Jesus - Peacemaker

Sunday: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Over this past week, I have tried to map the phases of Jesus life to the beatitudes:

Poor in spirit, mourning and meekness – his birth and early life, a time of chaos

Hunger for righteousness – his baptism and temptation, a time of change

Mercy – his period of ministry, a time of reaching out

Pure in heart – his going to Jerusalem to face death, a time of preparation

Is this the best way to think about all this? I don’t know - it works well for me. It helps organize things in my mind.

Today is about Jesus as peacemaker – his crucifixion, a time of reuniting God and mankind.

From Mark’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion and death:

It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews”.

At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Paul wrote a great summary of who Jesus actually was, starting with him as a child of God and concluding with him as the ultimate peacemaker…

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

To conclude the week, since it is Christmas, I will consider what Isaiah wrote, a few hundred years before Jesus was born. It’s kind of a parallel to what Paul wrote above:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

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God, I don't clearly understand why all these things had to happen - but from the beginning to the end of your word, there's this pattern and symmetry that makes sense to me.

I want to be your child.

Bless the whole world.