Text used – Ephesians 2:14-22

• Drawing close to the end of our summer series on the Beatitudes → only 2 left
  • Today: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.[1]
  • Next week → going to combine the last 2 beatitudes for the final one because they’re so similar in subject/tone
  • Back in July, we talked about “Blessed are the merciful” and how that particular beatitude was possibly the most deceptively simple beatitude – the repetitiveness of mercy for mercy, the obvious nature of it (“Of course we should be merciful!”). Today’s beatitude feels like it falls in the same category: deceptively simple, obvious … maybe even too obvious for us to handle?
    • Again, of course we want peace → joke in the movie Miss Congeniality
      • Brief synopsis of movie
      • Joke that pokes fun at beauty pageant contestants: “World peace!”
    • But the challenge in this particular beatitude is in the simplicity. Yes, we should all be peacemakers … peace-bringers … peace-sharers … peace-infusers. Yes, we want peace in our hearts, in our relationships, in our world, in our faith. … But after thousands upon thousands of years of human history, we still can’t seem to get that part right. God knows we’ve been trying … but God also knows we are still far from getting this one right!
      • Google search for “what are peacemakers?”
        • Lots of hits for this particular Scripture passage
        • Some general “characteristics of peacemakers” type of posts
        • Conflict-resolution-focused hits → Think corporate teambuilding and HR mediation-type articles.
        • Definitely some school-focused hits
          • Peer mediator training in elementary school
        • Then I came across a number of different faith-based hits that made a very particular distinction between being a peacemaker and a peacekeeper. → bottom line: peacemakers are more active and intentional in their work whereas peacekeepers try to minimize conflict – sidestep it, whitewash it, sweep it under the rug
    • I think with this idea in mind – this idea of peacemakers being the ones who work through conflict in the healthiest ways possible – this beatitude is the hardest one for us to enact in the world in which we live today. We’ve said all along that these blessings that Jesus laid out in the Sermon on the Mount were countercultural, and this one definitely feels that way because somewhere along the way, we seem to have lost the ability to deal with conflict together as humans. I have my side. You have your side. And there is no middle ground. If you don’t see it my way, you must be ignorant. If I don’t see it your way, I must be corrupt.
• And yet Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” … not “Blessed are the label-makers.” So what do we do with this one? → enter the reminder we get in letter to the Christians in Ephesus
  • Background
    • One of the epistles that was traditionally believed to be written by Paul himself → scholars have since come to a general consensus that Eph was written by someone else in Paul’s name
      • No specific greeting like we find in Paul’s other letters
      • No mention of any kind of relationship with those receiving this letter → Even in Romans, which we know was written by Paul, he talks about the fact that he and the Roman Christians lack a relationship because he’s never spent a lot of time in Rome. But Ephesians includes no such declaration.
      • Still draws heavily on themes, language, theology of Paul
    • Not even sure this was originally intended specifically for Christians in Ephesus – scholar points out: The [opening] phrase “in Ephesus” does not occur in many of the earliest manuscripts. Nor would that locale be appropriate for an audience that does not know the apostle. Paul had worked extensively in Ephesus. He may even have been imprisoned there. (She goes on to give some detail about the purpose of Ephesians.) … Ephesians never refers to false teachers whose doctrines must be avoided. Therefore, the epistle appears to be addressed to Christian churches in general, not a particular situation.[2]
  • Into that backdrop of it being a message for all Christians, we read today’s passage: Christ is our peace. He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barriers of hatred that divided us.[3] → Okay, let’s stop there for a minute. Really, that single verse alone could be our sermon for this morning. Christ is our peace. He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barriers of hatred that divided us. There’s so much to dig into there.
    • Gr. “peace” encompasses both Heb. sense of peace (welfare, health re: one’s relationship with God) and the Christian sense of peace (tied to salvation through Christ) → So basically, Christ is the peace we need for our bodies. Christ is the peace we need for our souls. Christ is the peace we need for our everything.
    • Next: “He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group.” → I don’t think we can appreciate just how divided Jews and Gentiles were at the time. Heck, there are still some of the stricter branches of Judaism that doesn’t have much to do with Gentiles (general term for anyone and everyone who isn’t Jewish) on a regular basis. The gap between Jews and Gentiles was a gap not breached in most circumstances. The Gentiles were almost always the conquerors of the Jews – those who enslaved them, oppressed them, occupied their homes, and taxed them just for inhabiting their own homelands. Truly, there was no love loss between Jews and Gentiles. And yet … “He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group.” Now that was a countercultural declaration!
