by Roland Wrinkle

Our Sunday Services are packed with liturgy. We welcome, we worship, we celebrate communion, we pray, we receive the Word, we confess, we doxologize, we meditate, we sing, we voice our delights and dejections, we offer our shekels and service, we are given a benediction for the road. But what is the “Passing of the Peace?” First, what it is not. It is not the personal, one-on-one sharing of our great joys and our deepest fears. That happens on the patio before and after the service where and when we try to answer the plea of Paul Aijian: “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if when we walked out of church, instead of saying ‘How are ya?’ we could say, because we trust each other, we could say to each other, ‘I’m hurting. Can I talk to you about it?’” It is not handshakes at the Chamber of Commerce or introductions at a 12- step meeting. As important as all of that is, that is not why we ritually (and, hopefully, meaningfully) engage each Sunday in the “Passing of the Peace.”

Rather, the “Passing of the Peace” is something different. It is biblical. It is Christ-modeled and commanded. It was one of the structural foundations of the early church. If we stop doing it, we are that much incrementally less disciples of Jesus. We are opening the Olympic Games by igniting the flame but without passing the torch. There is a reason why Paul (who really knew what he was doing) opened each and every one of his twelve letters by wishing the various churches and fellow believers with “Peace!”

The Greeting. Jesus did not greet his disciples by asking them “How are you?” or “Are you suffering or content?” or “In my name” or “Welcome, brother [or] sister.” No. When Jesus appears to his disciples after he is resurrected from the dead, he greets them with, “Peace be with you.” Heck, he transmaterialized through a locked door to offer them that very same greeting:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” John 20:19

When the chronically and incurably hemorrhaging woman sneaked up behind him and touched his robe, he healed her and sent her on her way with, “Go in peace.” (Mark 5.34). When the angel announced to the shepherds that God had become human, he reassured them with, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2.14). When Jesus sent out the seventy to spread the gospel, he instructed them rather specifically, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’” (Luke 10.5). In his farewell address(es), he was rather clear: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” (John 14.27); “I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace.” (John 16.33); “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” (John 20.19).

When he commissioned his disciples to go throughout the world and announce the gospel of the resurrection of Jesus the Christ, “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’” (John 20.21). When Peter preached the sermon to the gentiles in Caesarea, “You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.” (Acts 10.36). When Paul and Barnabas were commissioned by the Jerusalem Council, “they were sent off in peace by the believers to those who had sent them.” (Acts 15.33).

The Meaning. To be sure, such a greeting was familiar to the Jews. David would say, “Peace be to you, peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.” (1 Sam 25.6). But now, with the resurrection of Jesus, a simple salutation of respect has become infused with a much deeper and eternal meaning, i.e., the launching of New Creation and the inauguration of the Kingdom of God “on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus promised his disciples peace but their hopes were shattered before their very eyes (actually before their female disciples’ very eyes). So, when he appeared to them again, he reassured them that his promises, notwithstanding the look and feel of disaster, would be kept – and they, and the world, would have peace. A week later, Thomas, who had missed the earlier

revelation, expressed doubts to Jesus and Jesus answered him by blessing him and all who had and have trouble. Peace to them all. Peace to his church, yesterday, today and tomorrow. It is the peace of the risen Christ, the peace of promises kept and promise yet to be fulfilled. It is the peace of the gospel and the promise of New Creation here on earth in the yet to be Kingdom of God.

It is not “peace” in the sense of the absence of sufferings, struggles and sorrows. I t is the “shalom” of the Old Testament and the “eirene” of the New testament, i.e., the complete or fully-realized perfection of all of Creation as God mean it to be. It was a wholly new way of being human. It was, and is, the way of following Jesus, as his apprentices—as his disciple. It is not adopting and reciting any particular set of “right” beliefs. It is living life as resurrection people, as God’s people.

The Sharing. Jesus not only blessed his disciples with this unique, eternal and revolutionary notion of “peace,” he authorized, empowered and, indeed, commanded all of those who are “in Christ” to pass this received and realized blessing on to others and to do so repeatedly and faithfully. Until he returns, he left us with, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations … And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt 28.18) And we do that each and every Sunday when we get up from our comfortable pews and travel symbolically to “make disciples of all nations” by greeting each other, looking each other in the eyes, shaking their hands and passing on to them “the peace of God,” “the peace of Jesus the Christ,” “the peace of the risen messiah of Israel,” “the peace of the One who is to come,” “the peace of the crucified and resurrected savior.” My eleven-year-old grandson does it every Sunday.

“And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.” (Luke 10.6). “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20.21). Every Sunday on Newhall Avenue at around 9:47 am.