“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9, NIV)
This is often the verse used to represent motive for police officers to enter the field. I must confess, when I discovered this verse and its ties to the law enforcement community, it did have bearing on my final decision to enter a career of law enforcement. But ever since I have begun studying the Bible daily, and researching various passages for seminary work, I realize that the simple verse is about much more than that. It turns out, Jesus Christ, when He said these words, was not just referring to a particular group of people. He wants all His people, to be peacemakers. All of the Lord’s children will be blessed.
It turns out, peace is a very important idea to God. Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome;
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18, NIV)
Jesus Christ Himself was referred to in prophecy as the Prince of Peace. But as I have had conversations with middle schoolers, as their school resource officer, about trying to be at peace with their cohorts and classmates in their grade, especially outside at recess, it is not always easy to make peace. Most kids are pretty honest when you get them away from others, and just listen to what they have to say. And sometimes, their naivete paves the way for profound truth. Just because children have a simpler view of the world than their adult caretakers and teachers, does not mean they do not pay attention. I remember one kid named Brayden once told me, “Officer Fort, I wanted to hit him back so bad! But then I remembered that the principal told me, I can’t be hitting people back, either, or I’m just as guilty. I did my part to make peace, Office Fort.”
Brayden learned a key concept taught in most honorable institutions of self-defense instruction, or martial arts schools. Self-defense, and retaliation, are not the same thing. Take another look at what Paul said to the Romans. “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you”- There is all every kid with an ego needs for the excuse to walk away and not be a coward. Unfortunately, the world, and kids’ parents, always tell these kids to ‘hit them back if they hit you.’ But it is not our job, especially as Christians, to meet out justice for a violent crime committed. If conflict can be avoided, we should avoid it. That does not mean we cannot tell appropriate authorities about a personal offense against us. But if a minor physical attack happens that mainly serves as an insult – that goes back to Jesus and his famous ‘turn the other cheek’ commentary. Insults do no lasting damage, unless you let them.
And so it is in these difficult conversations, especially once the dust has settled, that we try to teach our youth in society, the importance of grace. For if we must continue to be around individuals who have done us harm, the only way we can get past that offense to us, is to show the offender a little grace. After all, mankind committed the most horrendous offense in history, by murdering the Son of God. If anyone had a ‘they hit you, you hit them back’ motive, it would be God the Father. But instead, he gave us a gift.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from ourselves, it is a gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8, NIV)
We have been saved. Saved from what? We are saved from the proper and just retaliation by God that we all deserve. We deserve retaliation. We get – the gift of grace. That grace was freely given, but it was not without a price for God. Imagine, being the Creator of the universe, and you humble yourself to the point that you enter this fallen world in the lowly form of a man. The perfect God of the universe came in one of His three persons, in the shell of a normal human body, took on one of the most brutal tortures a man could stand, and died an excruciating, bloody death of suffering. He paid that price. Our only price for such a gift? We must have faith, as Paul told the Ephesians.
My prayer is that more people in this world show others grace, even when they are wronged by those others. If it is possible to walk away, because a certain offense, even physical, hurts pride and ego more than the body, then grace should be given. That is the only way one can truly broker peace. And if enough of us strive to live our lives that way, we can all be blessed by making peace; not just between us and our offenders, but peace between us and God. He showed us the ultimate example of grace. Is it too big of a task for us to do the same for our fellow members of the human race?
Just my two cents, as usual.
In Christ,
JEF
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