    • Last sentence in that verse: “With his body, he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided us.” → I’m not the only one yearning for that type of breaking down today, right? In this world in which we live in today, it feels like there’s nothing but “barriers of hatred that divide us,” right? It seems like every post … every headline … every soundbite … every political slogan … even things that are supposed to entertain us like country songs … it seems like everything we encounter throughout the day constructs a new barrier of hatred that divides us. And yet we are assured that Jesus breaks those barriers down.
      • Passage goes on to declare how Jesus makes peace btwn those for whom peace was thought inconceivable – Jews and Gentiles
        • Speaks of creating a new person out of the 2 groups
        • Speaks of making peace
        • Speaks of reconciling all to God through the cross
  • Eph passage also extends that peace OUT! – text: When [Jesus] came, he announced the good news of peace to you who were far away from God and to those who were near.[4] → makes it clear that this peace that Jesus brings is a peace for all
    • Jew and Gentile
    • Near and far
    • Those who are strangers and those who are not
    • Text: So now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather, you are fellow citizens with God’s people, and you belong to God’s household.[5] → Does that sounds like being called “children of God” to you? Because it does to me.
  • Eph passage also goes into the call that’s associated with being a peacemaker – text: As God’s household, you are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is joined together in him, and it grows up into a temple that is dedicated to the Lord. Christ is building you into a place where God lives through the Spirit.[6] → This part of our passages presents the idea that being a peacemaker – being a child of God – is a process. It’s a journey, not a destination. It’s a building being built one decision … one kind word … one act of peace … one prayer … one particle of faith at a time. But no matter how it’s built – no matter what it looks like or how long that building takes – Jesus is always both the builder and the cornerstone, the one that anchors the whole building firmly and undeniably in a relationship with God. You see, being a peacemaker is not just about how you “do.” It’s also about how you “be.”
    • See this in the Gr. “they will be called children of God” → Gr. “called” has three particular meanings
      • 1^st = most obvious: “named/addressed”
      • 2^nd = choice element of being called: “invited” → We are invited to be children of God, but we have to willingly and genuinely accept that invitation each and every day.
      • 3^rd = flip side – the compelled element: “summoned” → We are free to make the choice … but we cannot deny that there is something deep inside us that is drawn to God, something that yearns for God.
        • Gr. language source: “almost equivalent to the verb ‘to be’” → That call to be a “child of God” runs that deeply within us – that it is mystically and inextricably linked to our very being!
• And yet we find ourselves living and moving and trying to find God in the midst of a culture that has long since valued profit over peace … politics over peace … proof over peace. For too long now, the emphasis has been on proving myself right, not just by making a sound argument for my point but by denigrating and even vilifying your point. We’ve forgotten that true peacemaking requires coming together. We’ve forgotten that true peacemaking requires We’ve forgotten that true peacemaking requires effort and compromise. It involves uncovering and confronting some uncomfortable things and dealing with them – grappling with them, learning both about them and from them, and letting that process of dealing with them bring about change … sometimes even change in ourselves. Y’all … we have gotten SO BOGGED DOWN in the ugliness of this that for nearly 20 yrs., one of the U.S.’s main weapons of war – an intercontinental ballistic missile – was called the Peacekeeper. That’s sick.
  • Words of author Marianne Williamson: Hate has talked so loudly for so long. Greed has talked so loudly for so long. Liars have talked so loudly for so long. Love has got to stop whispering. → Friends, we are called to be peacemakers. We are called to actively work and pray and hope and dare for peace in all the corners of this world – within ourselves; within our relationships; within our homes; within our communities; and within this crazy, messed-up, broken gathering called humanity. Jesus never promises that it will be easy or fun or even safe work (foreshadowing: we’ll get into that more with next week’s beatitude!) … but still, it is the work to which we are called.
    • It’s what we sing every Sunday: [READ lyrics] “Let There Be Peace on Earth”
    • Truly, friends, blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Amen.

