We all know where to turn for Jesus’ prime words on peace: the Sermon on the Mount. Do not resist an evil person. Turn the other cheek. Love your enemies. It’s all there in just a few verses of Matthew 5.

Then Jesus moves on to other topics. He’s told the peacemakers everything they need to know. Collected all his best advice in a tight cluster of commands. Or has he?

In fact, Jesus doesn’t stop preaching about peace at the end of chapter 5. He returns to it in chapter 7, but from a different angle. In the earlier passage he told his followers how to respond to physical violence and to enemies. This is important, but not something most of us face very often.

In chapter 7 he addresses more everyday concerns. How to treat the people we live and work with. How to get along with our neighbors. He says: Don’t judge. Don’t dwell on others’ faults while overlooking your own. And don’t throw your pearls to pigs — which is harder to interpret but could be a warning not to assume we know what someone else’s needs are when we really have no idea. If we think pigs can use our pearls, we’re clueless.

As we keep reading — still looking through our peacemaking lens — Jesus’ next statement takes on a meaning we might not have seen before. He says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” We often read this as a promise that God will give us what we ask for if we pray hard enough. But in Beyond the Law: Living the Sermon on the Mount (Herald Press, 2007), Philip K. Clemens advises us to read these words in context. Jesus is teaching about how we treat others. He has just given negative examples, like judging and hypocrisy. Now he gives positive ones. Clemens interprets Jesus’ advice this way: “Instead of telling, we ask. Instead of presuming, we seek. Instead of forcing, we knock.”

To make peace, “ask, seek, knock” might be as important as “turn the other cheek.” It could be the best tool to create empathy, transform attitudes and resolve conflict. It can make us see each other and the world differently. It can make us look at Ferguson, Mo., and understand the anger of a community that saw an unarmed black teenager lying dead on a street, shot by a police officer. It can make Christians see Muslims as neighbors to share a meal with rather than the kind of people to avoid. It can lead church­goers on opposite sides of emotional issues to agree that there’s more that binds them than divides.

Yes, “ask, seek, knock” is the way to pray. It is how we should approach God. It is also how to approach other people. It’s about putting them first, listening respectfully and understanding their experience. Learning what is unique about someone else and what is common among all of us. Discovering together how God would have us relate to each other.

“Ask, seek, knock” can break down the fear and suspicion that divide people of different races, faiths or biblical interpretations. It can make peace.