Child
of God? Do I Pass on Peace?
Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Matthew
5:9
The Peace Child is a beautiful missionary story by
Don Richardson. When he was working with the Sawi tribe, he tells that he was
not able to communicate to the people there about the significance of Christ’s
death. When he went there they were having constant feud with another tribe. It
was a custom among those tribes that if peace was ever made, it would be made
when one person from a tribe took his own baby and gave that baby to the other
tribe and left the baby there and went away. To give the baby as a permanent
gift. According to their custom, as long as the baby lived they would have to
honour peace between the tribes. But they hated each other so much, they wouldn’t
give each other a baby. Until one person, picked up the only child and gave. He
took that little baby while the wife chased not wanting to give but she was
late as he crossed the village and presented the baby. But from then on there
was peace. And Don Richardson says he got the analogy also to explain the significance
of Christ’s coming to this world.
The
idea of peace can be seen throughout the Bible. We see that the Bible opens
with peace in the Garden of Eden and closes with peace in eternity in the Book
of Revelation. Human sinned in the garden of Eden and the peace was
interrupted. But at the cross peace again became a reality when the Prince of
Peace died for our sins.
How
does God see peace? Is it the absence of conflict? In a lighter mode, I heard
one of the priest once use cemetery as the metaphor for peace. Since there is no
strife and conflict in a cemetery. But the peace that God sees and wants us to
have is not the absence of something but the presence of something.
When
a Jew says to another Jew “Shalom” which is the word for peace, it never meant
that they may have no wars or conflict. It simply means “I desire for you all
the goodness that God can give.” It’s a creative force for goodness. So, in
other words if we are peacemakers it not that we stop war but also replace it
with goodness of God.
The
Pharisees who were self-righteous stepped on people’s necks. They weren’t interested
in anybody being related to them. They weren’t interested in anything except
pushing themselves up higher and higher. They created strife everywhere they
went. They divided society into groups. And to them Jesus says, you have got it
all wrong.
Peace
is possible only when we are ready to stoop down a little and are also ready to
sacrifice something for the goodness of others. If we are to be the peacemakers,
we are to be ready to give. It is not just monetary things that we have to give
but also our egos, our pride, our false esteem and so on.
Am
I God’s child? Did I help in bringing God's goodness in others life and in this world? This lent can we put in an effort to bring peace within ourselves,
our family, our church, our society, our nation?
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