Blessed Are the Peacemakers

In Matthew 5:9 we read, 

“Blessed are the peacemakers; God shall call them His sons.” 

This statement is so familiar to us that, like all things familiar, we tend to take it at face value without considering its deeper meaning. But if we pause to reflect, the statement reveals that God values and loves peace—and He promises a reward for those who actively work to create it.

Notice that He designates such people as peace makers, which defines the role as one of action and deeds. And what is the reward if we are obedient to God’s call? We are honored and blessed by an intimate kinship—like that of a parent and child—with our beloved Lord. Isn’t this our life’s purpose and greatest desire?

What is the nature of peace, and how do we become peacemakers? Peace is the presence of loving fellowship, cooperation, and harmony between people. It is also the absence of conflict, violence, and disturbance. But notice—it is the presence of one thing that leads to the absence of another. The presence of harmony leads to the absence of conflict; the two cannot coexist. Like light and dark, if loving harmony is present, conflict is abolished.

Harmony and loving cooperation are only possible when built on the foundation of God’s Law—the Law of loving Him and each other (Matthew 22:37). This foundation is echoed in Galatians 5:22–23: 

“…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” and again in the Baha’i writings: “The fruits that best befit the tree of human life are trustworthiness and godliness, truthfulness and sincerity.”

So if we are building peace—if we are to be “peacemakers”—then we must bear these fruits through obedience to the Law of Love, manifested through our being and action.

Peace becomes a reality that naturally comes into existence through the dynamic of these necessary conditions. It is the outgrowth of choosing to let God’s Word mold us in His image:

“Adapt yourselves no longer to the pattern of the present world, but let your minds be remade and your whole nature thus transformed. Then you will be able to discern the will of God and to know what is good, acceptable and perfect.” —Romans 12:2

What is Paul telling us? That without transformation born of obedience, we cannot discern God’s will or know righteousness. So if we are to be makers of peace, we must be remade, our whole nature thus transformed, in order to know and obey the will of God.

We are then capable of making peace through our deeds and actions. As we read in Psalm 34:14:

“Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”

To truly know what is evil and turn to the Good, we must be remade through the transformative power of God’s Word.

As the Baha’i writings state:

The divine purpose is that men should live in unity, concord and agreement and should love one another… Unity is the essential truth of religion and, when so understood, embraces all the virtues of the human world… We must endeavor to promulgate and practice the religion of God, [which] is absolute love and unity.

The Word is light, and we must have the light of peace in our hearts to be peacemakers—because we cannot give what we do not have, and we cannot build if we do not act.