Matthew 5.9 says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they're gonna be called sons of God, not gonna be called, for they will be called sons of God. And then this falls in the middle of a list of things called the Beatitudes, where Jesus is describing the values of his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. That is really these values are way different from the kingdom that we're used to. They're all kind of upside down and backwards. And so in Matthew 5.9, when he says, Blessed are the peacemakers, we might look at that and think, oh, well, that's not upside down and backwards, because everybody likes peace. But do we really like peace? Come on! I mean, we got a prize for it, a peace prize or whatever, but if effectively that's just a political weapon that sometimes gets used in ways I really agree with and like for my team, and at other times gets used in ways that maybe I don't like so much for my team. But really, we like conflict. And come on, if you don't believe me, look at the feedback loop that we get from the internet. Just look at the internet and think of it as a mirror to us. Now look, you're here, I'm here, we try to do things that are of goodwill. I'd like to think that's what this relationship and this conversation is. But if you look at the bigger trend, I mean chaos and violence and conflict and vitriol gets clicks. So as a result, we get served more chaos and violence and hatred and vitriol, thus making the plateful of news that we see in front of us every day an unfortunate reflection on what we actually value in the secret place where we decide what to click on. We just can't help ourselves. We got a thing for violence and strife. I remember in ninth grade, we'd never had a war before. I mean, I'd seen some like G.I. Joe in a couple of movies, but I don't really understand what this is about. I'd heard some things in history books that sounded very, very interesting. It seemed like this is where actual stories and actual history and heroism and adventure and change happens. We should have a war sometime. Well, and then one day my ninth grade algebra teacher came in and was like, hey everybody, we're gonna turn on the TV because we're having a war. And then Tom Brokaw was on there and he's like, we're having a war. Paraphrases mine. And I was like, yes! It's about time. I want to be alive during an exciting time. And also, who are we fighting? Squints. Iraq! They're bad! And maybe they were bad. And look, I'm not trying to make any political statement here, so don't read between the lines there. All I'm trying to do is criticize myself for being a bloodthirsty 15-year-old. Gross! Well, I got my wish, we had a war, and then we just kept having wars, and in one way or another, the world has just continued to be at war for the rest of my life. I didn't know how good I had it when I was a kid. I'm really sick of war. I didn't understand all the human cost and the violence and the death and the damage and the injury and the waste that goes into war, and not just the physical violence and damage, but the way it changes people. So we look at a passage like this, and our first instinct might be like, no, we love peace. My argument would be, yeah, we love peace when it suits us, but we all kind of got a thing for violence. And then Jesus comes along and says, Blessed are the peacemakers. I don't think he means here blessed are the powder blue wearing UN troops who go and just keep people from tearing each other apart and hope that like it'll just wear off or people get bored or do something else, and there's no actual plan to do anything. And look, I'm I'm glad they don't shoot anybody. I'm against shooting people, I'm a Christian. But that's not really peacemaking, that's peacekeeping. The intonation here of peacemaking is that stuff actually gets fixed. Like stuff that is ruined and broken, just absolutely poisoned, gets unruined, unbroken, unpoisoned. And the person who goes and does that does so as a son, a daughter, an heir, a representative of the kingdom of God, and their reward for that is amazing. I don't know if it's just like a one-for-one trade-off. I'm not sure that's exactly what Jesus is saying. I think he's saying more, this is just the reality of the situation, then if you do this, then you get that. But even if we take this as a general statement of reality, the last beatitude said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. And I was like, I want that. I want to see the maker of all things. I'd like to know what he's about. I mean, that's probably my chief desire in all of existence. And I'm a little embarrassed to admit that a lot of that's probably just motivated by curiosity, but a lot of it's motivated by awe. I think awe is in keeping with a right response to the amazingness of the first cause of God. So, well, whatever the case, I'm very interested in the whole pure and heart see God thing. Mmm, fascinating. But then the next one says that if you imitate God, whose impulse is to make peace, whose long-term redemptive plan, I mean, the big story of the Bible, you've looked at the first chunk of Matthew with me, the big story of the Bible is this God patching up something that is desperately broken. So he's a peacemaker. So this next beatitude then is saying that, yeah, blessed are pure in heart, because they're gonna see God. But wow, maybe even blessed more so in a way, are the peacemakers who imitate God's impulse toward reconciliation and redemption because they will be called sons of God. Not just see God in a crowd from a distance and be like, oh, he's awesome, that's so great, and there's flashbulbs and a crowd, and I can't get close to him, but to part through that crowd, be invited to walk up and stand next to God and have God, the rock star in this situation, be like, You are now my son, inheritor of my riches, participant in my household and my kingdom, you are my heir. Anything that was wrong with you and broken by my goodness and my riches, I pay for and will be straightened out and made right. So apparently, in the kingdom, peacemaking is highly valued. And I think it's highly valued because it's a direct, as close as it can be, to one-for-one imitation of what the entire narrative of the Bible is about. The whole narrative arc, narrative arc of the Bible culminating in Jesus is God reconciling something, God bringing peace to a broken situation. And then the expectation is, of course, whatever God has given us, we're supposed to give it away to others as well. And look, this peace thing is not a new idea that Jesus is laying out right here. The audience sitting on the hill would have known that the peace thing was a promise held in their most cherished passages that point to the everlasting kingdom promised to David, that point to what's going to happen next to the Messiah. And look, these people wouldn't be sitting on this hill if they hadn't seen enough to be hoping against hope that Jesus might actually be the fulfillment of all that stuff, that he might be the one that puts an end to all the war and strife and yuck and impossibility and replaces it with this good and beautiful government and this kingdom that comes with him. And so once again we go back to this passage they probably all would have been thinking of when he brought up the peace thing, and that you and I have looked at as well, and that comes up every Christmas in Isaiah chapter 9, picking it up in verse 5. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. And on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. I think the people sitting on the hill listening to Jesus talk wanted that stuff that it says in Isaiah chapter 9. I think me, sitting here in this bizarre soundproof tent that I built to record this episode at my friend's house in his weird back room, I think I want what is described in Isaiah chapter 9 and what that kingdom is about. And I think probably once again most people do, whether they think the same way I do about the world or not, whether they think there's a God behind it or not, even if they think there isn't, I think this is the kind of kingdom that we wish could be true or would be true. And at this point, all of that I think was enough for people to hope and to continue to watch Jesus to see what he was going to say next and what he was about to determine whether this thing is as credible as it seems on the front end or not. I want to say thanks again to everybody who supports the program at patreon.com slash the TMDH podcast. You're the reason that we get to do this thing. So thanks a ton for that. I'm Matt, this is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast, and we'll catch you in a bit.