Blessed Are The Peacemakers
Matthew 5:9
Please take a moment to read this post. It is an important insight into a famous text from the New Testament Sermon on The Mount. Regardless of your religious or non-religious belief system, there is deep Truth in this statement accredited to Jesus ... as it also pre-dates Christianity and was among the ancient Egyptian Mysteries, and also contained in the Greek "Logia Iesou."
Why the use of the word "peacemaker" rather than "peacekeeper?" This is important. What we see in the world today are peacekeepers. Middle-men trying to keep two or more sides at odds with each other from warring or attacking. You see ... a peacekeeper is one who KEEPS peace between parties, yet; the parties are still enemies or in one way or another have a dislike for each other.
This liaison is working to keep peace between people who are not very agreeable to be peaceful with each other. They use sanctions, politics, trade agreements, and any other tools they have to keep the peace. Yet, the parties have no love for each other. We cannot force someone to be at peace with someone else. Just as we cannot force someone to love someone else. It must come from within.
So then ... we come to what is a Peacemaker. A Peacemaker is someone who has made peace with himself. The only person you can influence to be entirely at peace ... is yourself. Not others. Once peace is achieved within yourself, you are blessed. You are free from anger, fear, jealously, and all the negative and conflicting emotions that tear at us from within. Once everyone has MADE peace with themselves, then ALL will benefit from this state of being.
And this is why "blessed are the Peacemakers" is such a powerful statement. We must understand that the only person we have direct influence over and accomplish true peace ... is our self. Until we all become Peacemakers, there will be Peacekeepers standing by with reward and punishment ready to be dealt out. Consequences rather than benefits.
Just a thought ...
~Justin Taylor, ORDM., OCP.
