Shalom

The word "peace", or "shalom" is a word which has a depth and variety of meanings. First of all, it means "May the blessings of God be upon you". "Peace" further means being reconciled with God and with one another.

His death brought about that reconciliation with God which is one of those deeper meanings of the word.

Paul tells the Galatians that the cross is central to the faith of every Christian  So peace finds it’s root in the cross. Let me tell you a true story.

• A young priest came home to spend his last days at his order's main house as he dying of cancer. At one point near the end he requested his superior’s presence and told the following story:
  "I was lying here, trying to pray and was finding it very difficult. As I was gazing at a picture of the crucified head of Christ. And suddenly, somehow, I felt myself drawn into the picture and found myself at Calvary. At the moment when Jesus was being crucified and the soldiers were hammering the nails into his hands. And suddenly I realized that one of the soldiers' faces was mine! I asked the Lord, 'Are my sins crucifying you?' Christ turned to me, and with a gentle smile, said, 'Tony, whatever they are, your sins are forgiven. My peace I give to you.' And then the face, my face, on that soldier disappeared, And ever since, I have found this enormous peace, that peace that's in the gospel, that Jesus spoke about." The end drew near and they all said the same thing -  that when they entered his room, they had this unspeakable sense of peace. It just emanated from the room, and emanated from him, and when he spoke with them, as agitated and sad as they were, they seemed to drink in that peace. Then he said to them, I have one dying wish for you. My wish for you is the peace that I have received from knowing that Jesus not only died for my sins, but that he loves me with such an incredible love. And he died with a big smile on his face.

This is only the beginning. Just as Christ sent the disciples out ahead of him to prepare for his coming, so does he send us out now to once again prepare for his coming. And how do we do that? By bringing his peace and reconciliation to others, which is well illustrated in the following story.

• I was looking for just the right card for my father's birthday. I could not honestly choose one of the beautiful ones that proclaimed, "You were always there for me". Rather, I needed one that admitted, "You were never there for me". Other years I had picked out a generic "For my Father" card that was rather nondescript. This year my search was fruitless. Finally I decided, "Oh, just this once I will send him a really special one even if I don't want to!" I picked out a beautiful, expensive card that said, "You were always there for me when I needed you."
  Before mailing it, I had a long talk with the Lord. "Lord, I know your Word tells me that I shouldn't let bitterness dwell in my heart. I forgave my father years ago, but I haven't forgotten all of his injustices to me. And he has never even acknowledged them. They seem to lurk in my subconscious that frequently  But since your Scripture warns me to make sure that bitterness doesn't spring up and trouble me, I'll send him this card, even though he doesn't deserve it."
  When he received the card, my Dad telephoned me long distance and admitted, "I've been sitting here looking at this beautiful card you sent me and I must confess that the words in it do not really apply to me. I neglected you all your life." Hardly able to believe my ears, I reassured him, "Dad, don't you worry about that. You did the best you could. You did lead me to the Lord when I was a teen and my Heavenly Father has always been there for both of us. He forgave my sins and yours and we shall one day see Him in Heaven."  The Lord gave me the blessing of true forgiveness toward my father that I had been unable to muster in my own strength.
  Only two weeks later, I was standing in the funeral home by my father's casket, amazed at the long procession of mourners who offered me their condolences. Many had tears in their eyes and were obviously deeply moved at the sudden passing of my father. One said that he had been like a father to him, another that he had made the Bible come alive for her in Sunday School, and still another that he had been a perfect neighbor, someone who would do odd jobs and never accept a cent in payment. On and on it went. I kept thinking: "Do these people have the right room here in the funeral home? Can this possibly be my father whom they are talking about? It was obvious that the father whom I had known was not the same person that these people had known.
  At the close of the viewing, I sat alone by my father's casket, pondering what might have been. The tears flowed, not for what had been, but for what could have been. But at least the Lord gave me the opportunity to be reconciled with him two weeks before his death. And the bitterness that threatened to engulf my soul is now gone.
  Someone once said, "Forgiveness is not a case of holy amnesia that wipes out the past. Instead it is the experience of healing that drains the poison from the wound!" How grateful I am that God led me to send my father that very special birthday card. It was a blessing to both of us.

Because of her act of love, the author of this story brought about reconciliation with her father. But she did more than that by her act of selflessness: she brought peace into her own life, especially when her father died so soon thereafter.

We are called to be Christ's disciples in our own day. We are called to be agents of his peace in the lives of others. And we can do this primarily by first letting go of our anger and bitterness and then performing acts of love and forgiveness, which also have the added effect of bringing peace into our own lives, a peace that this world could never give.