Hello my friends,

I hope you had a wonderful week. I can't believe it is July already! I pray you and your loved ones are having an incredible summer so far.

Just a quick note: I am going on vacation with my family starting on July 3rd. I will be taking a short break from my weekly newsletter during that time as well. So the next one you will receive will be on July 23rd. I will look forward to reconnecting with you then! Also, July 3rd marks one year since I began this newsletter! You will be getting a short email that day celebrating that anniversary as well as talking about some new things in the year ahead! So be sure to catch it.

Newsletter:

I'm concluding this short look at the beatitudes today with "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." -Matthew 5:9

I want to think with you about how Jesus understood the concept of "peace," how it is "made," and how that might impact our pursuit of peace as Christians in our world today.

But before we get into that, here are some resources to consider.

Resources

-With this topic landing on 4th of July weekend, I thought it would be fitting to include "War and the American Difference: Theological Reflections on Violence and National Identity," by Stanley Hauerwas. In this book, he helps readers reflect theologically on war, church, justice, and nonviolence, exploring issues such as how America depends on war for its identity, how war affects the soul of a nation, the sacrifices that war entails, and why war is considered "necessary," especially in America. He also examines the views of nonviolence held by Martin Luther King Jr. and C. S. Lewis, how Jesus constitutes the justice of God, and the relationship between congregational ministry and Christian formation in America. It is a compelling read to say the least.

-Whenever I talk about nonviolence, there is always pushback to the tone of it being a nice sentiment, but not being an effective tool of change in a violent world like ours. This is why I was so pleased to read "Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare)," by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan. For more than a century, from 1900 to 2006, campaigns of nonviolent resistance were more than twice as effective as their violent counterparts in achieving their stated goals. By attracting impressive support from citizens, whose activism takes the form of protests, boycotts, civil disobedience, and other forms of nonviolent noncooperation, these efforts help separate regimes from their main sources of power and produce remarkable results, even in Iran, Burma, the Philippines, and the Palestinian Territories. Combining statistical analysis with case studies of specific countries and territories, Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan detail the factors enabling such campaigns to succeed and, sometimes, causing them to fail. They find that nonviolent resistance presents fewer obstacles to moral and physical involvement and commitment, and that higher levels of participation contribute to enhanced resilience, greater opportunities for tactical innovation and civic disruption (and therefore less incentive for a regime to maintain its status quo), and shifts in loyalty among opponents' erstwhile supporters, including members of the military establishment. It really is such a fascinating and illuminating read.

-Recently, I recommended the podcast "More Perfect," discussing the viability line in Roe v Wade. If you didn't catch it, I wanted to recommend the second and final part of this topic called "Part 2: If Not Viability, Then What?" These two episodes have probably been the most nuanced and helpful pieces I have heard presenting on the topic of abortion this year. I highly recommend listening to both episodes if you haven't yet already.

-Finally, if you're anything like me, I had a hard time understanding the historical context of Affirmative Action and distinguishing what it meant in theory and how it is being practiced. If you have felt the same way, then you might like the recent episode from Throughline that discusses this topic in light of it being in front of the supreme court recently.

Okay, onto today's content.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

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What is peace? Furthermore, how do we make peace? Why will those who make peace be called children of God?

These really are the fundamental questions when I read this beatitude. Because peace can and has been defined so many different ways that it is important to understand how Jesus would have understood the concept of peace when he spoke these words.

So let’s take a quick look.

The Greek word we translate into “peacemakers” is εἰρηνοποιός (eirénopoios). It is only found here in this beatitude in Matthew 5:9.

It means embodying God’s terms for creation in such a brave way that it makes others whole. It is a powerful word. Yet, here again, we are left with the same questions about peace. Because many people can define “wholeness” in different ways, just like we do peace. So we must still understand what Jesus must have meant by “peace.”

For this we need to understand the Biblical concept of shalom, which is one of the most pervasive themes in all of scripture from start to finish.

The Hebrew word for shalom (שָׁלוֹם) means completeness, soundness, welfare, and peace. It isn’t just a greeting or an inner spiritual reality either. It is a proactive, collective way of being in the world. It is about restoration and flourishing. It is not only the mission of God in the world, it is a reality God calls humanity to pursue together for each other right from the beginning.

