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

Peace, in the biblical worldview, isn’t simply about the absence of conflict, it’s about everything being as it should be – everything in right relationship – right relationship with ourselves, each other, creation, and God, and then the flourishing life that springs forth from this. This is shalom/salaam. The Beatitude in Matthew 5:9 highlights the peacemaker and is calling those who place their lives in service towards that shalom/salaam, children of God.

The visit of Pope Francis to the Holy Land will be analysed for years to come. The details will be picked apart to try and work out what side in the conflict he most supports – it’s already happening. The controversy will be honed in on and unpacked with great gusto by the frenzy that bloats itself on the conflict like a ravenous glutton, drooling and frothing at the mouth every time a hint of anything that could spark things up is put forward.

The image above is quickly becoming the defining image of the visit. It depicts the stop by the Pope, at the wall that divides Israel and the West Bank (specifically Bethlehem). The stop was planned not long before it occurred and was personally requested by the Pope to take an opportunity to pray at the wall – a scene usually only reserved for the wailing wall of Old Jerusalem where he also prayed. I find it to be a deeply moving act, having walked by that part of the wall a number of times myself and having seen and been within conflict at that spot.

All actions of peace have political connotations and it’s those that most people are commenting on, but there is something far greater that occurred in the Holy Land, with that stop being a part of it. The Pope, along with rightly visiting Yad Vashem, also called on the Israeli President (Shimon Peres) and the Palestinian President (Mahmoud Abbas) to join him at the Vatican to pray for peace. Both have accepted and I believe it is set to occur on June 6th. Alongside these actions he spoke many times about peace and unity. There are many conversations that can flow from the visit, including the very reason for the visit and the continued steps towards unity between the eastern and western Church because of it, but there is something specific that caught my attention.

In the Israeli/Palestinian conflict many have given up on the hope of peace. The US has all but stepped away from trying to broker an agreement. Elements within the conflict and external of it, have torpedoed any movement towards peace before it has even had a chance. By all accounts and purposes the situation is hopeless and there is no way forward. With the latest breakdown in talks the world seems to have thrown up its hands, taken up the bowl of water and plunged those hands into that bowl, washing themselves of the issue. The status-quo seems to have settled in with most now turning a blind eye to the ongoing injustice and offering nothing more than political rhetoric.

With that hopelessness of the current situation, in stepped the Pope – the most visible Christian leader on the planet. When all hope has been lost and no way forward seems apparent to the human eye, in stepped the one who is supposed to represent Christ, the hope of the world and his offering was…? The humility of prayer offered from himself, and a call to leaders to engage in it with him. There was no grandstanding with an offer of a solution, no berating of either side, no call on who was right and who was wrong, no offer to negotiate… just an offering of prayer and an invitation towards it couched within an expressed desire for peace. Blessed are the peacemakers.

For those with no sense beyond anything greater than what our physical senses tell us there is, that offering of prayer will seem useless, but to those of us who have made prayer the central element of our lives, there is a real strength in what the Pope has done. Where others may see foolishness, I see wisdom. You see, the strength of the powerful has done nothing in that conflict. The world’s mightiest superpower with its wealth and military might hasn’t brought peace after decades of seeming to try. The United Nations, the gathering of global power, has looked like a headless chicken in trying to bring about any sort of resolution. Yet into the end of that journey, where humanity has flexed its muscle and failed, steps a humble, elderly man with a desire for peace and an offer of prayer, and all of a sudden the glimmer of hope towards peace is reignited.

That offer of prayer is a call to more than uttering words to God, it is a call to humility and unity. Pope Francis hasn’t called them to the answer, he has called them to humble themselves together – to get on their knees together – to call for help together. Without that, there is no way forward. Where power, money, guns, tear gas, rocks, molotov cocktails, and bombs haven’t worked, the sacrificial lamb can. Where the game seems to have been lost by those with power, and hope seems to have completely disappeared, it’s time for people of faith to step up even though the way forward is impossible when viewed through the lens of the wisdom of our time.

This is the story of our faith in all circumstances isn’t it? We are to be people of a relentless hope, not a trite hope that could issue forth from any second rate motivational speaker with a tinge of Jesus in their words, but a gritty hope that stares reality in the face, acknowledges it and sets about working for true peace, redemption and reconciliation even when it appears impossible. With humility and the prayer it finds its seat in, we are to step into the darkest spaces, bringing that glimmer of light, fueled with nothing but love – love for the victims of hopelessness and love for those who perpetuate it. This is who we are, this is how we reflect Christ and this is who Pope Francis was as he stood at that wall and as he invited the two sides of a conflict to the Vatican to do nothing but pray.