God's Children (Peace 2)
Perhaps a surprising conception.
What is it to be called a child of God?
Generally when we hear the phrase, we think of the idea that all are made by God. Perhaps more specifically, that we are made in the image of God. And that is true: each and every one of us bears God’s image. We mess that up quite often, a key feature in the salvation story. But all have the capacity to reflect the image of God within them, as children of God.
But here in the midst of the beatitudes at the beginning of the sermon on the mount, Jesus uses the title in a much more specific way.
Peacemakers…shall be called children of God.
Those people who make peace - they are the progeny of the Father, the divinely begotten, the birthed results of God’s action. Jesus could have said peacemakers were good people or worthy of praise or generally likable people because they seed peace. But he didn’t. He said people who make peace shall be children of God. (Don’t get too caught up in the notion of children - this isn’t about age.)
It’s also notable that Jesus does not say Peacekeepers, but peacemakers. There is a continued element of creation here. Actually, it’s procreation - this is the continued call of God the creator from the beginning - to make peace, shalom. You may remember that the Garden of Eden is that place of shalom-dwelling. Shalom is that Hebrew word translated “peace.” Again, it’s not the absence of something - conflict of violence - but rather the presence of something - the way of God, the existence of justice, righteousness, all that is right.
Peacemakers, then, are not merely calming storms. They are cultivating Eden wherever they go.
To be called a child of God, then, is not simply a sentimental identity phrase or a cosmic compliment. It is a naming of vocation to join the Father’s ongoing work of making peace. Wherever injustice, injury, or isolation exists, children of God create wholeness in its place.
Matthew 5:9 (KJV)
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Prayer
God,
You are the source of peace and the maker of all that is whole. Teach me the work of peacemaking today, not passive avoidance, but active love. Let your Spirit give me imagination for reconciliation, wisdom in tension, and compassion strong enough to bridge what is broken.
Make me a child who resembles you. Form in me a vision of shalom: not just the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice, mercy, and what is right.
Give me courage to create peace where there is none, and patience to sustain peace where it has begun.
Holy Father of all creation, we see your loving justice in Jesus of Nazareth. By your Spirit, make us more like him.
Amen.