John 20: 19-31
The words Jesus actually spoke were Shalom alechem. (Phonetically: Shalome Alehem).
- Shalom alechem are the Hebrew words for “peace be with you.”
- Well…what is peace?
If you asked people to define peace…they would probably say things like:
- Tranquility… quiet…calm.
- They would say something about being able to get off by themselves for a while and relax.
- They would say that peace is watching a sunset and enjoying nature.
- We imagine peace as being at ease… relaxed…without stress and without conflict.
- And maybe even swinging in a hammock.
Many of our ideas about peace involve solitude and being off by ourselves.
- And there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.
- Having time alone is necessary and helpful and healthy.
- Today many companies as well as the church require “Boundaries Workshops.
But…at the same time…we live in the give and take of daily life.
- We live in the very heart and pulse of our communities and the world.
- But the heart and pulse of the world is the last place you would expect to find peace and tranquility.
- Without contact with others though…
- We would go flat and stagnate.
- And so…maybe peace is not what we think it is.
Jesus said: Shalom alechem.
- “Peace be with you.”
- But the word shalom does not mean calm and tranquility.
- It does not mean the absence of struggle or conflict.
- Even though most of us would probably be happy to settle for that…if we could get it.
Shalom means well-being.
- It means the fullness of life.
- It means thriving and relishing and zesting and delighting in life.
Shalom alechem:
- “Peace and prosperity and gladness and growth and abundant life be with you.”
- That’s what shalom means.
And then Jesus showed His wounds…the holes in His hands and feet…and again said:
- Shalom alechem.
- His saying shalom is framed around the disciples seeing His wounds.
- It’s as if Jesus were saying:
- “This is how your peace is won.
- This is where you will find well-being and fullness of life.
- In My wounds.
- Because of that…peace be with you.”
Jesus did not get those wounds by disappearing into solitude.
- He got them in the thick of things.
- He received His wounds in one of the most diverse cities in the world.
- In a place so worldly that the sign over His cross had to be written in three languages.
- In a place where there were robbers and soldiers and priests and black marketers and terrorists.
- A place teeming and pulsing with the rhythms of the world.
We call Him the Prince of Peace.
- But it is an unusual peace that He brings.
- Not the peace of solitude and tranquility.
- But rather peace in the storm and tempest.
- Peace even in the heart of darkness.
Guyana is one of our companion synods in our Florida/Bahama Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
- Pastor Chip’s Youth Director…Tom…went with the congregation he served…on a Mission Trip there.
- One Sunday morning Tom went to a part of Georgetown called “the City of God.”
- He rode the bus part way and then got off and began walking up the winding street to the church.
- The street was crowded and there were shacks everywhere.
- When he got to the church it was crowded with children…impatient and restless…as they are in every culture.
- As Tom looked at the children…he could not help but think of the various statistics he had heard.
- Numbers telling of malnutrition… and child labor and infant deaths and the rate of disease.
- All this was on his mind as he took Holy Communion.
- He was thinking of the tremendous needs of the people.
- And how their problems seemed to be so great that you began to doubt whether much could really be done.
Then…a tiny woman came up to him.
- She had long braids in her hair.
- She had deep lines on her face.
- She came up to him…reached out her hand to take his…and she said:
- “The peace of Christ be with you.”
There…in that backwater of the world.
- In the slums of a city…among the little and least and the lost.
- There…in that festering wound of a place.
- He had been blessed with the peace of Christ.
Tom said: “As I spent time with those people…they taught me to see past the signs of death…suffering and poverty.
- I began to learn a lot about faithfulness and discipleship.
- I was moved by their incredible faith.
- I learned of their certain knowledge of Christ’s presence in their midst.
- And I learned of their claim to life in the face of the forces of death.”
And then Tom he said:
- “On a Sunday morning in the City of God…
- I reached out to touch one of the many wounded places in this world.
- I encountered there the risen Christ.”
It is not a peace that comes from hiding from others.
- Or separating ourselves…or cutting ourselves off.
- No…the peace of Christ is that mysterious and marvelous shalom that is somehow connected with the pulse and beat of human life.
Then Jesus said: “As the Farther has sent me…so I send you.”
- We are sent into the world.
- Sent not so much to be seekers of peace.
- But sent to be the bearers of peace.
- Sent to bring the Lord’s peace into our circle of life.
The Lord’s peace is not something we fall into.
- The Lord’s peace is something that is lived.
- That peace is lived in peaceful activities.
- That peace is lived in making dinner for those we love and care for.
- That peace is lived in caring for animals.
- That peace is lived in reading books.
- That peace is lived in building a garden.
- That peace is lived in going for a walk.
- That peace is lived in playing with children.
The Lord’s peace is lived…and then it is passed on…passed on wherever we happen to be.
- When a little league team is coached in a way that builds up.
- When a business is run in a way that affirms its people and customers.
- When a neighbor is greeted with respect and dignity.
- Whenever people encourage and stimulate and support and inspire.
- There is the peace of Christ.
Someday…all people and all creation will sing together:
- “The peace of Christ be with you and with us all.”
- Until that great day…
- May the peace of Christ…
- Which passes all understanding…
- Keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.