[1] Mt 5:9 (NRSV).

[2] Pheme Perkins. “The Letter to the Ephesians: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections” in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary series, vol. 11. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000), 354-355.

[3] Eph 2:14 (CEB).

[4] Eph 2:17.

[5] Eph 2:19.

[6] Eph 2:20-22.

Text used – Daniel 3:14-27

• Review sermon series on Beatitudes
  • Dive deeper into one Beatitude each week
  • Today’s Beatitude: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.[1] → I think this is an interesting one because while on the surface it seems like a difficult one, I think it’s actually one of the easiest to understand when we get down to it.
    
    • Difficulty with this one = wholly linked to the word “pure” → word with some very complex associations, right?
      • Idea of purity = without imperfections → And I don’t know a whole lot of humans (myself included!) who are without imperfections. 
      • Idea of purity has been used as a justification for all sorts of hatred and exclusion throughout the history of humanity
        • Racism
        • Sexism
        • Anti-Semitism
        • Genocide on just about every continent at some point throughout history → Here in America, it was the forced cultural assimilation of Native American tribes into the European way of living – the language, the dress, the religion, and so on.
          • American Indian Boarding Schools
          • R. H. Pratt (what he called his “philosophy of assimilation”): “Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”
      • Idea of purity has led to some really harmful practices within evangelical Christian circles → purity culture swept through evangelical Christianity in the 1990s: built on the idea of saving oneself for marriage … not in and of itself a bad thing
        • But purity culture did this by building up layer upon layer of shame and guilt and control and fear around anything and everything having to do with the natural development of adolescent bodies and hormones and feelings. Because purity culture has been a relatively recent cultural phenomenon, there’s still all sorts of psychological and sociological research being done around the impact of this on people throughout the rest of their life. → what’s already come out:
          • Contributed to women being taught that any unwanted attention from men was their own fault (the women’s fault) → led to many women being too scared or too ashamed to report any abuses
          • Also contributed to toxic masculinity in that it taught men/boys that it was their job to “police their women” → make sure their sisters, daughter, girlfriends, wives were acting, dressing, speaking, living “appropriately” → led to a slough of clear and obvious abuses
    • So there’s a lot of baggage wrapped up in that word “pure” – baggage that cannot and should not be simply ignore … swept under the rug … if we’re going to do our due diligence with this particular blessing of Jesus’. And while I’d like to say there’s some sort of nuance in the Greek that makes this all a lot easier to sidestep, there isn’t. → Gr. here is very clear = “pure” or “clean”
• So what is Jesus talking about when he says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God?”
  • Key for us and our understanding this morning is going to come from that focus word Fr. Casey Cole proposes for this beatitude in his book[2]: AUTHENTICITY
    • First, Cole addresses issue of “purity” baggage: [read pp. 71-72] → discussion of the Pharisees strict adherence to rules for the sake of the rules as opposed to faith in God
      • Reminds me of a quote from a book that I just finished reading – The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
        • Brief description (last paragraph from inside the dust jacket): With is breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a riveting mystery, certain to shock you with its final, heartbreaking turn.[3]
        • Quote: This is the thing about good and evil. They aren’t so far apart – and they often start from the same valiant place of wanting something to be different.[4] → Now that’s not to say that the Pharisees were evil. Like Jesus and the disciples, they were wanting something to be different. But somewhere along the line, the link between their intentions and their actions had gone off the rails.
    • Cole goes on to give us a more rounded theological idea of “purity”: Too often, the problem with our understanding of purity … is that we treat it as synonymous with cleanliness when Jesus actually intends it as “undivided.” While he is certainly intent on his followers observing the commandments and living moral lives, the lack of external blemishes is not the mark of a true disciple: a focused, devoted heart is. The one with a pure heart is one whose intentions match their actions, who present themselves as exactly who they are. As the old saying goes, “What you see it what you get.” There’s no guile, no ulterior motives, no clandestine hobbies or double life. At the center of who they are is a desire to please God and serve their neighbor, as well as an undeniable confidence in who they are and what they are to do.[5]
      • About being authentic in your relationship with God
      • About being authentic in your relationships with others
• That’s where our First Testament story comes into play this morning. There are few stories in which the participants are more authentically themselves – more genuine and devoted in their faith despite the costs – than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego!
  • Backstory: Nebuchadnezzar = king of Babylon → king who conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the First Temple, and took all of Israel’s best and brightest back to live in Babylon (Babylonian Exile … yeah, this is that king)
    • Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were four of those “best and brightest”
    • Beginning of Dan: In the third year of the rule of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and attacked it. The Lord handed Judah’s King Jehoiakim over to Nebuchadnezzar, along with some of the equipment from God’s house. Nebuchadnezzar took these to Shinar, to his own god’s temple, putting them in his god’s treasury.[6]
