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Presence Weekly 8/18/26: The Work of Peacemaking

[First Things]

Greetings and welcome to the Presence Weekly! Each Presence Weekly features a long-form devotional aimed at servants and leaders in the public square. It also contains a prayer guide, articles you may have missed, events calendar, and a review on movies, shows, music, books, or places to dine. 

As we continue through the Sermon on the Mount, this week’s devotional passage is entitled The Work of Peacemaking and focuses on  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. In the essay, we examine the connection between peacemaking and disarming landmines in the public square, the church, relationships, and, ultimately, with God. 

What else is new on the website?

  • The latest edition of the Faithful Presence Podcast is a recorded standing room only workshop given this summer in Denver entitled, “Discipleship for the Public Square.” 
  • The Pastor’s Briefing for August offers a primer on shareholder vs stakeholder capitalism and how both of these economic concepts line up with Biblical teaching and moral imperatives. 

 

[The Devo]

The Work of Peacemaking 

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. 

The Sermon on the Mount

5 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 

The Beatitudes

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 

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

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Peacemaking in the Public Square

As Jesus sat on the mountainside, riding what must have been a surging and spreading fame that was undergirded by both teaching and miracles, he undoubtedly had the attention of the great crowds that “followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan” (Matthew 4:25).

Here, Jesus is literally sitting on the mountain with people who are, in the words of the hymn, “weak and wounded, sick and sore.” He is looking upon a growing group of followers who are fallen, finite, fragile, and fragged. But they are also politically and religiously oppressed, which makes them exasperated and fed up and ready for deliverance. This is a first-century social media bumper crop of potential exploitees ready for algorithms of anxiety and animosity, focused on the public square.

The political and religious tension was palpable. The Zealots, to which one of the disciples had belonged, were of a “No Emperors!” mindset and were ready and willing to use violence to achieve their goals. Further, they believed that armed insurrection against their secular political oppressors was their religious duty. The Essenes had withdrawn from society and headed into the wilderness to await the coming Messiah’s return which would include overturning the Temple system corrupted by the religious leaders. The crowd would have been easily activated for a mission of revolt. Yet, despite Jesus’ opportunity to stir up conflict, he focuses on peacemaking.

Consider how asking people to continue to endure prolonged hardship, but now with the added mission of actually developing practices of reconciliation and peace, might have landed. But with these words, Jesus is announcing the type of kingdom he is inaugurating and the virtues of those who wish to be a part of it. Rather than deploying them against the religious and political rulers of the day, Jesus is deploying them as peacemakers as part of his mission of making all things new.

This is, in one sense, a gut-check moment for his listeners in which Jesus details what makes for a truly flourishing life. Many hearing these words had likely come to believe that a flourishing life is only possible with a revolution. They may have wanted Jesus to say, “The religious leaders are blocking your flourishing! The political leaders are blocking your flourishing!” Instead, Jesus’ message is, “Through peacemaking, you are agents of flourishing!”

Unlike the standard practice of the public square, participating in Christ’s mission of making all things new does not require you to fight the other party or to overthrow the government. What it requires you to do is something far harder and more costly.

Peacemaking in the Church

Counting the costs involves a whole-life assessment. Let’s start at the place that is intended to be a place of welcome and peace — the church. While the uninformed and unfamiliar may see church as best described by the R.E.M. song of the early ’90s as a place of “shiny happy people holding hands,” the reality is far different. We see this throughout the New Testament.

From Jesus’ prayer in the Garden just before his arrest,

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. John 17:20–23.

To Paul’s concern for the Corinthian church,

11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 1 Corinthians 1:11–13.

Church conflict is often the result of theological disagreement, personal posturing, and, increasingly, debate over political ideologies. Those in the public square are well familiar with the term “political minefield” which is always a reference to the difficulty of advancing a policy without setting off multiple blasts that could end in all-out war. The choices are always avoidance or negotiation.

To return to the R.E.M. picture, while the church might look like a beautiful field of wildflowers, most pastors understand it as a minefield ready to explode. Every Sunday morning, pastors look out at a minefield of potential strife. While a true pastor knows exactly where most of the landmines are, the approach of more than a few is to leave those landmines alone because they want to avoid conflict and believe they are keeping the peace. But a peaceful minefield is an unbiblical oxymoron. Instead, pastors, church leaders, and the laity are called to identify and then disarm them. Disarming the landmines as part of the life of the church is a true act of worship because peacemaking is shalom seeking. 

