Blessed are the Peacemakers? Enemy Love, Family Hate and the Dynamics of Betrayal

Abstract

T his article draws on contemporary lived experiences of peace-making in places such as Northern Ireland, Israel-Palestine and South Africa, to make sense of why the conventional family was “torn apart” by Jesus. 1 Three other explanations are recognized: the personal and social impact of an absent father; the professional demands of becoming a non-partisan, fearless prophet; and opposition to power abuse exemplified by familial human realities. How-ever, it is argued that from a faith-based “peacemaker” perspective the most promising way to interpret the “hate” of family members is to look at how turn this loved one into the worst kind of enemy – the “traitor in our midst.” The bulk of the article fleshes out these dynamics of family betrayal by combining the peace-with-justice journey of Netta Hazan, an Israeli Combatants for Peace activist, with Jewish-American philosopher Avishai Margalit’s understanding of betrayal as the “undermining” of “thick” human relationships. The concluding section hints at the counter-cultural blessing of disruptive cross-border compassion as a deeper homecoming in the “kindom” of heaven. it at that precise point that Jesus at-tacks it. His ideal group is, contrary to Mediterranean and indeed most human familial reality, an open one equally accessible to all under God.