Shalom expresses a reality that is complex and is made up of a lot of pieces, but exists in a state of wholeness, completeness, like when God finished creating all things, and rested in the presence of its wholeness.

Because of its diverse and expansive meaning, it shows up in a lot of unique places in the Bible, all referring to wholeness, completeness, restoration, and peace.

Shalom is the word Job uses to describe his tents being “complete” because none of his flocks are missing (Job 5:4).

Shalom is what young David asks his brothers if they have it when he visits them on the battle field (1 Samuel 17:12-36).

Shalom is what Solomon brings to the unfinished temple when he completes it. (1 Kings 9:25).

Shalom is what someone did if their livestock happened to damage their neighbor’s crop, completely repaying them for their loss (Exodus 22:4).

Shalom is what someone does to bring healing and reconciliation to a broken relationship. (Provers 16:7)

Shalom is what rival kingdoms in the Bible were called to bring, which is not only choosing not to be violent towards one another, but to strive for the flourishing and wellbeing of each other’s kingdoms.

All these examples and more are the act of finding what’s missing and restoring it to wholeness.

This is what Israel’s kings were called to do, but tragically, it rarely happened.

The prophet Isaiah then declares that soon the prince of Shalom would come to the world and Shalom would never end. There would be no more brokenness or injustice. (Isaiah 9:5-6)

In the New Testament, Christ’s birth is announced as the arrival of εἰρήνη (eiréné), which is the Greek word for oneness, wholeness, peace, quietness, and rest. (Luke 2:14)

This is not only pointing back to the concept of shalom, but it is the root word of eirénopoios (peacemakers), the people Jesus said would be known as the children of God.

Jesus, the Son of God is the prince of peace. Those who go about making his way of peace in the world (shalom), will be children of God.

Jesus is God’s embodiment and fulfillment of shalom.

The Zealot and the Tax collector

One of the more striking ways Jesus created peace was in the way he chose his disciples. Specifically Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector.

“Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” -Matt 10:1-4

It is always important to remember when we Christians read the gospels that we are reading about Jewish people who are navigating their religion within their context. Christianity, after all, began as an internal Jewish movement. Jesus is a Jewish Rabbi navigating Jewish theology in the social, political context of his day. This helps us to understand the complexity we are reading about more clearly.

Also, it is important to remember that no religion is a monolith. The same is true for Judaism. There are multiple sects of Judaism during Christ’s time. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and others. Some scholars consider the Zealots as another sect of Judaism, while others feel it was more likely that the Zealots were a political movement within Judaism in which anyone from any particular sect may be involved.

The Zealots were fiercely opposed to the Roman occupation of Jerusalem and advocated violence against Rome and anyone who collaborated with them, including any fellow Jews. The Zealots were integral in the First Jewish-Roman war (66-70), which culminated in Rome destroying the temple.

With Herod installed as a Jewish puppet king by Rome, there were many who collaborated with the Roman occupation and one of the harshest ways this was done was through taxes. As you might imagine, this is why there was an array of hostility towards tax collectors in Christ’s time, who would be considered the worst of the worst among the collaborators with Rome.

With the full backing of the Roman military, tax collectors would not only be those who collected the heavy Roman taxes that would often leave people destitute and landless, but tax collectors were permitted by law to charge as much as they would like to take for themselves.

Tax collectors were a central part of maintaining the “Pax Romana,” which means “Roman Peace.” Rome had established “peace” for itself through the iron fist of violence and the elimination of its non-Roman enemies. It kept that “peace” through equally brutal and harsh tactics, like heavy taxation. Rome kept this kind of “peace” for over 200 years.

As you can imagine, the Zealots would have led the charge in this hostility against tax collectors in the most ardent way. In fact, many scholars believe that it was the taxation of Rome that sparked the Zealot political movement in the first place. Zealots would also define “peace” through violent overthrow and the elimination of their Roman enemies.

Then Jesus comes along and calls Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector to be his disciples.

You could not pick two people more politically opposed to one another than these two. Spending the holidays with family members with different political views can be really difficult. Imagine spending all your time with them for three years as you followed Jesus.

