Getting Free: Peacemakers, Troublemakers and Jesus

Getting Free — Peacemakers, Troublemakers and Jesus

I’ve been thinking about peace.

Not the kind of peace that comes when everybody finally agrees with Charlie Wear.

I tried waiting for that.

It could take a while.

I’m talking about the peace Jesus offers—the kind that can exist while the world around us is still noisy, divided, unfair and occasionally downright crazy.

Jesus said:

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

Notice He didn’t say, “Blessed are the peacekeepers.”

There’s a difference.

A peacekeeper may try to keep everybody quiet.

A peacemaker sometimes has to walk directly into the trouble.

Peace Isn’t Pretending

For years I confused peace with getting my circumstances straightened out.

If this problem disappeared, I’d have peace.

If that person changed, I’d have peace.

If I had enough money, I’d have peace.

If my health cooperated, I’d have peace.

If everybody would simply recognize that I was right—

Well, we’d certainly have peace then.

Unfortunately, Jesus never promised me a world arranged according to Charlie.

He offered something better.

His peace in the middle of my world.

That’s part of Getting Free.

I don’t have to wait until everything is fixed before I can experience the presence of God.

I can get free one moment at a time.

But Peace Doesn’t Mean Silence

Here’s the other side.

Following Jesus doesn’t mean becoming so peaceful that we stop caring about injustice.

Jesus was peaceful.

Jesus was also an advocate.

He noticed people others walked past.

He touched people others wouldn’t touch.

He welcomed children.

He treated women with dignity in a culture where they could easily be marginalized.

He ate with people religious folks considered unacceptable.

He defended the accused.

He confronted powerful people.

And He wasn’t particularly impressed by religious titles.

Jesus could comfort the brokenhearted and make religious leaders furious before lunch.

That’s my kind of peacemaker.

An Advocate Without Becoming an Enemy

This may be one of the hardest lessons I’m still learning.

How do I fight for somebody without learning to hate somebody else?

How do I confront wrongdoing without allowing anger to become my permanent address?

How do I seek justice without needing revenge?

How do I advocate for the vulnerable while remembering that the person I’m opposing is also somebody God loves?

That’s where getting free becomes practical.

I can speak up.

I can say, “This is wrong.”

I can protect somebody who needs protecting.

I can challenge authority.

I can demand accountability.

I can even raise a little holy hell when necessary.

But I don’t have to become hellish in the process.

That’s the difference.

The Advocate

The New Testament gives us a beautiful word for Jesus:

Advocate.

I’ve been an advocate most of my life.

As a lawyer, pastor, writer and sometimes professional pain in the neck, I’ve usually found somebody or something that I thought needed defending.

Sometimes I was right.

Sometimes I was probably just being a professional pain in the neck.

Getting older provides perspective.

I’m discovering that the most important advocacy begins with seeing people the way Jesus saw them.

Not as cases.

Not as causes.

Not as Democrats or Republicans.

Not as conservatives or liberals.

Not as winners or losers.

Not as useful people and useless people.

People.

Human beings carrying stories we usually don’t know.

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Today world leaders gather and talk about peace.

I pray for them.

But peacemaking doesn’t belong only to presidents, diplomats and generals.

It belongs to us.

Maybe there’s somebody I need to forgive.

Maybe there’s somebody I need to call.

Maybe there’s a lonely person who needs somebody to sit beside them.

Maybe there’s somebody being mistreated who needs an advocate.

Maybe there’s an argument I don’t actually need to win.

Maybe I need to take another one of those Philippians 4 Chill Pills before opening my mouth.

Peacemaking starts remarkably close to home.

Getting Free

I’m learning that freedom isn’t withdrawing from the struggles of the world.

It’s learning how to enter them without allowing them to own my soul.

I want to be an advocate.

But I also want to be a peacemaker.

I want enough courage to confront what is wrong and enough grace not to destroy the people with whom I disagree.

I want to speak truth.

I want to practice mercy.

I want to seek justice.

And I want to walk away from every encounter carrying less hatred, not more.

That’s a tall order.

Fortunately, Jesus didn’t tell me to accomplish it all before breakfast.

Just follow Him.

Today.

This conversation.

This person.

This moment.

Getting free one moment at a time.

And perhaps leaving a little peace behind wherever I go.

Blessed are the peacemakers.

—Charlie Wear

Charlie Wear’s Notes