The Spirit of Shalom

John 20:19-31, Pg. 114-115 in pew Bible

John 20:19–31 NRSV

19 When 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.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So 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.” 26 A 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.” 27 Then 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.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But 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.

Last week, we heard the story of the women who went to the tomb to mourn Jesus’ death and their miraculous encounter with angels and Christ, raised. We looked at the wonder of this story, marveled at what, in Christ, is a reordered world, where death is overcome and resurrection begins to open up all sorts of renewed and new possibilities for humanity. In Christ, the rules are changed — death and despair no longer have the final world, but are instead examples of how a new humanity, in Christ, is to live and spread this good news.

And as I’ve said, I have wrestled with these resurrection texts a lot, especially in this present season. And I have to say, I’ve found this wrestling to be so rich, so full of hope and good news. We want resurrection, we want new life, we want these promises to return fruitful and true.

And in this process, I’m so amazed to feel the power of God moving through these texts to speak a word of great hope for us, here and now. A word of hope that promises we can, ourselves, partake in this renewing of the world, this resurrecting of relationship and healing for the nations. Not by our own power or through some magical solution where we find the elixir of life and never die. But rather, through the way that God became man in Christ and brought about a restoring of our truest humanity in Christ, a humanity that moves through death, moves through despair, to know there is yet still hope of making things new, here and now, with the time and the gifts that God blesses us with, here and now.

Where does this resurrection life start? Where do Jesus’ friends and followers first encounter this rearrangement of the order of things? Well, it’s in those first days, those early encounters, that we begin to see the new narrative take shape. A story, a narrative, that God has always been telling, but now we see in its fullness.

This is the narrative of shalom.

Shalom. What is shalom?

Is it simply another word for peace?

The Greek word Jesus uses is eirene, peace.

I’ve tried to picture how this interaction went. Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” as he enters this locked house where his friends are holed up, fearful that they’re the next ones the mob wants to execute, following the uprising and crucifixion of Jesus days before.

Does Jesus show up timid, hey…peace, don’t overreact.

He says it twice. Peace. I greet you in God’s peace. Eirene. Shalom, in Hebrew.

Shalom is, at its heart, an understanding of God’s complete righteousness. It is a state of health, salvation, welfare, providence, peace.

In many ways, shalom is a foreign concept to us still today, as we see a world torn by violence, war, hunger, hatred, and poverty. Just as we long for resurrection to be true, we also so long for shalom to actually be, to actually take place, because our world is so often far from shalom.

What Jesus brings as he encounters his friends again for this first time is shalom. Peace. And it is through the gift of the Holy Spirit that these people receive this shalom.

What does it mean to “receive shalom?” What does it mean to truly pass peace and receive peace?

That moment, when you are able to truly exhale.

That feeling, when you can look into the eyes of another person and see, in return, calm and love — peace, shalom — from them, built upon deep trust and connection.

Shalom is the way of being that we long for, that we have hints and glimpses of, what we know is possible, but is yet always not quite within our grasp. Shalom is wholeness…and it is what we seek together as the body of Christ. We also are examples of how it can actually take place — here and now.

I’m going to focus on the next words Jesus speaks to his disciples, but for a moment, I want to also jump ahead to the second part of the story, the interaction between Jesus and Thomas.

Thomas gets a bad deal — doubting Thomas is sometimes seen as this man with just not quite enough faith, like a second-class disciple. This isn’t fair.

Have you ever really wanted something to be true, but you say you’ll believe it when you see it? That is an entirely fair perspective — we are materialists, pragmatists, for goodness’ sake. We want the data. We want spirit and faith and things beyond what we see, certainly, but we want these things to interact with reality, with our lives here and now. So we want to touch the scars, as well. We want to see the marks, to trace their contours with our own fingers, to see if it is all that we hoped it could be.

So, if you need to have the faith of Thomas, welcome, shalom be with you. The Spirit of God that is poured out upon us all welcomes your interrogation of these facts, this promises. The Spirit of God can handle our questions, our doubts, and our wonderings. Don’t we want to be a people who worship a God who can handle skepticism and deep reflection? Man, I want that. I need that. So let’s bless all the Thomas-feelings we have…they are welcome.

