One of the paradoxes of life is the fact that the peacemaker must
be a fighter to be effective. Edwin Markham just before his death in
1940 remarked that his fondest hope had not been realized. He had
wanted to write a poem that would dispense the armies of the world.
Unfortunately, peace is not achieved by poetry. It takes something
more than beautiful words. It takes risky and sacrificial action.
The peacemaker must take the same risks as the warmaker. It costs
Jesus His life to be a peacemaker, and this is the price many have paid
to bring peace between God and man, as well as between men. The
soldier of the cross is subject to all the dangers of the soldier in
physical warfare. The New Testament is filled with references to the
Christian life in terms of the military. Putting on the whole armor of
God; fighting the good fight, and other such phrases are common.
The Christians as peacemaker is in the midst of constant battle. He
would be useless and irrelevant where strive and conflict are absent,
but he is God's most relevant on the field of battle.
Christian, seek not yet repose;
Cast thy dreams of ease away;
Thou art in the midst of foes;
Watch and pray.
The Christian who is aware that peacemaking is as difficult, or
more difficult, than war making will recognize that diplomacy is not
enough. Diplomacy is essential, but sometimes it is like having a
bayonet when the enemy is ten miles away. You never get the chance
to use it. Such was the case of the experience of a banker in
Melbourne. He was out for a walk one evening, and passed a fence of
a shabby home where he heard screams in the back yard. Climbing
up on the fence, he saw a man attacking his wife with an ax. He
shouted at him, but this had no effect. He climber over the fence and
attempted to protect the woman. As he did, he was not only attacked
by the man, but the woman also turned on him as an intruder, and he
was lucky to get away without serious injury. The way of the
peacemaker is indeed hard, and often seems as futile as war. On the
other hand, though he received no thanks, he did end the quarrel by
uniting them against a common foe-namely himself.
So much of the peace between nations is due to their unity against a
common foe. Herod and Pilot even got together, and so did the
Pharisees and Saducees, over their common opposition to Christ.
Jesus in this beatitude says the peacemaker will stir up war against
himself, and will be persecuted. He will be slandered and called
everything but a son of God. It is important that we do not get a
superficial view of what it means to be a peacemaker. If we think it
means we will never be in the turmoil of battle, but always at a place
of calmness, we are deceived. Paradise needs no peacemakers; only
the battlefield does. That is why it is so hard and costly to be a
peacemaker. You have to be one who loves peace and who hates war,
and yet you must be in the midst of war fighting with everything you
have for peace.
John Foster Dulles said, "The world will never have lasting peace
so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no
lest then war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and
dynamic faith." Christians often fail to be dynamic as peacemakers
because they feel it is futile. The Bible seems to indicate wars will
continue to the end until the Prince of Peace Himself comes to silence
all guns forever. This sounds like a logical basis for defeatism, but it
is not. J. C. Macauley in Moody Monthly said, "The fact that wars are
predicted in Scripture, and by our Lord Himself, does not mean that
Christians should encourage war! It is our privilege to put on the
brakes by demonstrating those attitudes which tend to peace." He
goes on to say these attitudes are to be the opposites of the world. The
worldly man delights in the suffering and defeat of the enemy. They
rejoice in retaliation. There is nothing Christian in such emotions.
Even enlightened pagans have known this.
Homer in the Illiad wrote,
"Curs'd is the man and void of law and right,
Unworthy property, unworthy light,
Unfit for public rule, or private care;
That wretch, that monster, that delights in war.
The Christian may be up to his neck in war, and may be forced by
circumstances beyond his control to participate in its horrors, but he
is no peace maker unless he hates it. If he enjoys it and finds
satisfaction in killing and destroying, he is not only sub-Christian, but
it is more than likely anti-Christian. The Christian attitude in war is
expressed by General Grant: "Though educated a soldier, and though
I have gone through two wars, I have always been a man of peace,
preferring to see questions of difference settled by arbitration. It has
been my misfortune to be engaged in more battles than any other
American general, but there never was a time during my command
when I would not have chosen some settlement by reason rather than
the sword."
