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Eastertide 2008
God's Peace Be With You
Dear Friends,
I am writing to you
a few days after the Second Sunday of Easter with the words of the gospel
story are still fresh in my mind, “When it was evening of the day of
Resurrection, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where
the disciples met were locked for fear…Jesus came and stood among them and
said, ‘Peace be with you.’”
The importance of
these words is underscored by the fact that these were the first words Jesus
spoke to his friends when he first appeared to them. These were the first
words spoken to the church after the horror of betrayal, suffering,
humiliation, death and resurrection. Their simplicity betrays the import of
that message. Yet, these are the first words that Jesus gave to his friends
after his resurrection, that they might pass them on.
We use the word
peace to mean tranquility, concord, absence of conflict, or the end of
hostilities. While these are all admirable traits, Jesus uses the word
peace, as he knew it in its Jewish context: Shalom. Shalom is much more
than the absence of conflict but as a common greeting that means much more
than a simple hello or goodbye. The word shalom means the very best
wishes; the abundance of life, filled with good things running over. It is a
way of saying, I wish you abundant prosperity. When Jesus said these words
to his friends he said them in the context of life: his life, death, and
resurrection. It was Jesus’ way of opening the world to a new bountiful life
freed from fear.
Every Sunday we have
the opportunity to share God’s peace, God’s Shalom, with the people
sitting near us in divine service. The Peace is not just a simple greeting,
a good morning, but an opportunity as God’s people to wish and say these
efficacious words, “Peace be with you.” For when we say these words the
peace process has begun. Remember the song you may have sung in high school
glee club—“Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” The song
is sentimental but the theology is universal. Seeds of shalom grow and
multiply as we sow them in our church, our homes, our neighborhoods and
finally to our world.
Fred Buechner says
it this way: “Peace has come to mean the time when there aren’t any major
wars. Beggars can’t be choosers, we’d most of us settle for that. But in
Hebrew peace, shalom, means fullness, means having everything you
need to be wholly and happily yourself.”
As we continue on
our Easter journey, let us remember that’ what God wants for each of us is
the abundant life, brimming over with goodness and love. It is also my wish
for you.
Shalom,
The Rev'd Michael Dudley
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