“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” (Mathew 5:9)
“All your strength is in your union All your danger is in discord Therefore be at peace henceforward, And as brothers live together.” – –Henry Wordsworth Longfellow
There are only two references in the scriptures to “peacemakers”, Matthew 5 and 3 Nephi 12. We can begin understanding what the Lord meant by this term by using the definition from any English dictionary for the word peacemaker, which is “any person who makes peace”, and the many references to “peace” in the scriptures. The world defines “peacemaker” as someone who steps in and stops a fight, or prevents one, perhaps as a statesman, diplomat, a Gandhi, or a Martin Luther King. Peace in the world’s understanding is absence of conflict, war. Two references to the name “Peacemaker” or “Peacekeeper” illustrate my point. The first is the Peacekeeper missile, or MX, built in the 1980’s and 90’s to carry ten 300 kiloton yield nuclear weapons. The second is the Colt 45 caliber Peacemaker revolver built in the late 1800’s. Both were instruments of war; the name “Peacemaker” or “Peacekeeper” having reference to enforcing peace by threatening extreme violence. The strategy of the US during the Cold War with the Soviet Union was fear, to make the threat of war so horrific and terrible that it would enforce peace.
In the way of the World’s thinking, peace is absence of war. But even in peacetime there is fear, anxiety, restlessness, jostlings, antipathy, animosity, hatred, and envying. Worldly peace comes at the cost of having to raise the economic prospects of one nation or people over the prosperity of another. Because of this, peace usually has to be maintained by force through unrighteous dominion engendering hatred and animosity. Peace and prosperity for some requires that other people suffer. Even in peace there are factions within nations and between races that prevent any peaceful feelings that might exist otherwise. Wordly peace always involves some discord, in contrast to God’s peace. ‘God is not the author of confusion, but of peace’ (Corinthians 14:33)
Peace in heaven’s dictionary is something more, much more. If worldly peace is absence of war, the peace of Christ is absence of conflict within ourselves. When we are at peace with ourselves, we are at peace with God. If we are at peace with God we are at peace with our fellow man and we have no basis for discord or animosity. “First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.” (Thomas a’ Kempis, Imitation of Christ) The essence of this peace is described by Paul:
“to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6) “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace” (Galatians 5:22)
I am talking about the “peace that passeth understanding” (Philippians 4:7). In a previous posting I wrote about the pure in heart who have come to a point in their lives where they have no animosity towards anyone. Having seen God they now know their place in the scheme of things and their minds are at peace. As part of their spiritual maturity they are so full of light and truth that God grants to them the charity of Christ. Having exercised faith, and having obtained the hope of eternal life, which Christ promises to you when you receive your calling and election, they are now given some clarity on the true meaning of charity (1 Corinthians 13:13). True Christ-like charity really distills down, in one of its purest forms, to helping others obtain the same privileges that you have received. Helping others thereafter becomes a passion in the lives of those that have obtained redemption. The Sons of Mosiah are a great example of this. They “could not bear that any human soul should perish.” (Mosiah 28:3) When they met up with Alma the Younger years after leaving Nephite lands to preach to the Lamanites, Alma described that they experienced “incomprehensible joy” in bringing the souls of many to Christ. Joy is the very thing that Father in Heaven wants us to experience, and indeed, the very thing that defines the love of Christ fulfilled.
“And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be.” (1 Nephi 13:37)
I believe the Lord’s words through Nephi’s writing describe the peacemakers, the ones who publish peace; the peace the gospel of Christ brings to the soul. Publishing peace through testimony and gentle persuasion is what peacemakers do. Anyone can become a peacemaker, but, there is a special case of peacemaker, spoken of in the beatitudes, of someone who has become sanctified and redeemed. His or her mission becomes that of teacher, expounder, and testifier. This is how we take upon us the name of Christ. And having been given His name, we become His children. The following words spoken to Moses and Aaron by the Lord frame the spirit of how a peacemaker publishes peace.
“Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel: and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6: 23-27)
“Wherefore I say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: and he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God,…” (Numbers 25:12-13)
I wonder if we really understand what Christ-like charity is. We think that giving money to a beggar, paying tithing, visiting the sick and the prisoners, volunteering at the food bank, sacrificing our time to help other people, etc., is the same as the charity that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13. What we think of as charity is only doing the basic minimum of what the Lord expects of us. Although this kind of charity is a good work that we do, we are only scratching the surface of what it means in the scriptural sense to have charity. Here is an example where peacemaking and charity are ultimately bound up in the same thing.
Hugh B. Brown, who was an apostle in the first presidency of the LDS church in the 1950’s and 60’s, tells a story of a Canadian Army Captain with whom he fought along side in France during the First World War. The Captain sent a squad of men from his company out on patrol in no-mans land between the lines of the British and the Germans at night to gain intelligence of the enemy’s disposition. During the patrol the men were discovered and fired upon by the enemy, and many of the men were killed. A few men escaped and were able to make it back to their lines, but the bodies of their comrades were left in no-man’s land. The Captain wrote letters to the families of the dead men telling them that their husbands or sons had been reported missing. The wife of one of the men wrote back that she could not bear not knowing whether her husband was dead or a prisoner. She had to know. The captain decided that he would go out into no-man’s land by himself at night and find the body of the woman’s husband. He was able to find the body and was able to report back to the woman that her husband was dead. In performing this act he became a peacemaker because the captain valued the grieving wife’s peace of mind more than his own life. Elder Brown reported that the man was wounded by a sniper while on his perilous mission to no man’s land and later died from his wound.
How much more valuable, more important is it to help a person obtain an eternal peace of mind? What is more valuable than obtaining eternal life? Along the way, the peacemaker can experience incomprehensible joy, which is not the motivation for being a peacemaker, but nevertheless is a consequence. Truly that person becomes a child of God, one who knows his Father and does his Father’s work.
The Lord is teaching us to be like Him. I think that if many people who have a notion of becoming like Christ, really understood what they would have to do, they would balk at the requirements. After all your whole job in existence, what really gives you satisfaction as a God, is to labor and work solely to bring about the happiness and joy of men. There is no ego involved and absolutely no self promotion or self aggrandizement. You do not do it because there is a reward somewhere in it for yourself. You do it out of a love that is incomprehensible to us right now. It is all about taking care of the needs and desires of others, even if they don’t deserve it. How many can endure that work? This is why I believe that one of the highest callings in the kingdom of Heaven, or anywhere else, is to be a peacemaker.
I am following the theme I established at the beginning of the series on the beatitudes, which is this: Christ was describing a step by step pathway to exaltation. It naturally follows that a person having obtained a pure heart and having seen God will also receive salvation and his or her Calling and Election. The “calling” part of Calling and Election is to be a peacemaker, to bring others to Christ. The next step in the process of following Christ is nothing more than the natural consequence of being a peacemaker; being persecuted. I will write about that in a follow on posting.