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Blessed Are the Peacemaker

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Blessed Are the Peacemaker
CHAPTER ONE: Peace Makers
INTRODUCTION:
The followers of Jesus have been called to peace. When he called them they found their peace, for he is their peace. But now they are told that they must not only have peace but make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult. Now, PEACEMAKING is a divine work. For peace means reconciliation; and God is the author of peace and of reconciliation. … It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the particular blessing which attaches to peacemakers is that "they shall be called sons of God." For they are seeking to do what their Father has done, loving people with his love.
1.1 Who are the Peace Makers
Being a peacemaker is part of being surrendered to God, for God brings peace. We abandon the effort to get our needs met through the destruction of enemies. God comes to us in Christ to make peace with us; and we participate in God's grace as we go to our enemies to make peace. For no one has ever been converted by violence. Making peace makes us God's children—and kin to each other. According to Michael H. Crosby, in his work ‘Spirituality of the Beatitudes’. The peace intended is not merely that of political and economic stability, as in the Greco-Roman world, but peace in the Old Testament inclusive sense of wholeness, all that constitutes well-being. … The "peacemakers," therefore, are not simply those who bring peace between two conflicting parties, but those actively at work making peace, bringing about wholeness and well-being among the alienated. However, they play a vital role by their impact by creating peace where violence has taken control. It is important to note that peacemakers are honoured insofar as they speak about peace as something already victoriously won that we can celebrate as part of our glorious past or as something that will be won in the other world. They continue to be dishonoured insofar as they continue to point out injustice, hypocrisy, and suffering. They are noble when their actions

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