Shalom
I grew up in a Christian family. My dad is a pastor and a missionary. His dad was a pastor and a missionary. And his dad was a pastor and a missionary. So, when I got an engineering degree and an MBA – well, there may have been a few prayers said for my eternal soul.
Growing up in a Christian home, we read the Bible a lot. The Bible can be a confusing book and it talks about a lot of things. But one of the things it talks about a lot is peace. Or at least that is how my bible read. Don’t get me wrong, peace is a great thing. Peace beats the hell out of war. But peace isn’t exciting. Growing up, peace wasn’t exactly the thing I felt I was looking for. I always fancied myself as more of a man of action.
There was this one verse that always stuck with me. It a sermon from Jesus when he said, “Blessed are the Peacemakers”. My parents and teachers – all of them very well-intentioned – explained the verse to me as follows:
If someone wants to fight you, you should let them beat you up. Because that makes you a peacemaker. And being a peacemaker makes Jesus happy.
If you see other people in a fight, you should try to stop the fight. Because that makes you a peacemaker. And being a peacemaker makes Jesus happy.
As you might imagine, I wasn’t terribly excited about this verse. I kept looking for the “Blessed are those who kick ass” verse, but I couldn’t find it.
“Blessed are those who get stuff done.”
“Blessed are those who are not afraid to crack a few eggs to make an omelet.”
“Blessed are those who make it happen.”
I couldn’t find those verses either.
But then one day, many years later, I found it. I found the verse I was looking for! And here is the ironic part. The verse I was looking for all along was the same verse I had misunderstood all those years before. The secret is in the word “peace”. Or, in the word we translate as peace that actually means much, much more.
In Hebrew, the word is “Shalom”. Most of the time Shalom is translated into English as “Peace”. Years later someone explained the word Shalom to me and all the pieces started falling in place. Translating Shalom as Peace is like saying that the Grand Canyon is a hole in the ground – technically true but grossly misleading.
Shalom is such a huge Hebrew concept, that we need a dozen English words to capture its full meaning. Here is the list I’ve assembled from a few different sources:
Abundance
Completeness
Flourishing
Harmony
Health
Peace
Perfection
Prosperity
Rest
Tranquility
Welfare &
Wholeness
The idea is not just peace, but the idea of health and safety in mind, body & estate. Shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness & delight.
THE WAY THINGS OUGHT TO BE.
And once you begin to see how big Shalom really is, it radically changes some pretty important passages in scripture. Here are a couple examples:
“The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make his face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His Countenance upon you, and give you SHALOM.”
– Numbers 6:23-26
“For Solomon had dominion over all the region on this side the river … over all the kings on this side the river: and he had SHALOM on all sides round about him. “
– 1 Kings 4:24-25
“Seek the SHALOM of the city (Babylon) where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its SHALOM you will find your SHALOM.”
– Jeremiah 29:7
“Blessed are the SHALOM-makers, for they shall be called sons of God. “
– Matthew 5:9
Each of these is a sermon in itself. Which I will spare you. But take the list of English words above and plug them into a few of those verses. Some really interesting things start to jump out.
“the Lord give you abundance & prosperity”???
“seek the health & welfare of Babylon”???
First of all, Biblical scholars (which I am not) will be quick to point out that Matthew wasn’t written in Hebrew. It was written in Greek. Shalom is not the word here. And they are correct. The actual word here is “Erene” … which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Shalom. But I like Shalom better. And I think it helps us expand our thinking about this passage. Has God really been talking about flourishing all along???
I think a compelling argument from scripture can be made that God is speaking more broadly than just the oversimplified peacemaker translation that some of us heard as children. And if so, then this suggests that God cares about holistic human flourishing, not just about people being saved. God apparently cares about providing a good product/service at a fair price, creating jobs and turning a profit. And that is new news to a lot of people – especially business executives. But the news gets better. Not only does God seem to care about these things, He then pronounces a blessing on the leaders – the abundance-makers, the health-makers, the prosperity-makers and the peace-makers – and calls them “Sons of God”. This is a big deal that most churches don’t talk about enough.
I know many unconscious Shalom-makers. I work with many executives, and sadly, most of them don’t think of themselves as Shalom-makers. They think of themselves as hard working men & women just trying to make a living, serve their customers, employ some good workers, and not get sued or audited. But there is a bigger story available to all business executives – we are Shalom-makers because we contribute to the abundance, flourishing, health, peace, prosperity, and welfare of our employees, customers, and communities.
Have you ever thought of yourself as a Shalom-maker?
