Seeking Shalom

Last week I wrote about reading Jeremiah 29:11 in its original context, which is immediately preceding the Babylonian Exile. I suggested that embracing the paradigm of exile is necessary as committed Christians experience increasing social and cultural alienation in our society. The question, then, becomes, “How do we live in exile?” Rather than simply withdrawing from the people and culture of exile, or adopting a posture of confrontation, I believe Jeremiah’s counsel to the residents of Jerusalem just before the exile is applicable to us today. In Jeremiah 29:7, just before God promises “hope and a future,” the prophet urges that they “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

Importantly, the word translated “welfare” is the Hebrew word “shalom.” When most of us hear the word shalom, we think of the word “peace,” or think of it as a common greeting. The word shalom, however, means “the way it’s supposed to be,” to use theologian Cornelius Plantinga’s phrase. How, then, is “it supposed to be”? There are many passages in scripture we could look at to catch glimpses of God’s intention of his creation, but I’d like to focus on creation, the prophets, and the ministry of Jesus.

In creation, we find the first two humans in perfect harmony with God, with one another, and with God’s non-human creation. After sin entered the world, all three of these relationships are broken. In the midst of this brokenness, however, God raised up prophets to articulate a vision of God’s future. The prophet Isaiah, writing in the eighth century BC, speaks of reconciliation between the one God and the nations, as well as reconciliation diverse peoples:

“In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:2-4).

Later, Isaiah writes about reconciliation in the non-human creation:

“The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:6-9).

In Jesus’ ministry, from our perspective we see, in N.T. Wright’s phrase, “God’s future in the past.” Jesus articulates his mission in the words of Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). Jesus then goes about healing broken bodies, setting people free from the bondage of evil, announcing forgiveness of sin, and feeding the hungry in both body and soul. This is a picture of shalom.

As Christians, as exiles, we are called to seek the shalom of the city of our exile. We have a vision of shalom that is beautiful and compelling, and we have the gift of the Spirit, who empowers us to serve.

We see breakdowns of shalom all around us – in families, schools, businesses, politics, art, and the spiritual lives of our neighbors. There is poverty, injustice, racial tension, and a disregard for life. Seeking shalom, then, requires an active presence in all of these spheres, demonstrating in and through our redeemed and Spirit-empowered lives – individually and corporately – glimpses of the way things are supposed to be.

Next week I’d like to reflect on the example of Daniel, an exile who sought shalom in Babylon. In the meantime, I pray that we’d be overwhelmed and overjoyed at the vision of God’s shalom – enacted at creation, articulated by the prophets, and restored by Jesus – that it might overflow from us to the city of our exile.

Peace,

Chris