us support and encourage the peacemakers in our world, giving them a voice to be heard above the shouting of the divisive and violent.