The context and the crowds listening to Jesus make clear that you do not have to be an elected official or pastor to do the heavy lifting of peacemaking. Everyone, everywhere is an agent of peacemaking, and that often means not always getting your way or sacrificing your desires to that of another for the sake of the body of Christ. However, sacrificing your desires is not the same as burying the truth. Peacemaking may cost you your preferences, your comfort, or your standing, but it never costs you honesty about the landmines buried in the field. Deferring to avoid the blast is unloving and is exactly the avoidance Jesus refuses.

Peacemaking in Relationships

Peacemaking starts in one of the hardest places — between two people. Recalling that two of the 12 disciples are Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector makes sense of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. He does not need them to agree politically, but their proclamation and acceptance of the gospel require them to repent of idolatrous political ideologies. This is also why Jesus’ teaching in Matthew includes instruction for peacemaking within relationships.

In a passage we will soon address as part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs his followers,

22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:22–24.

Here Jesus is focused on the person who believes someone else may have something against him — a relational landmine, if you will. His instruction is to go and disarm the landmine before you enter worship because leaving it alone discredits your worship. But Jesus is far from done. In Matthew 18, perhaps the most famous of the peacemaking passages, Jesus aims his words at the one who has knowledge of a brother sinning, including someone who may be responsible for fragging someone else.

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. Matthew 18:15–17.

Even Peter, perhaps because he has yet to grasp the frequency and magnitude of his own need for peace, struggles to quantify and qualify the true cost of peacemaking with others.

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. Matthew 18:21–22.

This is certainly included in what Paul meant when writing in his second letter to the fallen, finite, fragile, fragged, and fractured church at Corinth,

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:18–21.

This brings us to the heart and costly nature of peacemaking.

Peacemaking With God

Luke records the events of the Triumphal Entry with these words,

37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” 41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Luke 19:37–42.

Here is the same Jesus, now nearing the end of his ministry, listening to the hope-fueled accolades of another crowd of the fallen, finite, fragile, and fragged, as he rode not a war horse, but a donkey, preparing for his betrayal, false arrest, sham trial, torture, and crucifixion at the hands of the same groups from which the people were hoping to be delivered — the religious and political leaders. A crucifixion that was, in fact, the only thing that made for the only peace that was truly needed — peace with God through Christ.

No passage is more paradoxical on the nature of power and peacemaking than Colossians 1:15–20

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Colossians 1:15–20.

Making peace by the blood of his cross, rather than making peace by exercising his power and might, is the heart of the gospel. Jesus, the very Son of God, in his work as Savior and Redeemer, takes the full weight of the blast of our sin to bring us safely to his Father. While we are not called upon to offer substitutionary atonement for sin, as Christians, we are sent as the Father sent the Son (John 20:21), and as

a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9–10.

This, then, must include the work of peacemaking as agents of reconciliation who proclaim the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23). That reconciliation certainly includes facilitating the repentance of sin and trust in the gospel that births new children of God. While this aspect of proclaiming the gospel is necessary, it is not sufficient. We are called to offer foretastes of the entirety of the coming kingdom. In the fullness of the kingdom, we will live in peace with God and each other. Therefore, we must embrace our vocation as peacemakers by working in, for, and through the public square to pursue peace.

In my work I often hear people define their vocation within the public square by saying, “I am just a…” My immediate response is always, “Please tell me what you do again without using a word to diminish its value as worship.” We are not just agents of peacemaking. We are Christ’s agents of peacemaking! A peace that brings true flourishing, but, as Jesus is about to address, does not necessarily include us always being vindicated, let alone unpersecuted. However, we are promised that it does result in us being called the sons of God — not by man, but by God himself.

Application Questions

Contemplate the landmines within you and around you that are part of your everyday world. Name them. Pray for the people on either side of them. Then write out steps you can take to disarm them.

Do any of these qualify as Matthew 5 or Matthew 18 peacemaking ventures? If so, what steps should you take toward reconciliation?

What will disarming them cost you — your preferences, your comfort, your standing? Are you willing to pay it as an act of worship?

 

[Faithful Prayer]

  • Cabinet Agency: The servants and leaders with the Department of Health, and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, as they carry out President Trump’s executive order reshaping the childhood vaccine schedule, which calls for cutting the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccines from eighteen to eleven and for splitting the combined measles, mumps, and rubella shot into three separate doses.
  • Think Tank, Lobby group, NGO: The Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University as they continue to scrutinize the administration’s vaccine policy changes and advocate for evidence-based childhood immunization standards amidst the country’s worst measles outbreak in decades.
  • Weekly delegation: The servants and leaders with the delegation of the State of Alabama, after special primary elections were held on August 11 in four of the state’s seven congressional districts. This election used a new, court-approved Republican drawn legislative map that eliminated one of the state’s two black majority districts. 
  • News events: For the diplomats working on numerous and rapidly changing Middle East initiatives. President Trump threatened on Monday to bomb Oman if the Gulf nation “gets in the way” of U.S efforts to control the Strait of Hormuz, a warning that came as the 60-day window set by the U.S-Iran memorandum of understanding expired without a broader peace deal. The threat, aimed at a country long regarded as neutral in the region, followed reports that Iran and Oman had reached their own arrangement to manage future shipping through the strait. 
  • Personal requests: For a couple celebrating their first pregnancy after many years of prayer for conception. For some looking forward to leaving their position in policy writing. For two couples who are now adjusting to life as “empty-nesters”. For another couple whose eldest child started their first day of school. For someone working hard to get a piece of legislation across the finish line in the face of daily calls for recalibration. For someone in an agency dealing with a recent cancer diagnosis. 

