Beatitudes

Blessed are the peacemakers

/ MurrayCampbell

‘Blessed are the peacemakers’

It was an incredible day when, on Thursday, 9th October, it was announced that peace negotiations had been agreed between Israel and Gaza (Hamas). A 20-point peace plan proposed by President Donald Trump has started to come into effect, including the return of all hostages, both alive and dead, the withdrawal of Israeli troops to an agreed position, and the cessation of armed conflict.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers’.

These famous words started to trend on social media last Thursday. The trending media has continued into the new week as the final 20 surviving Israeli hostages were released back home yesterday.

Scenes across Israel’s streets and cities are being shown around the world, and the joy filling the Knesset from across political divides is palpable to see.

They must also be ongoing grief and trauma for many people. One can imagine this day has brought also tremendous relief, rejoicing, and hopefulness.

Even celebratory speeches by Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump contained notes of caution and qualification. The past 80 years have spoken: peace in the Middle East is hard fought and regularly disrupted by violence. Indeed, the pattern of peace and war is an ancient theme in the Promised Land.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers’.

As news broke of Hamas and Israel agreeing to peace, pockets of people in cities around the world stuck their fists in the air defiantly to protest the peace plan. It is telling when Hamas comes to the table and signs, and yet voices in Melbourne and London protest against peace. The rage and antisemitism now stifles the city streets of Melbourne to our shame. Over the weekend, a sitting Federal Senator stood in the middle of our CBD and threatened to burn down Parliament House in support of Palestine. 

‘Massacre of the Innocents’ by Ruben

Drowning out that rhetoric were cries and prayers of gladness and thankfulness in many homes, synagogues,  churches, and Parliamentary buildings.

I don’t wish to predict or guess what I think may or may not transpire in weeks and years to come in that ancient land. Such things are beyond my pay grade, and yours. The thought that I wish to convey here is observational and catechismal.

As people speak and share these words, ‘blessed are the peacemakers’, I wonder how many realise where these words originate? I wonder if we are conscious of the man who first uttered this beautiful and weighty phrase?

It is Jesus.

In what remains one of the most astonishing addresses ever given, the ‘Sermon of the Mount’, Jesus opened with the 8 Beatitudes, of which peacemakers is the 6th.

All eight beatitudes belong together and work together like an eight-note tonic scale. Each sounds a different pitch and yet every note relates to and belongs with the others.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.

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

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you’

In trying to capture the near miraculous breakthrough in Israel and Gaza, people have turned to the words of Jesus, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’. 

Here is a thought experiment: If this wondrous phrase has captivated people’s hearts and imaginations, imagine knowing the man who first spoke these words? What was it in Jesus’ mind and heart that caused him to say, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’?

What must this Jesus be like who can compose such heart-rendering and hope-bringing words?

As we read about Jesus’ life, he did more than preach fine words; he modelled them throughout his life,  and went far further.

One of the names given to Jesus is the ‘Prince of peace’. The name mirrors his life mission to bring peace, to re-establish relations between God and sinful human beings. Perhaps what is most astonishing is the means by which Jesus established peace, through sacrificing his own life. 

Peace is rarely free of charge. Peace is costly. Then grasp the biblical revelation that God himself was prepared to pay the cost for human iniquity and transgression.

The same Jesus, on another occasion, while preaching a sermon in Jerusalem, warned the world, 

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.”

The problem of evil in this world goes far deeper than social circumstances and economic opportunity; there is something that is most disturbing in the human soul. This Jesus, God the Son, went as deep as can be to reconcile and bring about peace through his atoning sacrifice. 

As tenuous as the situation remains in Israel and Gaza, there is much to be thankful for today. And pray for peace for the people of Gaza and peace for the people of Israel.

My suggestion today, or challenge as it may be construed, is, if you like the phrase, blessed are the peacemakers, and you long for that to be a reality, even in your own heart, take a look at the one who’s next created the phrase. Take a look at the peace plan he has instituted.

The Beatitudes are a word for our time

/ MurrayCampbell

The assassination of Charlie Kirk on 10th September will bring unspeakable grief to those who knew and loved him.  His death is emblematic of the age in which we are sadly living. Not even an hour was permitted to pass without tirades of opinions and glee expressed online.