I can’t even imagine the thoughts that ran through both Simon’s and Matthew’s minds when they saw one another for the first time. How they felt traveling together, lodging together, and following Jesus together. I can’t imagine how different their expectations of what kind of teacher and messiah Jesus should be given their convictions.

Yet, Jesus brings shalom to them.

Imagine them watching Jesus go to a tax collector’s house named Zacchaeus, eat with him, and bring shalom to his house, which not only resulted in Zacchaeus being restored into community himself, but him paying people back four times what he defrauded them in his work.

Imagine them watching Jesus tell Peter to put his sword away, saying “those who live by the sword, die by the sword.” All after riding a donkey into Jerusalem, a symbol of peace, rather than a warhorse.

Imagine them hearing Jesus teach about loving their enemies and praying for them, while opposing an “eye for an eye” mentality towards the world.

Imagine them slowly leaving their definitions of “peace” behind as they learned about, participated in, and were transformed by shalom, the peace of God, and were made whole themselves.

You see, true peace, God’s definition of peace isn’t just the absence of violence. It is the proactive, faithful, and brave act of bringing wholeness and healing to the broken places and people in our world. Even if it costs us everything. Like it did for Jesus.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be known as children of God.

Responding to violence with Shalom

I was 16 years old when September 11th happened. That was almost 22 years ago now. It is wild to think that there are people graduating high school and even finishing college who weren’t even born yet when that day happened. It wasn’t something they witnessed or lived through.

It was America’s longest war in history. It was a war many in my generation spent their lives serving in the military to fight. It was a war that began and ended in controversy.

One of the things I have often thought about since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 is what if we had responded differently?

Many in my Christian circles growing up thought of America as a “Christian nation,” yet was our nation’s response to 9/11 “Christ like?”

Did it look like the response of peacemakers or those seeking an “eye for an eye?”

Many historians now trace the beginnings of ISIS growth and power as a reaction to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Many also claim that the United States responded in exactly the way those in al-Qaeda said we would. That we claim to be a people of freedom, peace, and liberty, but we would respond with brute force, violence, and control.

Would inflicting war on another country repair the violence done to us? Would taking the lives of others ever balance the scales of justice in the face of those we tragically lost on 9/11 and in the war that followed? Is war the appropriate response to murderers?

This is just a thought exercise, but imagine if instead of declaring war against those who carried out violence against us, the United States responded by bringing food to the hungry in Iraq, negotiated peace talks, worked to improve access to education, especially for women, and helped to facilitate a quality economic and healthcare infrastructure to benefit the poor of Iraq. What if instead of trying to repay brokenness with brokenness, we responded with Shalom? What if we brought healing and wholeness to the poor of Iraq, who ultimately suffered the most when their country was at war with ours.

Would ISIS have been able to gain so much power and bring so much destruction? Would people in Iraq be inclined to believe the U.S. was the enemy they were told we were? Would the world look different today?

Pondering our not so distant past in light of the ancient context of Jesus tells me that we humans still so often see violence as the most effective way to “make peace.” We still so often think that a nonviolent, proactive work towards healing and wholeness, even towards our enemies as Jesus shows us, is still a far too radical notion. It doesn’t feel as “just” as repaying violence with violence does.

We want the warhorse.

Jesus rides a donkey.

We want the bird of prey.

The Holy Spirit descends as a dove.

We want the militia.

Jesus calls disciples.

We want the courtroom.

Jesus sets a table.

We want the gavel.

Jesus washes feet.

We want to take up swords.

Jesus takes up a cross.

We want the empire.

Jesus brings the Reign of God.

We want the nation.

Jesus calls the church.

We want the roaring lion.

God comes as a slaughtered lamb.

We keep trying to arm God.

God keeps trying to disarm us.

We still haven’t allowed shalom to fully capture our hearts, our lives, or our world.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Now I’d like to hear your thoughts. How do you approach this beatitude? How have you defined peace? Did reading this change how your approach this concept in any way? Do you have different thoughts from what I expressed here? I’d love to hear them. Respond to this email and let me know.

If you find this project helpful and would like to support it further, you can do so here. I deeply appreciate all of you who have done so already. It really helps me to keep this project alive.

I look forward to hearing from you! As always, thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Ben​

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