Here was a man of war who hated it, and loved peace, and thus,
was a peacemaker even in the midst of war. He was not one deceived
by the glory of drums, flags, and victory parades. All the glory of war
is pure paganism. It deceives millions, however, who are immature
and ignorant. We could expect to find confirmation of this from the
writings of pacifists, but the most powerful evidence comes from men
who have been great leaders on the battlefield. General Sherman
made a famous pronouncement which we seldom hear in context. He
said, "I confess without shame that I am tired and sick of the war. It's
glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither heard a shot
nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for
more blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell."
Wellington, another great general, said, "War is a most detestable
thing. If you had seen but one day of war, you would pray God that
you might never see another." Multiplying quotes is unnecessary, for
it should be obvious that a peacemaker is one who despises war, even
if he is engaged in it, just as a fireman hates the destructive flames
even though he would have no job without them. To be deceived by
the so called glory of war is to be as sub-Christian as the fire bug who
starts a fire occasionally to bring out the bravery and valor of the
firemen. There is no glory in war, for even if it were a case where only
evil men were being killed, if God has no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, how can we glory in it and profess to be Christian? The
peacemaker, therefore, though he cannot always by diplomacy
prevent war, never praises war, even if it is inevitable. He despises it,
and is daring in self-sacrifice to try and end it. Cowper wrote,
Those Christians best deserve the name,
Who studiously make peace their aim.
This means getting into the center of things with all of the
determination of a war monger. This is where I feel the weak point is
in pacifist groups such as the Jehovah Witnesses. They are passive
spectators in the bleachers shouting to the players on the field to play
fair. The man who gets into the game has not just the power to shout
about fair play and peace, he has the power to be a fair player and
peace maker. Christians of wisdom and love in government, and in
the military, can do more for the cause of peace, if they will, than
those who shout, but have no policy making power. An Esther in the
palace is worth more than masses of protesters in the streets for
saving the Jews from an unjust slaughter. If godless men and
warmakers are given the job of making all the decisions with no
Josephs or Daniels as advisers, then the poets picture will be true:
The devil's kingdom is come,
Ill is the news I tell,
The devil's will is done
On earth as it is in hell.
Even so, the Christian peacemaker never ceases to do God's will on
earth as it is done in heaven. Lack of peace does not hinder his
persistent and determined efforts for peace, since he knows that he is
laboring for what will be ultimately. The golden age is as sure as the
Word of God.
Down the dark future, through long generations,
The sounds of war grow fainter and then cease;
And like a bell with solemn, sweet vibrations,
I hear the voice of Jesus Christ say-Peace!
The assurance of ultimate victory is what enables the peacemaker
to be as determined as the warmaker. George Fox the Quaker leader,
said he strived to live "in the power of that spirit which takes away the
occasion of all war." When the Indians went on the warpath in
Pennsylvania, he and his family did not go to the fort, but stayed in
their cabin with no weapons to defend themselves. About as
unrealistic as anything could be, but he depended upon God alone for
protection. In those days you opened a door by pulling a throng of
deer skin on the outside, which raised a heavy wooden latch inside.
The latch string was pulled in when there was to be no admittance. To
say the latch string is out meant visitors were welcome. Fox always let
his latch string out, but one night he drew it in. His wife could not
sleep, and said it was not trusting God to pull in the string. He felt so
too, and put it out again.
In the night they heard the wild cries of Indians all around them.
They crept to the window and saw on the edge of the forest the Indians
were in counsel. They thought they were deciding to either kill them,
or take them prisoner. Soon a tall chief in war paint came to the door
of the cabin and fastened a long white feather to the top of it, and then
they all left. They never took it down, and later a friendly Indian who
spoke English told them what it meant. "This is the house of man of
peace. Do no harm." Only a peacemaker could ever have such an
experience, for only a peacemaker is willing to take such risks for the
cause of peace.
But what if the ending of such a risk is not always so pleasant, and
the peacemaker loses his scalp? It does not change the picture at all,
for Jesus says, "Rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in
heaven." The warmaker may win many battles, but it is the
peacemaker who will win the war. May God grant us each the
courage, when we find ourselves in the midst of any conflict, to be
fighters for peace.
