Advent2025 Waiting With Matthew 25

Day 25: The Reward of Waiting. Today we reflect on Matthew 5:9 – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Join us this Advent as we sit with the waiting in the first 5 chapters of Matthew's Gospel.

Transcript

Hello friends,

This is Mark Gladman,

Brother Frederick James,

Your friendly neighbourhood monk-in-dogs.

Welcome to day 25 of Advent 2025,

Waiting with Matthew.

And while technically this is the last day of Advent,

Do know that there will be a special audio that will be released tomorrow for you to enjoy as we reflect on the journey that we've taken to this point.

Today,

Our focus will be from Matthew chapter 5 verse 9.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they will be called children of God.

And so on this day before Christmas Day,

I invite you to sit and be still,

To breathe deeply in and out,

As we open ourselves,

Our ears,

Our minds and our hearts to the whispers of God's Spirit to us today.

So today,

We're standing at the edge of something holy.

For 24 days,

We've been walking with Matthew's Gospel,

Following that slow arc of waiting that stretches from genealogy to the manger,

From promise whispered to promise revealed.

Advent has been our teacher,

Its pace,

Its patient,

Its gentle insistence that God is never hurried,

But also God is never late.

And now,

Christmas Eve,

We come to a beatitude that feels like culmination.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they will be called children of God.

It's as though Jesus,

Right before the birth scene even unfolds,

Hands us the identity that Christmas is meant to awaken in us.

Before shepherds,

Before magi,

Before swaddling cloth,

He gives us a name,

Children of God.

People who look like God themselves,

Because they make peace.

Advent teaches us to wait for God.

Christmas teaches us to become like God,

And the doorway between them,

Jesus says,

Is peace.

Blessed are the peacemakers.

The Greek word used for peacemakers here doesn't simply mean those who keep things calm.

It means those who actively bring reconciliation,

Who bridge distances,

Who heal divides,

Who refuse to let estrangement have the final word.

It describes movement,

Action,

Courage.

Peacemaking isn't polite avoidance.

It's not niceness.

It's not smoothing things over so nobody feels uncomfortable.

Peacemaking is the work God does at Christmas.

God enters the fracture.

God steps into the world's ache.

God moves towards enemies,

Not away from them.

God initiates reconciliation before anyone has apologized.

And this is why peacemakers are called children of God,

Because they do what God does.

They take the first step.

They risk vulnerability.

They become bridge and balm.

They let love move through them into places that have forgotten what love feels like.

Advent has been teaching us this pattern all along.

Hope waits for God to come,

But peace moves with God into the world.

Advent forms our desire,

But Christmas forms our identity.

Jesus says for they will be called children of God.

This is more than a title,

This is recognition.

And it's also resemblance.

To call someone a child of in Jesus' world meant that they looked like the one who raised them.

That they carried family traits.

That they walk in the way of the one who shaped them.

Peacemakers resemble God because God is always making peace.

Even when we're not.

Think of the whole gospel movement we've traveled these weeks.

God enters the world through a family tree full of brokenness.

God protects the vulnerable child fleeing a violent king.

God waits in Nazareth for decades,

Hidden,

Patient,

Gentle.

God calls disciples,

Heals the sick,

Pours light into shadowed places.

God enlarges the world by blessing the poor,

The meek,

The hungry,

The grieving.

Every single step has been reconciliation.

Every movement has been peacemaking.

And Christmas,

In its fragile simplicity,

Reveals the truth.

The God who comes to us comes always as peace.

And the God who becomes peace invites us to become peace also.

Tonight isn't simply the night before Christmas.

It's the threshold where waiting becomes witness.

Tonight is the quiet satin thread between longing and fulfillment.

Between promise and presence.

Between the ache of human history and the whisper of Emmanuel.

Tonight reminds us that all faithful waiting is rewarded.

Not with ease,

Not with comfort,

Not with control.

But with God themselves.

God with us.

God for us.

God dwelling among us as a child of peace.

Advent has never been about getting what we want.

It's always been about becoming who we're meant to be.

And Jesus tells us who that is.

Peacemakers.

Children of God.

Bearers of the light that we've been waiting for.

On Christmas Eve,

We don't simply remember the birth.

We allow the birth to reshape ours.

Because Christmas isn't a memory.

Christmas is an identity.

And on Christmas Eve,

Every form of waiting sharpens.

The waiting of the lonely for the warmth of connection.

The waiting of the grieving for the moment of tenderness.

The waiting of the exhausted for rest.

The waiting of the world for justice.

The waiting of our families for peace around our tables.

The waiting of our souls for gentleness towards ourselves.

And Jesus stands in the centre of it all and says,

Blessed are the peacemakers.

As though to say,

Blessed are those who take the risk to love first.

Blessed are those who disarm hostility with compassion.

Blessed are those who listen more than they argue.

Blessed are those who speak truth without violence.

Blessed are those who build bridges no one else notices.

Blessed are those who refuse to turn away.

Blessed are those who mirror the heart of God.

Tonight,

The reward of waiting isn't merely the child in the manger.

It's your own birth into the resemblance of God.

Christmas doesn't simply reveal who Jesus is.

It reveals who you are and who you are becoming.

As you listen,

Take a moment to become aware of the places in your life that need peace.

Where is the fracture?

Where is the distance?

Where is the misunderstanding,

The tension,

The resentment?

Where is the wound that you've been waiting for someone else to heal first?

And hear the invitation of Jesus,

Blessed are the peacemakers.

Not because peace is easy,

But because peace is divine.

This is the true gift of Christmas Eve.

The invitation to join the divine work of reconciliation.

And so,

As we prepare to rise from our time together,

Let us pray.

God of peace,

On this holy night we stand on the threshold of mystery.

We have waited,

Longed,

Hoped and listened through the days of Advent,

And now we draw near to the manger where your peace takes on flesh and breath and vulnerability.

Make us people who resemble you.

Make us courageous in love,

Gentle in truth,

Patient in conflict,

And willing to begin the work of reconciliation,

Even when it costs.

May the peace you bring to the world tonight find a home in us.

May it shape our actions,

Soften our posture and widen our hearts.

Teach us to make peace the way you make peace,

From the inside out.

From the courageous place,

From the place where your spirit dwells within us.

Amen.

And so,

As we bring this reflection to a close,

My friend,

May you become a vessel of peace,

Carrying light into every shadow around you.

May you discover yourself as a true child of God,

Bearing the family resemblance of mercy,

Courage and compassion.

May you step into Christmas not only as a celebration,

But as a new beginning of becoming peace in the world God so loves.

And may that peace,

Along with grace,

Love,

Joy and all the beautiful blessings,

Be with you,

Stay with you and remain with you and your household and your family and your community this Christmas Eve,

Into tomorrow and always.

Amen.

Grace and peace,

My friends.

Until tomorrow,

When we'll meet for one last time on Christmas Day.

Bye for now.

Reviews

Thank you for this series, Mark. I feel the Peace that passes all understanding. Blessings and gratitude to you. 💝🎄🙏🕊

May His peace and Grace continue in your days🙏🏻 So blessed to be a child of God♥️ merry Christmas

Thank you for an excellent theme on waiting. Our music group at our parish introduced the hymn “Waiting In Silence” to our director and she was not familiar with it. I have found myself listening to it after the daily session. Waiting is not something that most find easy to do, but the reward of Christmas is always worth waiting for.

Abundant blessings on this Christmas 🎄. Grace and Peace ☮️ to you. Thank you for the journey. 🌟🙏🏾

Thank you for this beautiful Advent journey.