People are defending the shooter, even celebrating the murder. Many others dare to say that Charlie Kirk is simply a victim of his own making, while others again try to play the shadowy middle way game of whataboutism. 

People are losing the ability and desire to talk to one another about life’s biggest issues. People enraged by hardship and perceived injustice (or real injustice) drink from the fever-inducing cup that is easily found among online socials, justifying and fuelling hatred for the other.

The city of Melbourne, every weekend it seems, now witnesses protests, vile speeches, and violence. Victorian Police are right now preparing for and dreading another day of protest on Saturday. These thousands are but a tiny few of the many more who express their anger over on Bluesky, X and Facebook.

Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com

Most people have no idea who I am and have not heard my name, and yet I have written and said enough to have my name printed in newspapers and even on the front page of The Age. The former Victorian Premier resorted to his famous slander under the Parliamentary privilege because of a view I had expressed.  I have received more than a few ‘colourful’ letters in the mail or messages on the phone. As a consequence, there have been a couple of Sundays when I have had a quiet word with the Elders, just in case someone might turn up to interrupt or protest our Sunday service. Thankfully, when someone has come as a result of something I’ve written, it is in search of a merciful God and not with an agenda to shout down a preacher.

We will not find a way forward for the common good through joining in the competing choruses online; hate breeds hate, and conspiracy is often countered with misinformation. Of course, there is much going on that is maddening, harmful and concerning. Anger has a place (God can be angry), but it mustn’t be the only key in which we speak. Indeed, how we speak and what we say really does matter. Charlie Kirk, from the little I know of him, engaged his interlocutors with grace, and yet he is now dead. Far from reasoning that kindness doesn’t work, we need to double down on grace and kindness.

I have lost count over the past 5 years of how often I have seen comments from certain Christians who self-identify with the final Beatitude (blessed are the persecuted), and subsequently use this to justify relegating the first 7 Beatitudes to the category of ‘not in season’. Peacemakers and meekness and mercy are deemed an inconvenience; how differently Jesus sees things. 

The Christian doesn’t need to second-guess how to respond to world events and how to engage with others. The Christian isn’t left without guidance and recourse. Jesus gives the believer a paradigm in the Beatitudes.

He said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.

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

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Beatitudes don’t detail how one enters the Kingdom of heaven, but the life of those who belong to this Kingdom. This posture in some ways pre-empts the final manifestation of the Kingdom by exhibiting its qualities in the here and now; to use Jonathan Leeman’s analogy, it’s much like an embassy in a foreign country.

Some Christians hold to some of the Beatitudes and play loose with others. Some of us focus on peace-making while sacrificing righteousness in order to achieve this goal. Some grab hold of righteousness with clenched fists, while ignoring how Jesus begins, with confession and contrition of our own sins. It is important to see how the Lord Jesus ties them together in an unbreakable bond.  All 8 Beatitudes belong together and work together to build godly character and a life that imitates, albeit imperfectly, the Lord Jesus.

Jesus leads us to begin with confession and contrition, acknowledging our complete dependence on God’s grace, which is his loving gift to us through the atoning death of Christ. The more we grasp the astonishing nature of God’s grace, we can no longer look at other Aussies with any disdain or wanting anything other than their good. 

I suspect some of my Christian friends believe that if we follow the first 7 Beatitudes, the outcome will be peace and happy relationships with everyone, but that’s not where Jesus leads us. He says, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’

It is true, we can be shouted down because we’ve said stupid things, hurtful things, and said the right things wrongly; I know I’m guilty of all the above.  Nonetheless, Jesus indicates that living the Beatitudes and being concerned for God’s righteousness may still result in people being offended and not liking us and attempting to silence us. For Christians to think we can escape verses 10-12 is understandable but somewhat naive.

The Christian song sheet isn’t La Marseillaise,

‘Français, pour nous, ah ! quel outrage

Quels transports il doit exciter!

C’est nous qu’on ose méditer

De rendre à l’antique esclavage!’

If the writer or website you read regularly uses language of ‘revolution’ and ‘war’, ‘taking back’, and throwing around rage and expletives, perhaps it’s time to find a more useful read. After all, Proverbs warns us, 

“Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person,

    do not associate with one easily angered,

or you may learn their ways

    and get yourself ensnared”. (Proverbs 22:24-25)

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Blessed are those who mourn.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

Melbourne needs Christians leaning ever closer to the Jesus of the Beatitudes. The United States and Australia need Christians who are learning to press closer to Jesus’ words, trusting him and doing as he asks. If you’re not yet convinced, then take a look at the cross. Did Jesus abandon his Beatitudes as he hung crucified? Or did he embrace them, such that he died with and for the sins of the world?

