When
I was a kid, I could sometimes be a verbal or physical target for bullies. I remember Keith, who used to pick on
me. I don’t know what his problem was,
but I’m guessing it was hard to pronounce.
He’d make a short joke or make fun of me for my pasty white skin. He
thought he was pretty funny, but I thought it was kind of hilarious watching
him fit his entire vocabulary into one sentence. Sometimes he would shove me around and take
my stuff. This problem went on into
adulthood. To this day, Keith still
takes my lunch money. On the plus side,
he makes great Subway sandwiches.[i]
Maybe
you’ve been pushed around too, at some point in life. It could have been that punk on the
playground, or the jerk at work, or even that cheeky churl at church. Perhaps you were socially assaulted,
physically insulted, or had your character assassinated. It’s hard to know how a Christian should
handle such things. You hear Jesus say,
“Blessed are the peacemakers,” and you think, “Yeah, I’d like a
Peacemaker.” Because it’s been said, “God
created man; Sam Colt made him equal.”
Trust me—if that’s the way you think, you wouldn’t be alone. A lot of people have a hard time swallowing
what Jesus says in the Beatitudes.
For the
past few weeks, we’ve been talking about the Beatitudes, or the “Blessed Be’s”
of Matthew 5:3-12. The Beatitudes are
the eight key attitudes we need to have as Christians, if we are going to be
all that God made us to be. Some of
these sound nice, like “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God
(Matthew 5:8 NIV).” But some of them
just don’t sound right, if we’re honest, do they? Not long ago, someone asked me if I thought
it was okay for Christians to disagree with Jesus. I told him I thought most Christians disagree
with Jesus about one thing or another from time to time—and this is one of
them. Yeah, when we’re honest with
ourselves, we don’t agree with Jesus on this one very much.
Jesus’
disciples didn’t agree with him, either, so I guess we’re in good company. One time, Jesus’ disciples wanted to call
down fire from heaven on a village that didn’t listen to Jesus’ message. Luke
9:55-56 (NASB) says, “But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You
do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not
come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
Another time, when Jesus was arrested, Peter decided to take matters
into his own hands. Drawing a sword, he
cut off the ear of one of the servants who was arresting Jesus. "’Put your sword back in its place,’
Jesus said to him, ‘for all who draw the sword will die by the sword (Matthew
26:52 NIV).’” Here Jesus was,
advocating peace, when clearly Peter knew defense was called for. It seems a lot of times, the disciples didn’t
agree with Jesus at all.
But being a Christian doesn’t mean you agree with
Jesus—it means you follow him.
Yes, did you know that it’s okay for a Christian to
disagree with Jesus? Following Jesus doesn’t
mean you agree—but it does mean you put your personal disagreements aside, and
submit yourself to the one that you call Teacher. Like a soldier doesn’t always agree with his
commanding officer, or a bridesmaid doesn’t always like the dress that the
bride chose for her to wear—if you call yourself a Christian, it’s not
necessary that you agree with Christ.
But to be a Jesus-follower means whether you agree or not, you follow
Jesus.
This means loving your enemies even when you don’t
want to do that. It means going the
extra mile even when that’s the last thing you had in mind. Remember, Jesus wasn’t speaking into a
cultural vacuum—he was talking to people who hated their Roman occupiers, hated
anybody who conspired with or helped them, and hated those who were
complicit. So when Jesus told them to do
good to people who misused them, his audience didn’t like it. By law, Roman soldiers were allowed to grab
any Jewish man at random and force him to carry his pack for a mile. But here Jesus said to go the extra mile. No, I’m sure that Jesus’ disciples, when they
heard this stuff, didn’t agree with it.
But Jesus told them to do it anyway.
Later in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus would say, “So
if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother
has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First
be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5:23-24
NIV).” Jesus believed that your
religious duty to God could wait until after you fulfilled your human duty to
another human being. Too many Christians
act pious, while they are at odds with other people. Jesus told us that our first priority is to
make peace with our sisters and brothers—only then will our religion mean
anything.
The expression “burying the hatchet” is a term that
originated among First Nations people in North America. Historical records show the concept of
burying a hatchet as a symbol of peacemaking, going back as far as 1644.[ii] Later, Europeans would give pipe tomahawks to
war chieftains when treaties were signed.
The hatchet blade was a symbol of war, but the pipe represented
peace. Together, this depicted the tenuous
relationship of people who have a history of conflict. The tomahawk pipe shows the fact that with
some people, the difference between war and peace may be a simple flick of the
wrist. But instead of the blade, they
chose to sit down, smoke, and talk together.
So in the old West, Colt wasn’t really the peacemaker—the tomahawk pipe
was.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
shall be called children of God.” Jesus
calls us to this, because this is what He did—making peace between humanity and
God, and then calling us to make peace with one another. It’s not about calling yourself a Christian
or performing religious duties—it’s when you receive the peace of Jesus and
become a peacemaker yourself, that you are called a child of God.
[i] 50
Hilarious Comebacks That Will Shut Everyone Up (And Make You Look Like A
Genius). By Mélanie Berliet, February
22nd 2016. https://thoughtcatalog.com/melanie-berliet/2016/02/50-hilarious-comebacks-that-will-shut-everyone-up-and-make-you-look-like-a-genius/. May 7, 2018.
[ii] The
Phrase Finder: Bury the Hatchet. https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bury-the-hatchet.html. May 8, 2018.
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