Distress and the Shalom of God
Reflections on the Bible’s concept of peace and what it means for us today during a time of struggle, delays, COVID-19, and death
I’m exhausted.
A recent article I read talked about how this time feels an “infinite present”.
How many beloved public figures have we lost?
How many canceled engagements, weddings, graduation ceremonies?
How many funerals? How many setbacks?
How distressing has it been to watch Congress haggle over essential economic support even as many are dying?
How frustrating has it been to watch delayed transitions of power and baseless accusations of election fraud?
How exasperating has it been to try to keep it together and make major life transitions during a time like this?
Reports of Pfizer and Moderna starting to send out vaccines to healthcare workers and higher-risk individuals is a push in the right direction, but those in the medical profession caution us from getting TOO hopeful too fast.
In fact, an argument was made that it may be better to pretend that these vaccines don’t exist so that we don’t lower our guard or become careless.
One thing I have really needed is just PEACE.
The Bible Project’s video on Peace and a recent ministry conference call I was was on inspired me to delver deeper into this subject of peace.
The more I started to look into how the Bible uses the term peace, or “shalom” in Hebrew, the more I was amazed at its rich layers of meaning.
The Hebrew term “Shalom” in the Scriptures means wholeness, completeness, order, rest, harmony, safety. Shalom speaks to the idea of vitality in all dimensions of life. It is holistic (body and soul). It can be used to mean to refer to cessation of hostilities (such as in war) but it means so much more.
The Master Plan
According to the vision presented by the Hebrew Scriptures, human beings were originally created to live in a world full of shalom.
Shalom is a multi-dimensional reality — it is meant to be enjoyed within ourselves, between fellow human beings, and ultimately between us and the Creator God.
The first created human beings, the animals, the whole created order working as they ought to, flourishing together in worship of the Living God — this was and remains the Creator’s glorious vision for humanity: his image-bearers.
The Shalom we had from and with God, in ourselves, the created order, and with each other was shattered and taken away when we chose to live apart from the Creator God, the source of shalom, life, and goodness.
And so we live — in this condition of death due to our sins.
Human history has often been an unwinding account of war, conflict, instability, death, and no shalom.
We see an absence of shalom between tribes, people groups, nations, leaders and their citizens.
I think of my own home country Nigeria as a recent example as exemplified in the #LekkiMassacre.
I also think of the mantra “No Justice, No Peace”.
At the few protests I have been to, I shouted this loudly with the crowd because it is a necessary and true statement.
Truly there can be no peace when there is no justice.
In the Fall of 2020, I attended two candlelight vigils at my local university:
- one focused on commemorating the life of Breonna Taylor and many other Black men and women killed through police violence,
- and the other commemorating the lives lost due to SARS and governmental corruption in Nigeria and the various plight of African nations.
I remember for the first vigil holding the candle and trying my best to keep the flame going despite the cold autumn air blowing against it.
Our own attempts to find and fully grasp shalom, individually and as a people, can be compared to this flickering candle flame.
At one moment we feel like we have gotten a handle on it, a moment of joy, but the next second another blast of wind threatens to snuff it out — another threat, another injustice, another theft, another video, another Black woman disrespected, unheard, ignored—
All the while recognizing that the candle wick of our lives continue to burn and we only have so much time before it all melts.
Something needs to change.
We look for many substitutes for the original Shalom that God wants for us, but they always take more than they promise.
God’s mission to restore shalom to all of humanity begins with Abraham and his family as the means to bring blessing and shalom back to the whole world.
Now before I go any further: there is such a thing as false shalom.
In the Old Testament, as the story of Israel continues to unfold, there are many accounts of zealous prophets proclaiming peace, “Shalom, Shalom”, when truly all was not well.
We cannot truly experience full shalom where there is alienation from the God who loves us AND rampant oppression of the poor.
Prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah constantly reminded Israel, the priests, and their leaders that there could be no true shalom if they continued to ignore God’s ways, exploit their neighbor, and commit social injustice. What has happening in the story Israel was a microcosm of the human condition.
If we continue along this path, we won’t enter into the full shalom God has always wanted humanity to have and instead we will continue to live in but also in our own ways perpetuate disorder, distress, and injustice.
“There is no shalom, says my God, for the wicked.” - Isaiah 57:21
Nicholas Wolterstorff, in his book Until Justice and Peace Embrace, points out that shalom is not less than justice, but much more. See what he says:
“In shalom, each person enjoys justice, enjoys his or her rights. There is no shalom without justice. But shalom goes beyond justice. Shalom is the human being dwelling at peace in all his or her relationships: with God, with self, with fellow, with nature.”
