"Blessed Are the Peacemakers" - Sermon for All Saints Sunday Year A

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

All Saints A

November 1, 2020

Grace, Waseca, MN

Matthew 5.1-12

The contentiousness following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reminded me of the previous death of another Justice in January 2016, Antonin Scalia. It wasn’t the contentiousness of the ensuing nomination process that jogged my memory. Rather, what I remembered was how devastated Bader Ginsburg was over Scalia’s death. Though the two were polar opposites in judicial philosophy and clashed often, they were also close friends and had been since the 1980s. Among other things, they shared a love of opera.

Judges are called upon to be peacemakers in a world that is increasingly litigious and contentious. Into this world, we hear Jesus’ voice: “Blessed are the peacemakers,” he says, “for they will be called children of God.” It’s helpful to know that when Jesus goes up on a mountain, the mountain was typically a place of revelation from God. And when he sits down, he assumes the position of an authoritative teacher, in this case one like Moses. Jesus is signaling that something important is about to happen. Indeed, what follows is the first of five large blocks of teaching in Matthew’s Gospel, what we have come to know as “Sermon on the Mount.” In this sermon, particularly what we call the Beatitudes, Jesus gives us a vision of God’s kingdom. It’s a vision not just for the future but also for today.

Now, it’s also important that when we hear Jesus say, “Blessed” we need to hear something else besides our modern American religious use of the term. We tend to think of blessings as good things that happen to us or of material possessions we have. Indeed, these may be blessings, but that’s not what Jesus means. Rather, God’s favor (of blessedness) is bestowed on people who we don’t think of as blessed: the humble, poor in spirit, mourners, sufferers of persecution and injustice, or slogging away for peace in the midst of violence. In these examples of blessedness, we get a glimpse of God’s “Core Values,” values that are different than those our world holds.

Clearly, one of those core values is to be a peacemaker or, if we aren’t able to make peace, to at least support those who are trying. It’s vital to know that Jesus is talking about the Jewish concept of shalom, which goes beyond our normal understanding of peace as the time between wars or the absence of conflict. Shalom has a deeper sense of well-being for all creation, to experience the fullness of God’s gifts. It’s the peace we experience when look at the sunset over a lake or connect with another person in a fulfilling way.

Make no mistake, we know all too well that peacemaking is hard, painstaking and often unsuccessful work. There is no how-to manual for doing it. Yet, to paraphrase Mother Teresa, we “…do it anyway” because we are children of God. This is exemplified by German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who wrote “The Cost of Discipleship,” based upon the Sermon on the Mount. In the section on the Beatitudes, specifically peacemaking, Bonhoeffer denounced violence, declared that we should choose suffering, and overcome evil with good. Yet in the face of Naziism, Bonhoeffer found himself caught up in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He would face martyrdom for his faith and actions.

Today is All Saints Sunday when we remember those who have died in the past year. It’s also a time to remember that to be a saint doesn’t just mean to be good, though it can. It doesn’t just mean being dead and it doesn’t mean dying for your faith like Bonhoeffer. It’s a time to remember that each of us has been set aside in our baptism for God’s purposes. We know that Jesus is not saying “be peacemakers so you can get heaven’s reward.” The grace of God’s acceptance is already ours and it is that grace which propels us to kingdom work.

Through the cross, Jesus has made peace with our brokenness and death so we can make peace. This congregation has experienced significant conflict and the Discovery Team has ample evidence that many of you desire unity and peace. That sounds like your next senior pastor would have some gifts for handling conflict. For now, please know that in our divisive and contentious world, Jesus invites you to follow the way of Scalia and Bader Ginsburg, not to mention Mother Teresa, Martin Luther Kind, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Bonhoeffer and many others to work for peace or support those who do, for you are the children of God. Amen.

To watch this sermon in the worship service click here.