Peace Be Unto You (Luke 24:36-37)

2024-01-04

And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. (Luke 24:36-37)

It has been said that when Jesus said, “Peace be unto you,” He was only saying “good morning” or greeting His disciples. The greeting “shalom aleichem” is supposed to be returned with the phrase, “aleichem shalom.” The Arabic greeting “as-salamu alaykum” is the same. These mean, “peace be unto you.” This is apparently common in the Middle East.

Fair enough; this must be true. However, I believe there is still more in Jesus’ words than an ordinary greeting. Notice that Jesus said “Peace be unto you” only to have His disciples become afraid. He greeted them by offering peace; they recoiled in fear. He may have been greeting them, but He was also truly extending peace to them, knowing the turmoil of their hearts over the previous days.

After He greeted them and extended true peace to them, He said it again: “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). I am not sure if it is normal to greet someone more than once in the same few minutes, but it looks like He was taking an ordinary greeting and ensuring His disciples peace now that He had risen from the dead. With this newfound peace, they would go into the world and tell them what they saw: Christ risen again. He used the same phrase again when Thomas saw Jesus for the first time, and He was also assured peace from the Lord.

The Scriptures do not record ordinary details. Everything is written for a reason. When we read “Peace be unto you,” we should recall, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).