 

 

[The Page, The Pod & The Stack]

  • READ this FIRST → Mere Orthodoxy published this essay by Dylan Pahman arguing that as socialism gains renewed influence in American public life, Christians face an old question with fresh urgency: whether devotion to Christ and socialism can truly coexist. 
  • LISTEN to this NEXT → First Things released this podcast episode in which contributing editor Mark Bauerlein talks with Heritage Foundation president Kevin D. Roberts about his newly edited book on the state of American higher education.  
  • STACK this FIRST → Faithful Presence’s Senior Fellow Dr. Anthony Bradley published this fascinating article on the damage that sorority rush and male influencer culture, primarily through social media, has done to younger social communities. 
  • Comment Magazine’s Zealots at the Gate podcast released this conversation with David Brooks, exploring what’s been lost as American political culture has drifted away from moderation and compromise.
  • The Gospel Coalition published this article about a growing shortage of youth pastors, as churches across the country struggle to fill the role amid rising demands and burnout.
  • The Dispatch published this personal essay by Corey Nathan, who writes about his coming to Christian faith from an observant Jewish upbringing and how this affected his relationship with family.

 

[What’s Happening]

This Week:

  • Friday, August 21, 1:30pm – 2:30pm – The Trinity Forum is hosting this online conversation with author Toni Kim on the effects of a shame-based culture. 
  • Now through August 22 – The Montgomery County Agricultural Fair returns to the Gaithersburg Fairgrounds for its 77th year, bringing nine days of livestock shows, carnival rides, and grandstand events like monster trucks (Aug. 18-19) and a demolition derby to the D.C suburbs. 
  • Now through September 7 – As summer comes to an end, the Renwick Gallery invites you to Step right up to the first major exhibition to survey American state fairs’ extraordinary and unconventional crafts from the nineteenth century to the present with State Fairs: Growing American Craft
  • Saturday, August 22 – The Kennedy Center’s REACH Video Wall will host a free outdoor screening of Forrest Gump at dusk, part of its summer film series on the F Street Lawn overlooking the Potomac. 

Next Week:

[Two Thumbs Up] Book Review

Reimagining Biblical Politics: What Scripture Says About Public Life and Why It Matters, Michael J. Rhodes

I recently finished the latest offering from Michael Rhodes on the intersection of Christian discipleship and the public square. His earlier works, Just Discipleship and Practicing the King’s Economy, are already among my favorites. In Reimagining Biblical Politics, Rhodes, a fellow Kirby Laing Fellow and a fellow EPC minister, presents a deeply theological yet unambiguously practical recovery of the political dimension of Christian life by linking it fully to whole-life discipleship.

The central theme underlying his project is how Christians establish and apply practices of “outpost politics” and “pilgrim politics.” These two themes run parallel to the themes developed in Peter’s first letter in which he addresses Christians as elect exiles. Rhodes lays a foundation by considering the inward question of how the “people who recognize Jesus as king arrange their life together as citizens of his kingdom,” which he dubs Outpost Politics. Then, he delves into the outward aspect of life in and for the public square by working through “how God’s people engage nations, rulers, political communities, cultures, and neighbors that do not recognize Jesus as king” (6). The pairing lands close to home: outpost politics is discipleship in the whole of life; pilgrim politics carries it for the whole of the public square.

What makes the book especially enjoyable is its example-heavy apologetic framework that takes a judo-like approach rather than a straightforward attack, using the reader’s own assumptions as the leverage. Additionally, Rhodes does some very helpful reframing of common Christian tropes on public square engagement as well as recasting the narrative of several popular biblical exemplars for “outpost and pilgrim politics.”

We hope to have Dr. Rhodes on The Faithful Presence Podcast as soon as his schedule allows.

If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it with a friend. If you want to join a Bible study, discipleship cohort, or reading group, please get in touch!

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Faithful Presence exists to provide whole-life discipleship in the whole of life for the whole of the public square. Join us as we seek renewal in politics and the public square by becoming a Supporting Partner.

 

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