41 When Jesus came near, he saw Jerusalem and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come on you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side, 44 and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation."

Luke 19:41-44 - World English Bible

What belongs to one's peace? For the contemporaries of Jesus, peace meant “Shalom,” the sense of God's presence. The things of Shalom he referred to were the acts of YHWH that accompanied the Good News. Yet, the populace of Jerusalem remained apathetic to his message and ministry.

Christians of the late first century drew a line between the blindness of the people to Jesus and their destruction with the fall of the capital in 70 AD. Luke 19:43-44 describe that judgment. The siege of Titus and the Roman legions, the violence against the people after the city's defenses collapsed and the devastation visited upon its structures all summed up the view that people ignored God's offer of salvation.

While we moderns might not take such a harsh look on the fall of Jerusalem, we should acknowledge this assertion is part of our tradition. At the same time, we should realize the Jews are our brothers and sisters before the God we worship. For all of us, Shalom comes from the same source.

How do you realize Shalom in your life today?