That’s the message our city and world need more than ever. That’s the life our churches need to embody more than ever. 

In the Coopers wash up, let’s revisit the Beatitudes

/ MurrayCampbell / 2 Comments

In the sticky wash up that has come about from the flood of broken beer bottles, I wish to offer one more comment. In some ways it is to clarify and build on where I wish to take Christian conversation in the public square.

Two days ago I said that with a new morning we’ll see that not everything has changed,  although in the public realm something has altered.  The outrage over the Bible Society’s video is not entirely new, but it does signal with with its greatest yet clarity, that public speech in our society won’t come without a cost.

My purpose is not to repeat things from the previous post, rather, I would like to explore in a little more detail the portion of Scripture to which I turned in my conclusion: the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12).

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

    for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek,

    for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful,

    for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,

    for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,

    for they will be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

The Beatitudes don’t detail how may enters the Kingdom of heaven, but the life of those who belong to this Kingdom, and are in some ways pre-empting the final manifestation of the Kingdom by exhibiting its qualities in the here and now; to use Jonathan Leeman’s analogy, it’s much like an embassy in a foreign country.

Some Christians hold to some of the Beatitudes, and play loose with others. Some of us focus on peace-making while sacrifice righteousness in order to achieve this goal. Some grab hold of righteousness with clenched fists, while ignoring how Jesus begins, with confession and contrition of our own sins. It is important to see how the Lord Jesus ties them together in an unbreakable bond.  All 8 Beatitudes belong together and work together to build godly character and a life that imitates, albeit imperfectly, the Lord Jesus.

Jesus leads us to begin with confession and contrition, acknowledging our complete dependence on God’s grace, which is his loving gift to us through the atoning death of Christ. The more we grasp the astonishing nature of God’s grace we can no longer look at other Aussies with any disdain or wanting anything other than their good.  In light of the last few days, we can be asking ourselves, how can be better love and serve our gay and lesbian friends. If we don’t have any gay and lesbians, why not?

I suspect some of my Christian friends believe that if we follow the first 7 Beatitudes, the outcome will be peace and happy relationships with everyone, but that’s not where Jesus lead us. He says, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’

It is true, we can be shouted down because we’ve said stupid things, hurtful things, and saying the right things wrongly; I know I’m guilty of all the above.  Nonetheless, Jesus indicates that living the Beatitudes and being concerned for God’s righteousness may still result in people being offended and not liking us and attempting to silence us. For Christians to think we can escape verses 10-12 is understandable but somewhat naive.

coopers-bible-society-video-2017-source-vimeo-671x377

Bible Society

The steady but sure retreat by Cooper’s Brewery was disappointing to see. Whatever the connection between Cooper’s and the video (which appears to be an informal one at most), there was nonetheless a real partnership on a different stage, and for them to cut ties feels announcing on Facebook that you’re getting a divorce. Instead of throwing out our Cooper’s beer, which would make us somewhat hypocritical, we ought to pray for them and be gentle. One can only imagine that the pressure they were submitted to would have sunk the heaviest of beers.

The way of Jesus is not capitulation or watery compromise. Our posture should not be silent defeat or angry defensiveness, but always truth in love, clarity and conviction. Expressing our Gospel convictions is longer an easy option, but we should not give up speaking truth with grace because that is how God has treated us, and his love and joy is too good not to share with others. We won’t persuade everyone, but you’ll discover that someone is intrigued and away from cacophony of public noise, they will ask about this Jesus of whom we speak so passionately.

Remember how Paul’s sermon in Athens ended,

“When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.”

If we want to speak in public, or anywhere anytime, more than ever we must not only believe the Beatitudes, but with the help of the Holy Spirit,  practice them. I love this Ernest Hemmingway quote that one Facebook friend quote this morning,

“Courage is grace under pressure.” Ministers will face inordinate pressure. The challenge is to fight this stress with God’s grace and not by our own strength, coercion, manipulation, or self-medicating manners. We walk in grace by keeping the gospel’s story of a suffering Savior at the center of our thoughts.