Blessed are the peacemakers
We’re living in uncertain times. I’ve had a few people ask if I think all this Covid-19 is a sign we are in the ‘last days’?  It’s perhaps not surprising, given the news headlines we’ve consumed in recent months.
2,000 years ago, people were asking Jesus the same question. He said:
“Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ & will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”
If it helps, every generation throughout history has faced wars and rumours of wars, nations at war with each other, famines and earthquakes – even global pandemics. These are not new. 
Maybe what is new, is the availability of mass media, and now, social media - which makes every person on the planet a broadcast journalist.
What we can say is we are closer to the ‘end of the age’ than we were 2,000 years ago.
War is nothing new. Right now, there are numerous ‘wars and rumours of wars’ going on around the world. Some are full scale conflicts between nations, others are more ongoing tensions that could erupt at any moment. Last year, over 85,000 people were killed in combat. There has not been a generation that hasn’t known war.
In my childhood and early youth, it was Northern Ireland, the Falklands War, and of course the Cold War – with the threat of nuclear war. My all-boys school was a bit of a right-wing academy. Before a country could threaten the UK, our answer was to ‘nuke’. Launch a nuclear missile strike, wipe them off the face of the earth. We were all talk.
But then I became a Christian. Suddenly, I was reading, “Love your enemies & pray for those who persecute you.” And “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” So, no missiles.
Within months I found myself one day at Greenham Common, on the outskirts of Newbury, on a demonstration against the deployment of American Nuclear Missiles on UK soil.
When I first became a Christian, I thought it was all about getting your name on the Guest List for the After-Life Party. But I soon discovered that was mere cherry on the cake. Being a Christian was/ is about following Christ NOW, doing what He did there, HERE; living as He lived. If I couldn’t imagine Jesus going into combat or blessing nuclear weapons, then neither should I.
Few of us will have opportunity to intervene in national wars or become international peace brokers. But all us have daily opportunities to be peacemakers.
Conflict is the use of violence to get our way, to impose of our supremacy over others, it’s about asserting our power over those who would stand in our way. Conflict doesn’t need a gun or a missile. 
Our actions can similarly be violent, even when we’re not using physical force. Aggressive body language, confrontational behaviour 
Domestic violence, domestic abuse, is rife. Recent data shows during lock-down it’s been a particular issue in north Birmingham, with specific spikes in both Sutton Coldfield and Erdington. Domestic abuse doesn’t take into account how big your driveway is or what cars are parked on it. Domestic violence happens in financially privileged and financially stressed households alike. If you currently feel at risk of domestic abuse – living in fear in your home -, say something. Talk to someone you trust. It’s not your fault, you don’t deserve this, you don’t make him or her over-react, it’s never OK to have to live in fear.
Blessed are the peacemakers? Why? For they will be called children of God.
I’m the son of Peter and Pauline Brierley. My Dad died coming up to 10 years ago. But if you compare photos of us, you can see where I get my devastatingly good looks, awe-inspiring intellect – and, of course, my total humility – from.  OK, you can also see where I get some of my flaws from too.  You can see that, who I am is heavily influenced by him.
Jesus says, whatever your experience of fatherhood has been – some of you have hero Dads, others of you have had zero Dads – we all have a Heavenly Dad – God THE Father.
When you live in shalom, make peace, you reveal your true identity as a Child of God, because God is King of Peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. If peacemakers are children of God, then we’d better look at the Ultimate child of God, Jesus. Son of God God the Son is the perfect peacemaker
Jesus did not say, “Blessed are the peace KEEPERS. Too many think peace is all about keeping people happy.  Maybe you’re that kind of person who finds conflict difficult. You’ll do almost anything, appease anyone, just to keep the peace. It can be exhausting, so draining, and, in any case, rarely works.
Jesus was introduced into this world as having come to guide us in the path of peace. But, far from standing peacefully between two waring factions, Jesus often seemed to be at the centre of conflict.  Things that others might have ignored or tolerated, he called out. 
“Do not think I have come to bring peace on earth, I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34)
Jesus was bringing total Shalom, not just an absence of war. He was not papering over the cracks of conflict, but exposing the fault lines, bringing destructive, violent attitudes out into the open.
Ultimately, He makes peace, not by winning the argument or forcing His Way on others, but through radical non-violence.
Knowing who He was, where He had come from, and where He was going, Jesus was able at times:
-	to walk away - when the time was not right), 
-	to walk through “No Man’s Land” - when time was near, pressing
-	to stand up to the violent State - when His time had come
Consistently, through what He said and did, Jesus lived a radical non-violent, peace-making life.
When Jesus was arrested, His closest followers were outraged.  The instinctive reaction of one of them was to lash out. He reached for His sword. Why, when He was with Jesus, did he ever think it ever OK to carry a concealed weapon? What did he still not get about Jesus? Anyway, when Jesus was arrested, this Christ-follower pulled out his blade and stabbed the servant of the High Priest, cutting off his ear. We mustn’t use the violence of our actions, words to “
Jesus said, “All who draw the sword, will die by the sword” So true today
“Don’t you think I could call on 12 legions of angels?” – that’s around 70,000 angels. Equivalent of almost the entire British Army. Jesus did what He had come to do – He healed the man of his wound, just as He continues today to heal the wounds and scars we carry from those that have lashed out at us.
Maybe the story of the servant of the High Priest is your story. You’ve been deeply hurt by someone who said they were defending Christ. You’ve carried that scar.
So, consistently, through what He said and did, Jesus lived a radical non-violent, peace-making life.
And ultimately it led Him to Calvary – death on a hill. There, nailed to a cross, He soaked up the violence of humanity, refusing to fight back.  Don’t forget, He’s God. If anyone could call in a strike, He could. Instead, He died as He lived: Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing. He surrendered Himself to death.
And if it had ended there, Jesus would have been yet another Wanna-Be Messiah who talked a good game but it was never going to work in the real world.
But, three days later – BOOM. The resurrection was the ultimate vindication that the Gospel that Jesus preached, lived and died by, was God’s Gospel – THE Gospel, the good news. 
Apostle Paul later said, it’s as if all of us – all humanity - are living in a constant state of war. We’ve found ourselves conscripted, fighting an enemy we can’t see, for a war we don’t understand – and one which we cannot possibly win. 
Knowing the size, strength of the enemy, we’re all as good as dead. Humanity has become so battle-weary we’ve forgotten who’s fighting us.  Is it the “enemy within” – our neighbour, work colleague, church member. Maybe it’s “them” – those we label “them” from other countries, lifestyles. Sometimes, we even wonder if it’s God. The One who alone can save us
Paul makes clear, our struggle is not against flesh and blood - , but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
So, when you and I were as good as dead in our folly, sin, God entered the battle, He made us alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sin – all our hostilities, fractious relationships, greed, violence -  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them. How? By triumphing over them by the cross.
We who follow Christ are called live the same radical non-violent life.
Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.
In our homes, families, workplaces, neighbourhoods, social media, church communities
Not lashing out, but soaking up, aggression, through peaceFULL radical non-violence.
Neither avoiding conflict nor be the instigator of conflict, instead by being the peace MAKER - Shalom
Blessed are the peace makers for they will be called Children of God.
DannyBrierley@ChesterRoadBaptist.org.uk