The Gift of Peace
“If we truly want peace, we have to work for the Shalom of all people, the healing, wholeness, and flourishing of everyone, even those we think are wrong or dangerous”
This Fourth of July, we’re celebrating the 249th birthday of our country. That makes us one of the oldest modern democracies in the world (although some historians suggest the Native American Six Nations confederacy is the world’s oldest democracy, which goes back eight centuries).
249 years is worth celebrating! So what kind of gift do you think a 249-year-old would like? I know anniversaries have “symbols,” like paper for the first anniversary and gold for the 50th. If I could pick out a gift for our country’s 249th birthday, I would pick Peace.
Now, “Peace” is an interesting word. It can mean so many different things to different people. It might mean the absence of conflict between family members or between countries. For others, it might be something that flows from making sure people are treated justly and with dignity. For many of us, it might just mean a moment of calm and quiet in the middle of a crazy day! Not only do we have conflict in the world, we often can’t even agree on what true peace is! So, what does “peace” mean to you?
Jesus saw that we have trouble with understanding peace. In fact, he wept over this in Luke’s gospel. Jesus cried out as he approached the city of Jerusalem (whose name means “City of Peace”), saying to the people of Jerusalem, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!” (16:42)
In the Jewish scriptures (which were the scriptures of Jesus and his time), the word for peace was “shalom,” which means more than just an absence of conflict. It means flourishing and wholeness, not just for the individual person but for the entire community. It means more than just “live and let live.” Instead, peace calls us to reach out and work for the well-being of all God’s people.
So, how do we get to that wholeness, flourishing, and well-being? Or more to Jesus’ point, what are the things that make for peace?
There are many things that make for peace, more than could be covered in this one column. But there is one in particular that seemed essential to Jesus, yet incredibly hard for those of us who follow his teachings and life: Love your enemies.
This idea of loving and caring for one’s enemies comes up repeatedly in the Christian scriptures. In Luke 6:27, Jesus says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” And those words are echoed in Matthew 5:44 and Romans 12:14.
Now, that’s a tough one, because it seems like our world is chock-full of enemies. It could mean our neighbor who lets their trash blow into our backyard. In our country, it might be people who think differently from us on politics, religion, the economy, and so on. Or it could be people who come from a different country than us or have a different color of skin, or perhaps are poorer than us.
Around the globe, there’s no shortage of conflict and war, all filled with the “other,” people who are the enemy to folks on “the other side.” You can’t have a war - whether it’s in the Middle East, Ukraine and Russia, or somewhere else - if you don’t have an enemy.
Sometimes it feels like it’s worse now more than ever. But I suppose it feels like that to every generation. Certainly it can’t be as bad, at least in this country, as when we had our own Civil War, right?... Right?!
And yet, in the midst of all that morass and conflict and mess, Jesus said, “Love your enemies...” And even more, Jesus says we actually have to show that we love them by doing “good to those who hate you.” To set an example, Jesus forgave those who called for his execution and those who crucified him on the cross.
Loving your enemy seems so radical and so counter-intuitive. We all want peace, of course, but to have peace we have to get rid of our enemies. There’s a push now to do away with our enemies, sometimes expressed in the phrase, “Peace through strength,” or seen in violent acts against neighbors, elected officials of a different party, or immigrants to this country.
But strength, particularly military strength and violence, never really gets rid of an enemy. It may stop the conflict for a while, but it doesn’t bring true peace. The things that make for peace, Jesus tells us, are our efforts to stop seeing other people as an enemy. We need to transform our hearts and the relationship we have with them and to see them as equal children of God, whether they are black, brown or white-skinned; Jews, Christians, or Muslims; people of the United States, Israel, Iran, Ukraine, or Russia.
Is that easy? Heck, no! Is it practical? Absolutely!
If we truly want peace, we have to work for the Shalom of all people, the healing, wholeness, and flourishing of everyone, even those we think are wrong or dangerous. Only that will practically bring about the peace that we all seek.
That’s a tough job, especially in a time when our country and our world are divided and conflict seems to be everywhere. But that’s the job description of the followers of Jesus - to love our enemies - for that is the thing that truly makes for peace.
In John 14:27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” That is the gift that Jesus gives us, which we can pass on to others, and which might make a nice gift for our country’s 250th birthday next year, too!