  • Historically, we’re told that King Nebuchadnezzar actually treated the exiled Jews well (all things considered). They were allowed to make a living in Babylon. They were allowed to set up their own homes. They were allowed to marry. Most of the time, they were even allowed to practice their own religion … most of the time. → today’s story = one of the exceptions
    • Beginning of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s story (Dan 3)
      • Nebuchadnezzar sets up an enormous golden statue → Scripture tells us this statue was 90 ft. high. For those of you who are spatially challenged (like me), that’s roughly the size of a regulation basketball court from the rim of one hoop to the rim of the other. Or, if you’re not a sports person but have been up to Minnehaha Falls in south Minneapolis, it’s almost twice the size of Minnehaha Falls.
      • Nebuchadnezzar has all his government officials dedicate the statue → orders everyone to bow down to this enormous golden statue – text: The herald proclaimed loudly, “Peoples, nations, and languages! This is what you must do: When you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, zither, lyre, harp, flute, and every kind of instrument, you must bow down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Anyone who will not bow down and worship will be immediately thrown into a furnace of flaming fire.”[7]
      • Enter the Chaldeans.
        • Chaldeans = Aramean-speaking peoples indigenous to Iraq
        • Earlier in Daniel (ch 2), King Nebuchadnezzar had been having all sorts of dreams that were making him anxious → sought people to interpret his dreams, including a group of Chaldean sages → But the Chaldeans couldn’t do it. They declared, “What the king is asking is impossible! No one could declare the dream to the king but the gods, who don’t live among mere humans.”[8] → enraged, King Nebuchadnezzar has all the sages who couldn’t interpret the dreams killed → But who eventually interpreted the dreams for Nebuchadnezzar? Daniel → Daniel and his friends are rewarded
        • This ability to do what their compatriots had declared impossible coupled with those rewards angered the Chaldeans. So when Nebuchadnezzar made the decree about bowing down to the statue, the Chaldeans saw their chance to attack the Jews. → Chaldeans bring news to Nebuchadnezzar that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow down to the enormous golden statue → Nebuchadnezzar is enraged and has the three Jews brought before him (catches us up to today)
  • Not a whole lot of hedging and uncertainty in today’s story
    • Nebuchadnezzar makes it abundantly clear what the consequences are for refusing to comply with his edict
    • Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego make it just as clear that they have no intention of complying – text: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar: “… If our God – the one we serve – is able to rescue us from the furnace of flaming fire and from your power, Your Majesty, then let him rescue us. But if he doesn’t, know this for certain, Your Majesty: we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you’ve set up.”[9] → And there it is! The outright authenticity that Cole is talking about. The confidence in God and in their choice to follow God no matter the consequences.
      • Such a powerful statement because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are admitting that they aren’t certain God will save them from the furnace → What they are certain of is that God alone is their God, and that the path they’ve chosen is the right one. At this point, it’s not even important that Nebuchadnezzar ends up putting them in the furnace. It’s not even important that God does save them in the furnace. It’s not even important that they come out unscathed. What’s important is that “but” … that small but critical emphasis that their faith is in God. Period.
      • John Dear in The Beatitudes of Peace: I do not think “purity” means perfection, nor is it an unreachable goal. When Jesus calls us to purity of heart, he’s calling us to an inner journey toward an ever-widening heart of love and compassion for others, all creation, and the Creator. Purity of heart or inner purity is a process, a way of life, not a statis goal. He calls us to a soft heart that beats, not a cold heart of stone. When understood this way, this Beatitude becomes an exciting invitation to an inner journey of love, compassion, nonviolence, and peace.[10]
• This is where the 2^nd half of Jesus’ blessing comes in – the promise part: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
  • Gr. “see” has a depth to it → It can also mean witness, experience, perceive, notice, or consider. It’s not just about seeing God with our eyes. It’s about recognizing God’s presence with our hearts in the world around us – the people around us, the community around us, the situations around us. And in order to do that, we have to encounter them openly and authentically. We have to be open enough to see God amidst the trappings and disguises of our world today, and we have to be authentic enough in our own journeys of faith to recognize those glimpses as God.
    • Dear: In other words, as we cultivate nonviolence of the heart, and root all we do in our relationship with the God of peace, we begin to see God everywhere – in the beauty of creation, in the wonder of all creatures, in the faces of children, in those around us. We see God in the struggle for justice and peace, in the poor and marginalized, in our enemies, in ourselves. This purity of heart, this inner nonviolence, helps us to see with the eyes of peace and love, so that we recognize every human being as our very sister and brother and see Christ in others. We see the face of God in the face of every human being.[11] → Truly, friends, blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Amen.

[1] Mt 5:8 (NRSV).

[2] Casey Cole. The Way of Beatitude: Living Radical Hope in a World of Division and Despair. (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press), 2022.

[3] Laura Dave. The Last Thing He Told Me. (New York: Simon & Schuster), 2021.

[4] Dave, 266.

[5] Cole, 72.

[6] Dan 1:1-2.

[7] Dan 3:4-6.

[8] Dan 2:11.

[9] Dan 3:16-18.

[10] John Dear. The Beatitudes of Peace: Meditations on the Beatitudes, Peacemaking and the Spiritual Life. (New London: Twenty-Third Publications, 2016), 80.

[11] Dear, 87-88.