Shalom: Peace Be With You

Shalom: Peace be With You


John 20:19-31


19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.




When I visit synagogues I enjoy the greeting we extend to one another, “Shabbat shalom.” When I visit a mosque, we exchange, “ Salaama Laka, Laka Salaam.” Every Sunday we share this peace with one another, “peace be with you, and also with you.” This is significant that peace is such a central part of how the children of Abraham interact with one another.
This world shalom is a Semitic word for peace, but it also means wholeness. Jews say shalom and Muslims say salaama. When we pray for and extend shalom to one another, we work to transform our world into the way God intended it to be. When we pray and mediate on our journey to the New Jerusalem, we remember that the name of our future home is the City of Peace.
For several months, I have been interpreting peacemaking through interfaith dialogue. We are so painfully aware of how little peace there is between the Children of Abraham who share Jerusalem as their spiritual home. The room was full at Mt Zion last month for the Interfaith Passover Seder. God’s shalom moved in our hearts and minds as Jews, Muslims and Christians gathered to remember God’s promise to us. If we are to have peace in our world, we must find and foster peace among the children of Abraham.
Several weeks ago, Professor Reiter was here to reflect on this image in Isaiah 2. This vision of God’s Holy Mountain, where the wolf shall lay down with the lamb. Where swords become ploughshares, and spears become pruning hooks. This is a key passage for us to meditate on when we live out our calling as peacemakers. We remember Jesus’ sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.”
How radical this vision of Jerusalem is when we consider the state of our world. For decades, our global community has been struggling to find peace in the City of Peace. Professor Reiter has invited me to join him this summer while he facilitates conflict resolution sessions with Israelis and Palestinians. This is an honor to work with the former Arab Relations advisor to three Israeli Prime Ministers. When and if, we finally achieve God’s shalom in Jerusalem, I know Professor Reiter’s work will have made a substantial contribution.
Our goal is to reach interim agreements on how the holy sites will be managed and monitored. These holy sites that are to be sources of peace and reconciliation have too often been thwarted into instruments of conflict and violence. As a Christian, I want to join our fellow Children of Abraham in our common quest for God’s shalom in the City of Peace.
In times of fear and anxiety, how we need the peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding! With our economic crisis, and life in a post 9-11 world, how we need to know and find this peace. Sometimes we forget that we have been through difficult times before, but we made it through the rain. Don’t worry I will spare you a Barry Manilow karoke moment.
We find courage and a sense of groundedness when we remember how Jesus breathed his peace on his frightened disciples huddling together behind closed doors. A week after Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, Jesus moves through the walls and locks to find his scattered flock. It can be hard for us to fathom how scared and anxious these disciples must have been. Whose next? Will they come and pick us all up?
When we think of frightened people behind closed doors we remember the Jews in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. Many of us know Anne Frank’s diary. She is one of heroes of the 20th century. She gave voice to millions of Jews who had to go into hiding. Jews in Europe living under the looming threat of Hitler could understand what the disciples were going through these first weeks after Good Friday. There is an entire discipline of holocaust studies where scholars examine the letters, memoirs and narratives of holocaust victims and survivors. In this research, we see the resiliency of the human spirit in the midst of the darkest of days.
Victor Frankl, the founder of logotherapy was a holocaust survivor. While in captivity he helped facilitate small groups in the camps. People would lead others in visualizations of some the redeeming moments in their lives, hikes in nature, and memorable milestones in their lives. These stories enabled others to transcend the horror they faced day after day. I hope and pray that they found God’s peace, God’s shalom in the midst of the tragic chapter in human history. God’s peace was present with them, breathing through them peace in the midst of their fear, anxiety and despair.
Our Loving God is a God of promises. God does not direct the cruelty and hate that persists in our world. God loves us enough to give us free choice. As human beings we walk on this razor edge of good and evil, because God makes us in his image. We have the gift and awesome responsibility of choosing whether to live in the image of God or to choose to defy walking in his path. We should put on God what really rests with us and our poor choices.
When we find our brothers and sisters locked behind closed doors living with fear and anxiety, God is not the source of this oppression. Rather God is the healing peace that comes to us beyond the locks and chains. Our Good Shepherd seeks out his sheep when we have taken shelter from the wolves and thieves of this world.
Who are the frightened children of God who are huddled behind lock doors today? We remember the persecuted Christians who lived under communist rule. Today, there are still Christians risking their very lives under theocratic Muslim rule. We should not take for granted the freedom we have here in America. Nor should we use our privileged position to oppress and marginalize others.
Many of our Muslim brothers and sisters have struggled to live here after 9-11. Just this week, Somali women in Minneapolis had to endure racist slurs as they walked to classes at the U of M. Many Muslims in America are living in fear and isolation. May we be instruments of God peace blowing and blessing them with a sense of God’s shalom in our communities.
We practice what Jesus taught us. We must turn the other cheek; we are to love our enemies. As faithful disciples of Christ, we do not return the hatred and intolerance that some fundamentalist have resorted to. We need to remember that all children of Abraham wrestle with this temptation to presume to have the Truth and then oppress their fellow descendants of Abraham. The CNN God’s Warriors effectively makes this point.
Another community among us who lives in fear behind locked doors are the 12 million people who live out of status with INS. We have families in our congregation who endure this fear and anxiety. The Cameroonian government is controlled by the French speaking region. Many of our English speaking Cameroonian brothers and sisters have been oppressed by the government because they seek to know and see God’s justice in their homeland. If they are to go home they face political persecution and the very real threat of torture. Lady Liberty’s torch still burns, and she embraces our Cameroonians brothers and sisters and their quest for liberty in their homeland.
Instead of being intolerant and lumping 12 million people together, we need to take the time and open our hearts and minds to hear each person’s story. Bearing a compassionate witness to their testimony, we are vessels of God’s peace blowing. As we learn more of their stories, we call for compassionate and just resolution to the immigration problem. Our brothers and sisters must be able to come out of the shadows. Most are merely trying to put bread on their table for their children. May the peace of Christ blow in their lives.
Our compassionate Shepherd comes to us in our places of fear and anxiety and blows his Spirit again. These words are shared among us again, “Peace be with you.” God has been assuring us everyday, “Do not be afraid, I am with you. I will give you my peace to sustain you.”
From the locked rooms, Jesus sends us out with the Holy Spirit to reach out to our brothers and sisters who are huddled in fear. Together, we seek to find the courage and wisdom we need to break the chains and open the doors. Many times these locks are on our hearts and minds.
God’s Holy Spirit is the key that breaks every chain and picks every lock that keeps us from being one. Jesus’ ministry of peace and reconciliation sends us into many upper rooms. Peace be with you, come with us and go out into this daunting and frightening world with courage. Hold on and trust that Jesus Christ will blow his breathe of peace on us and give us strength and hope.
Breathe deep God’s peace and share it with others. May the closed doors and locks in our hearts and minds be opened. May God’s peace blow through us and give us his eyes and ears of Grace. God give us hearts of compassion for the people who live in fear today behind closed doors. God, may our witness to your Shalom give others the courage to walk out into the streets with us. Together, we profess and proclaim your Peace. We breathe your eternal Spirit and let it flow to all of your children.