Matthew 5.9 cont.
Wow the blessing of those loving peace, because sons of God they will be called.
How do we understand the meaning of a peace maker?
The meaning of the Greek is:
The Greek word (eirenopoioi) is made up of two Greek words:
eirene = ‘peace’
poieo = ‘to do, construct, manufacture, make, act, cause’.
Therefore, it literally means ‘to do peace’ or to ‘make peace’, and is translated as:
‘peacemakers’; ‘lovers of peace’; ‘those who work for peace’
Surprisingly the word is not to be found in the Old Testament.
The dictionary definition of peace maker is:
a person, group, or nation that tries to make peace, especially by reconciling parties who disagree, quarrel, or fight.
This would include the United Nations, and various summit meetings.
Our society both looks for peace, but also walks in paths of disharmony. Some people will do anything for a quiet life and will avoid any confrontation to preserve an atmosphere of calm and peace.
Others always seem to be aggressive, determined to always push themselves forward, seeking to assert their own way. These people often rub us up the wrong way. They can be very awkward to live with, since there is usually no give on their part.
The Pharisees were like this in their approach to Jesus. They were looking for ways to trip Him up.
Such as the time when Jesus healed a man who had a crippled hand. Jesus did this on the Sabbath and the Pharisees were set against Him for this.
It might be said that we live in days where there is a lot of strife created.
The compensation culture seeks to set people against each other.
There is the problem of people creating an accident so that they can claim some kind of injury.
A little while ago a gang was prosecuted because they staged a crash that involved a bus. The bus had more people on it than normal, a number of which were a part of this gang.
This also included the driver.
Between them they staged a crash so that those in the gang could claim compensation for various injuries.
It was an incident that highlights the growing problem of organisations seeking to set people against one another.
It is only Jesus who gives us real and genuine peace.