Greetings

“Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings”, he said.  They came to him, clasping his feet and worshiped him.”  Matthew 28:9

Greetings – “Oh, God, how could this happen?” the women thought as they walked toward the tomb.  Jesus has been crucified.  All of his disciples were in hiding.  On the first morning after the Sabbath, these women go to offer a memorial.  It is no accident that women were the first to see the risen Lord.  They were attending to the duties of life, just as women always have.  Preparing meals, caring for children, cleaning, shopping, managing the domestic burdens.  And, of course, taking care of the sick and bringing flowers to the graves.  These are the roles that men consider too menial for them.  After all, men are the ones in authority.  The everyday issues of living should be delegated to others.  So these women come to the tomb, ready to perform one more of the tasks that befall those who serve.  As we soon discover, the act of serving brings us into close proximity with the glory of God.

Two women came to show respect.  Two women whose lives were filled with devotion for Jesus.  Two women who had never been the same since the day they met him.  They came to grieve.  They came to absorb once more the thoughts and feelings of this man.  They came because they were still followers.  Death did not destroy their commitment.

We all know the story.  They encounter an angel who pronounces the good news.  They are overwhelmed with fear and rejoicing.  Can it be true?  It was almost too much to hope.  As the run back toward the city, Jesus meets them.

Matthew says that he stopped them with a greeting.  The word Matthew uses is chairete.  Rejoice!  Joy to you!  Immediately something has changed.  This is not what we expect.  Scholars tell us that this word means something like “hail” when it is an imperative.  Judas used it to identify Jesus.  The Roman soldiers used it to mock him.  But when it is combined with any other word, it is an exclamation pregnant with the joy received from the power of God’s restoration.  It is never found in the Old Testament as a greeting.  The common Hebrew greeting should have been shalom – peace!  Shalom in its true context means completeness, wholeness, harmony or fulfillment in both our undertakings and our relationships.  This kind of peace is the result of God’s promise.  This was the common greeting of every Jew – a wish of God’s well being for another.  But shalom no longer fits reality.

Today that wish for well-being has been fulfilled.  Shalom, the hope of peace, has become chairete – the announcement of grace.  Jesus proclaims a shift in the entire universe with one of life’s simple tasks – greeting another.  For thousands of years, mankind waited, expressing the wish for peace.  On this day, peace has arrived, never to be taken away.  Is it too much to see that Jesus transforms the simplest of human interactions into divine intersections?  A meal becomes a sacrifice.  A touch becomes a window into heaven.  A greeting becomes the proclamation of fulfillment.

Greet someone today with a genuine expression of God’s good will in the reality of His resurrection:  Rejoice!

(just wait, there’s more tomorrow)