In Luke 10, Jesus tells his disciples to find a person of peace (verse 5) and to bless their oikos (home, or circle of influence).
What is a person of peace?
A person of peace is someone who has reputation (good or bad), influence, and is open to receive us. We can recognize them because they offer us hospitality.
In Rosa's story, she had a reputation; she knew everyone and everyone was accepted by her as part of her family. When she died a couple of years ago, that became even more clear. Around 150 people were crammed into a tiny funeral parlor, and the stories they told of her life and how it had impacted them… The kids she had semi-adopted… The people she had befriended… Even in her death, she opened up her circle of influence to us as the family invited us to take her funeral.
We recognized Rosa as a person of peace because she was open to our praying with her. She offered us to come to her apartment. And she opened up her circle of influence–her family and friends– to us and to the good news we brought her.
4 replies on “How do we recognize a person of peace?”
Felicity, thanks for these posts recounting Rosa’s story. You are helping people discover critical insights.
We have found at least four practical filters are useful in evaluating whether someone is a Person of Peace:
1. They are open when you make spiritual statements,
2. They respond with spiritual statements,
3. They ask questions of you (not just tell you their opinion – but want to know yours) and
4. They respond to your invitation to open their “oikos” (Greek word for “household”) to directly learn from God’s Word.
A Person of Peace will serve as a bridge into his/her sphere of influence. Rosa clearly passed through all four filters. Not everyone who is friendly will, since some are just lonely and others are merely curious (many from within the multitudes who followed Jesus turned back as he called them to spiritual responsibilities).
I actually believe that there is another understanding here. If we look at the original Greek we can see that it is not a “person” or “man” of peace. It is a “son” of peace. This is quite different. A son of peace can only be born from the Father of Peace, via the Spirit of Peace.
When Jesus sent his disciples out, he instructed them to go to a house where the Spirit of Peace had already been. This is a person who had already responded to God in his heart, even though like many he may have limited revelation or understanding.
This might be a Cornelius or a Rahab.
If we look at Rahab’s confession before the spies we can see the one single person who had a clear revelation of God whilst dwelling in a wicked city.
John, these are very helpful thoughts.
Frank, an interesting idea!
We need more people like Rosa. I could already imagine the wonders it can bring to the world.