And…and the beauty is that even when we see the scars, we have to live in faith at how it comes to be. Jesus says, “have you believed because you have seen me?” He’s checking, creating trusted assurance with Thomas that this has, in fact, done the trick. And then he goes on, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Blessed, happy, well are those who are able to grasp this message on faith alone. That’s not gonna be everyone, but there is a beautiful innocence to that kind of faith, as well. It is the faith we live, not by touch, but by trust.

Ok, we’ve received Christ in the shalom he brings.

We’ve wrestled and encountered our skeptical sides and see how that is yet a blessing.

Now, what are we to do with this new life? Jesus breathes life upon the disciples. Vs. 21 says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Jesus is passing on his work to them, to us, formally. His way is being resurrected in their lives, now. And, by extension, our lives now.

And he breathes that new life upon them, giving them the Holy Spirit.

To breathe upon someone is to pass your life, your true self, on to them. It is, in this case, the moment of Jesus passing the peace, sharing that wholeness of shalom with his friends once more. They had had a rough couple of days. Betrayal, death, heartbreak. And Jesus is restoring them, bring them back to wholeness, shalom, with the blessing of the Spirit.

And then he teaches, briefly, this profound message: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

I am FASCINATED, stirred up, by this simple statement. What wells of wisdom are here, what does this mean for us? If we live in a world now saturated by shalom and new life, what does this forgiving do, entail, bring about?

Let’s pause here, because I think we each know what this means, deep in our bones, but maybe we haven’t put words to it.

Think for a moment, who has wronged you? Who annoys you? What stories come to mind, what people?

Hold those folks or instances in your mind for a moment. And consider this:

Could I let it go?

Could I let them go?

When we are wronged, when there is an imbalance in our relationships, we feel it, right? Even if we did nothing to provoke and are completely innocent, we feel the effects of being hurt, long after the instance. We might even feel guilty for something we did not do, but was done to us.

I don’t have to say much more, do I? We know this feeling, this holding onto the pain of harm or the distance we feel from someone who has hurt us.

And here’s the kicker of this: The way we enter into this same shalom that Jesus offers, is to forgive and let go.

If we forgive, then they are forgiven.

Think about it from the other side of the equation. We wronged someone. What is it like to hold that in us? AND, powerfully, provocatively — what great joy and resurrection we feel when we hear these words: “Friend, I forgive you.” “Lover, I forgive you.” “Dad, I forgive you.” Oh goodness, there are not many sweeter, humbling, powerful things to hear: I forgive you.

As people who receive the Spirit, the first thing Jesus instructs them to do is forgive. Let it go. Seek shalom, find a way passed the hurt. Let go and heal, together.

Our lack of forgiving locks us up, as much as it locks up the one we can’t forgive. And forgiving, letting go, returning to shalom…that is where resurrection happens.

Obviously, there is the disclaimer that forgiveness doesn’t cancel accountability. When we are harmed, there must be consequences and a change that ensures such things don’t continue. Don’t hear this story and think otherwise.

But at the core, at the heart of being a people who want to live with and experience resurrection…it is to forgive.

So, you’ve perhaps identified a person or story that reminds you of forgiveness and its value. Great.

I’m gonna close us with this and up the aunty a little more:

Often, I know in myself at least, forgiveness has to be something I offer myself.

To live in shalom, in Christ’s peace, we have to be really honest with how we hold grudges or even loathe parts of ourselves, places in us where we’ve acted out or harmed ourselves or gotten stuck in destructive patterns. Sins and hardship that may never be perpetrated externally, but can still deeply wound.

Do we want to see resurection? Do we want to know shalom, eirene peace?

Maybe the most important first step we can take is letting go and forgiving. Forgiving others. And letting go and deeply forgiving ourselves. We’ve done wrong, we’ve been hurt and have hurt. In the resurrection, it is time to let go.

As we go through the rest of the service, I want to invite you to take time in silence to offer yourself this forgiveness. Seth, I forgive you. Rest in that self-forgiveness. And then let it flow into forgiveness and healing with others.

I want to offer, after the service, if you would like to talk and pray, I’ll stay up front here today. If you would like to pray together after the postlude, come on up. I’m sure there are others who would willingly sit and pray with you as well. Let’s do this, forgiving, receiving shalom, and perhaps, witnessing resurrection, here and now.