The Trouble With Peace

By Bruce N. G. Cromwell

Almost from the very beginning, humans have fought with each other. Adam blamed Eve for giving him the forbidden fruit, and the biblical thread of social and relational discord simply unraveled from there. In the New Testament, St. Paul appealed to the Holy Spirit to be the power for post-Pentecost Christians to stop their divisiveness and instead “be perfectly united in mind and thought” (1 Corinthians 1:10).

Yet church history shows us that those Christians in Corinth and beyond continued to fight with one another over any number of things: the nature of Christ, the issue of slavery and race, speaking in tongues, whether priests should be only men and if they should wear a beard, if it’s permissible to dance… Polarization seems everywhere.

Jesus’ birth was heralded by a heavenly chorus of earthly peace (Luke 2:14). What did the angels mean? Were they wrong?

In the Hebrew language of the Old Testament, the word most frequently translated as “peace” is shalom. It means a condition of perfect welfare, of serenity and prosperity and happiness and healthy relations among people. So when King David sings in Psalm 122:6, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” he is not asking only that the city be spared from war and strife. He is asking that every blessing might be given it by God.

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“He gave His beatitude to those who make peace.”

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This is a similar thought in the New Testament with the Greek word eirene. Though often translated as “peace,” it most properly refers to God’s ultimate blessing. This is important. For though our Lord gave many blessings within the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, He never said, “Blessed are those who wish for peace” or “love peace” or “long for peace” or even “preach peace.” He gave His beatitude to those who make peace. It demands activity, not passivity.

This can be unnerving for those who see peace primarily as refusing to rock the boat, rather than as making all things right and good and blessed. It is a challenge for all of us who tend to envision peace as a slightly improved version of the world we already have, rather than the inbreaking of the kingdom of God.

Prince or Disturber of Peace?

We long to be rid of conflict. But we often don’t want to do the hard work of eliminating the spiritual and material factors that create such division and unrest.

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“The peace He brings is not just a warm fuzzy. It’s hard work, and confusing, and even paradoxical.”

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I think this gets to the heart of what Jesus is getting at when He says in Luke 12:51-52, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.” The peace He brings is not just a warm fuzzy. It’s hard work, and confusing, and even paradoxical. After all, Jesus said in Matthew 10:34, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

This is why some might see the Prince of Peace as a disturber of the peace. His work of bringing light into the darkness often was met with turmoil and tension. When Jesus freed a demon-possessed man and sent the evil spirits into a herd of pigs, which immediately ran into the lake and drowned themselves, the owners of the pigs asked Christ to leave them alone (Mark 5:1-20). When Jesus healed a man with a shriveled hand on the Sabbath, the religious leaders began looking for a way to get rid of Him (Mark 3:1-6). Couldn’t He have done this on another day? Even when He raised His good friend Lazarus from the dead, the peace of new life came only after the disturbance of conflict. Lazarus’ sister essentially protested, “Don’t open the tomb! By now his body is stinking” (see John 11:38-39).

Instruments of Peace (and Trouble)

When I was working on my Ph.D., I was an assistant for the head Franciscan in the United States. My job was to do some translation work on a series of books he was editing on St. Francis of Assisi. It’s hard to find a saint in the church historic who is more closely identified with the beatitude of peacemaking than this little friar, so often pictured with birds and other animals. It’s also hard to find a more famous prayer for peace than the one attributed to him:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

Whether or not these exact words were said by Francis, the prayer sums up his life and lifework well. It also illustrates how disturbing Christ’s peace can be to those who would just as soon leave things pretty much the way they are, thank you very much.

Unity does not mean uniformity. Similarly, peace does not mean the removal of all disagreement or discomfort. Sometimes it necessitates it. St. Paul had his entire religious worldview turned on its head on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). St. Peter’s understanding of righteousness fell apart after he had a vision and then a Gentile knocked on his door (Acts 10). For both of them, preaching Christ crucified proved offensive and challenging to their status quo, to their previous comfort. It completely overwhelmed and overruled their religious presuppositions. And it was only in time that Paul was able to testify, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Extended to an ecclesiological conclusion, “Christ in me” is what Paul meant by being the body of Christ.

Because of Christ crucified, Christians are often at odds with the culture. Because of the crucifixion, Christians are opposed to violence and vengeance. Because of the crucifixion, Christians resist the worldly temptation to power and avarice. Because of the crucifixion, that which often seems foolish and weak to the world is actually the manifestation of the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). Colossians 1:20 tells us that God worked through Christ “to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” Because of the undiscriminating, unjust crucifixion, we have a way made for the reconciliation of all things, inviting us to be a part of the healing of divisions (2 Corinthians 5:18) even as we work for peace.

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“Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year; it is the struggle of a lifetime.”

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In 2018 (two years before his death), U. S. Rep. John Lewis spoke words that reflect well our Christlike approach to peace in the midst of such polarization. “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful; be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year; it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Indeed, may we all go to the trouble of being peacemakers in our world today.+