A Strategy for Guilt

There’s a very simple but profound saying of Jesus: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

What does it mean to be a “peacemaker?” The word Jesus used for “peace” is the Hebrew “shalom.” Shalom doesn’t simply mean the absence of trouble. It means everything which makes for a person’s highest good. It’s referring to wholeness and completeness in a person’s relationship with himself or herself, with others, with the natural world and with the spiritual world, an intentionally established and maintained harmony and unity with God and all else. Consequently, “shalom” results in a sense of well-being and contentedness that comes from experiencing right relationships. That is “peace” in this saying of Jesus.

In fact, that Hebrew word is often used to describe the biblical concept of “salvation.” Salvation is the entire process of coming to wholeness and completeness as initiated by God and cooperated with by humanity. Shalom is that state of existence brought about by salvation from God which results in complete harmony, unity and peace between God and humanity and between people and each other.

With this saying, Jesus takes this to the next level. Jesus is talking not just about the experience of peace or those who are peaceful or peace-loving or peace-wanting. He is calling for people who are peace-making, working for peace. Big difference.

Very likely Jesus is quoting from the Scriptures of His day: “Stop doing evil and do good. Look for peace and work for it.” (Psalm 34:14). That’s a very profound description.

Abraham Lincoln once said that the peacemaker doesn’t just pull up weeds, he also plants flowers. In other words, peacemaking isn’t just about not doing evil. It’s especially about intentionally doing good, looking for peace and working proactively to bring it about. The peacemaker refuses to remain passive and simply accept things because that’s just the way it is or because trouble might come from doing something about it. Peacemakers demand the active facing of issues, deal with them, and conquer them for the sake of peace, even when the way to peace is through struggle. “Look for peace and work for it.”

Remember the Mai Lai massacre during the Vietnam war? U.S. soldiers brutally gunned down some 500 Vietnamese civilians, men, women and children. It stands as one of the darkest moments in American military history. But there is a sliver of light that emanates from that terrible tragedy.

Twenty-four-year-old Hugh Thompson was a helicopter pilot whose mission was to swoop down over the village and draw fire so helicopters behind him could destroy the enemy with machine gun and rocket fire. But he never drew any enemy fire. Instead, he saw in horror American officers and soldiers on the ground killing villagers. He and his two-man crew saw the bodies of Vietnamese children, women and old men piled in an irrigation ditch. He could see that some were still alive.

So Thompson landed his chopper and got out. He pleaded with the soldiers, “Help the wounded!” Instead, troopers fired into the bodies. Thompson later said, “We wanted to find something that would point the blame on the enemy, but it just didn’t work. It all added up to something we just didn’t want to believe.” He was finally moved to action when he spotted villagers crowded in a hut, an old woman standing in the doorway, a baby in her arms, a child clutching her leg. American soldiers were approaching.

“These people were looking at me for help,” Thompson remembered. “And there was no way I could turn my back on them.” So he made a choice, a very dangerous choice. He got back in his chopper and placed it down in front of the advancing Americans and gave his gunner a simple, direct order: “Train your M-60 on the GIs. If they attempt to harm the villagers, open up on them.” Thompson radioed the two gunships behind him, and they began to airlift the villagers to safety. The standoff lasted for 15 minutes.

On March 6, 1998, the Army finally awarded Thompson and his two crewmen the prestigious Soldier’s Medal. In the citation, they are honored for “heroic performance in saving the lives of Vietnamese civilians during the unlawful massacre of noncombatants by American forces.” After the ceremony, Thompson and his buddy traveled to My Lai and met the people they rescued that day. Imagine what that reunion was like for them.

Blessed are the peacemakers—not just peace-lovers or peace-wanters or peace-hopers but peace-makers—for they shall be called children of God.