Peace be with you

In tomorrow's Gospel reading, Jesus comes among his disciples after his resurrection and says, “Peace be with you.” Then he repeats it again, "Peace be with you.”

What he really said was “Shalom be with you.” The Hebrew word Shalom means more than our word “peace.” Shalom means “well-being, health, happiness, and peace.” It means all of those things together. Shalom is better understood as wholeness or completeness. In the Old Testament, the fullness of Shalom could only come as a gift from God. The same is true in the New Testament where shalom is the gift that Jesus brings as he enters into the doubt, indecision, and confusion after his death. Jesus still wants God’s wholeness and well-being for us.

Jesus then speaks to Thomas saying, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt, but believe.” Jesus does not make fun of Thomas doubts. Jesus offers Thomas what Thomas needs. If you need to see and to touch to believe, then see and touch and believe. Jesus offers Thomas a way from doubts to shalom. Jesus offers Thomas his own wounded body.

By his wounds we are healed is something found in the recent addition to the archives, the sermon We wish to see Jesus. And if you have doubts of your own about the resurrection, there is the sermon Resurrection—an apology offering some reasons to believe.