Shalom Aleichem!

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"

In a simple, everyday phrase, Jesus changed the lives of the apostles. The door's locked and he says what they have heard him say countless times, the standard greeting in Hebrew:

Shalom Aleichem!

I am struck by the simplicity of what Jesus said at that moment. Easter night. Unknowns are everywhere. When he shows up, all we hear is a normal greeting. Yet everything has changed.

It's a week later and now Thomas was there. Again the doors were locked and again they heard the same wonderful words:

Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"

Shalom. Shalom Aleichem!

No, Jesus is not pronouncing some special unique blessing. John is making sure we know that it is simple and to the point, the same greeting that Jews have been giving each other for at least 2000 years. Shalom. Shalom aleichem.

But they know it's him. His voice, his presence, his personal way of saying it. You would know the sound of your best friend or mentor no matter what the words. But using the simple, the everyday, the common words proves it.

It is in the simple ways that the most radical and life-changing events occur. The BIG events only make sense if they are there in the small events. The unusual becomes real if it becomes part of the common and ordinary. The resurrection makes no sense unless it is real in what I do each and every day. It is in the common, day-by-day life, that Jesus shows me what it means to follow Him.

It begins with a simple greeting. But the greeting has power. It is more than a trite cliche. It is a wish, a prayer. In His native tongue it was simply

Shalom. Shalom aleichem.