In the Garden
The opening scene of the Hebrew scriptures is set in a garden—a place called Eden—a place of delight. Crystal clear rivers forming its boundaries, the garden was full, brimming with endless possibilities.
We’re told that there was no shame there, that its inhabitants were free in every sense of the word: fully seen, fully known, and still fully loved by God. They lived in a world that was created and deemed good. They themselves were deemed good—in Hebrew, tov.
Tov
Tov is best described as life embedded with the potential of bringing forth new life. That’s a beautiful thought. It’s also a wonderful starting point for understanding justice in the Kingdom.
Every person is born a gardener, given different seeds (tov) but the same soil. They are invited to “be fruitful and multiply,” to become actively engaged in the ongoing creative design by living into the fullness of their unique design—a design that is inherently good and reflective of a good Creator.
When this happens, we see what in Hebrew would be called, shalom. Shalom, often diminished to mean something like peace in the English language, is far weightier in Hebrew.
Shalom
Whereas peace often connotes the absence of conflict, shalom is actually the presence of justice and righteousness in a symbiotic relationship (more on that in part two of this blog series). It’s what Christian philosopher Nicolas Wolterstorff describes as “the state of flourishing in all dimensions of one’s existence: in one’s relation to God, in one’s relation to one’s fellow human beings, in one’s relation to nature, and in one’s relation to oneself.” Expounding further, he writes, “the Hebrew concept of shalom is much more than peace—it means wholeness, completeness, harmony—the total sense of well-being, what God initially intended before the Fall—for both individuals and community.”
Isn’t that what we’re all after?
When Jesus, the unruly rabbi on the side of a mountain spoke of the Kingdom, this is the picture he was pointing back to and the hope he was pointing us towards: shalom. Jesus came so that humanity could learn to flourish again. Jesus came so that the world would look like a garden again.
To understand justice in the Kingdom is to begin by looking at the seeds of goodness that exist within all of humanity, and the design of the Creator—shalom—that existed before the fall.
It’s this journey inward and backwards that allows us to move forward. For His Kingdom come, and His will to be done here as it is in heaven.