It does not necessarily mean just being a peace lover. By nature human beings are peace lovers. But peacemaking is far more demanding than peace loving. What Jesus means was that those who make the world a more pleasant place to live in is blessed indeed. Barkley said, “The man who divides men is doing the devil’s work; but the man who unites men is doing God’s work.” Peace without truth is false peace. Peacemaking efforts involves risk of life. We shall cite some examples. The President of Egypt Anward Sadat said, “For the sake of smiles on the face of every child for the generations to come, I have taken my decision.” Then peace prevailed in both countries but Anward Sadat was assassinated by his own people. Gandhi advocated for a two-nation theory to have Muslims and Hindus live together as a nation but his own countrymen assassinated him. Martin Luther Jr. worked for civil rights for national harmony and his own countrymen assassinated him.
Abraham Lincoln said, “Die when I may, I would like it to be said of me, that I always pulled up a weed and planted a flower where I thought a flower could grow,” and he was assassinated. It is obvious that darkness cannot dispel darkness, so also only love can drive away hate. Hate cannot drive away hate. Hate breeds another hate, violence begins with another violence.
Christian leaders are bound to lose their moral leadership unless they boldly cast themselves on the side of Christ in creating a world for all people to live as brothers and sisters if they read the same Bible and pray to the same God: From the international point of view, peace is the recognition of rights and equality of minorities. From the personal point of view, peace is recognition of others rights. Most of the broken friendship or broken family ties are due to the selfishness of the people on one side. They try to seek gains at the expense of their friends or they try to get comfort at the cost of other’s seat. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you (Luke 6: 3). To have peace there must be justice. There must be truth to have justice. Max Muellar said, “The truth must be repeated again and again as there is someone who, does not believe it.” Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32.) Masked feelings are made known easily and no one else can get along with pretence for a long period of time without the truth.
May God grant our Nagas wisdom to be peace makers and to clear the malaise mess in our society.
Benry Yanthan
Retd. Teacher,
Bhandari, Nagaland.