Can elementary school students struggling with e-learning and not seeing their friends be said to be at shalom?
What about when thousands upon thousands of people have died to COVID-19 and other complications?
When Black students are at unease and stress due to racism, assaults on their dignity, and walls are thrown to hinder their flourishing?
When millions of people are struggling to pay rent and are unemployed, can our society claim to be at shalom?
When thousands of homeless people are struggling to survive during a pandemic and increased time of social distancing?
This understanding of our need for shalom is further enriched by the Christian tradition, has several implications for our relationship to ourselves, each other, our families, societies, nations, cultures, and more.
In this understanding, for example, it is not enough to be anti-racist (which is a necessary posture to take as we denounce the evil) but also seek to construct a present and future in which there are healthy relationships.
Pursuing shalom in its fullest sense would not only petition for an end to injustice but the greater hope of restoration, healing, and redress.
So what is the shalom that the Creator God offers human beings in the Christian tradition?
And how does it work itself out in the midst of such a world that never seems to have shalom?
The Advent of Jesus of Nazareth
The world that Jesus first comes into in the first century is one that is said be under a kind of Roman shalom but yet is still full of chaos, death, political upheaval, liberationist visions, and more.
It is in the midst of this that the Living God takes on human flesh and becomes one of us, sharing in our joys but also our sorrows — the heart of the Christmas celebrations.
Jesus goes around teaching, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, confronts evil, healing all those oppressed by the devil, and yet is often accused of disturbing the shalom by the religious leaders of Israel. Sound familiar?
On the Eve of his coming betrayal, torture, and crucifixion on a Roman cross, he tells his disciples
“Shalom I leave with you. My shalom I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)
The shalom Jesus offers is not attained through deception, suppression, and violent exploitation of the poor and afflicted, as per course of the world (to this day), but rather taking upon all these things into himself so that we would be whole, forgiven of our sins, made new, and made alive.
The crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth was a whirlwind of the greatest breaches of shalom we can find in human history and our collective experience:
- Physical torture of the highest degree
- Mental and emotional trauma
- his closest friends abandoning and betraying him at his greatest hour of trial as they deny any association with him
- a coalition of the powers of the Roman Empire and envious religious leaders that were determined, despite his innocence, to see him crucified and defeated, like any other revolutionary deemed a threat
- the mockery and slander that spewed forth from the crowds
- the sexual shame he endures as he was stripped naked (as many victims of Roman crucifixion would be) and his clothes were divided amongst the Roman soldiers and bet upon (a kind of anti-shalom)
- his dearly loved mother helpless as she watches him bleeding out struggling to breathe
And yet the audacious and interesting Christian claim that is still considered foolish to many people today was that this was NOT a failure, but the outworking of God’s intricate plan as Jesus is claimed to have risen from the dead as the King of Kings!
A Scripture that is often read among families, churches, and services during Advent and Christmas is often Isaiah 53 (read the whole chapter if you can, so rich) and verse 5 says,
the punishment that brought us shalom was on him
Now when we later read Romans 5:1 where the Apostle Paul writes to the Christians in Rome,
Having been declared righteous by faith, we now have shalom with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Shalom presented here is not simply “God will no longer come at me” but rather “God is my Father, I am his beloved child, and there is no barrier between us. There is nothing to earn but rather receiving and diving deep into the love and life of God. ”
This is not merely the end to conflict, but the presence of abundance, wholeness, prosperity, and joy between us and God.
This shalom includes the removal of all shame and guilt, washed away through the blood of Christ Jesus.
And this shalom we have from God pours out to others.
Jesus says “Blessed are the shalom-makers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
When we have the shalom of God, we are now called to live as the shalom-makers God desires for us to be.
This understanding of our role as shalom-makers in its fullest sense is one that can and should fuel us
- to be ambassadors of reconciliation
- to direct our attention to the plight of refugees caught up between brutal wars
- to care and advocate for immigrants who are caught between a rock and hard place
- to seek shalom within our familial relationships and communities
- to be discontent with thousands of homeless people on the streets and work, petition for better conditions and systemic change
- to recognize, serve, and advocate for victims of all kinds of trauma— racial, sexual, mental, and emotional.
Shalom is what God wants to immerse the creation in one day, at a real point in the future where King Jesus returns.
And this truth keeps our heads high, hearts strong, and hands at work when our best efforts at pursuing shalom fall apart.
Cling to John 16:33:
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have shalom. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
