“19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After He said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” 22 When He had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” John 20:19-23.
Mary brought the news of the resurrection of Jesus to the disciples. In this passage Jesus Himself appears through shut — and locked — doors on Sunday night. Notice that Jesus does not rebuke the disciples nor does He show any kind of dismay over their still not believing He is risen, despite Mary’s witness. Instead Jesus gives them His peace and joy He promised earlier. On a previous occasion Jesus promised: “27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” John 14:27. And He also predicted to them their grief will be followed by their eventual joy: “20 Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. 22 So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ” John 16: 20-22. Notice too that Jesus here shows them his hands and feet, a not-so-subtle acknowledgement that they were nailed to the cross.
Then Jesus formally commissions them by sending them as His Father has sent Him, and He consecrates them as He had previously promised: “18 Father, as you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth” John 17:18-19. He then breathes on them in the same manner that God had breathed on Adam when blessing and filling him with the Holy Spirit: “7 Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” Genesis 2:7. Do not lose sight of the fact that God’s gift of the Holy Spirit is God’s gift of the life of God Himself! In this post-resurrection story Jesus is re-creating them with the Holy Spirit. Remember what Jesus told Nicodemus who came to Him at night: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born anew” John 3:3.
This story must serve as a reminder that the Holy Spirit did not show up for the first time on Pentecost, but that the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost represented the official and public gift of the Holy Spirit for the commissioning of the church’s mission in the world. And as we can see, for John the giving of the Holy Spirit, which is invisible, comes about through the glorification of Jesus, His return to His Father in heaven.
That the Holy Spirit was given on Easter Sunday connects the death and resurrection of Jesus with the forgiveness of sins.
So dear friends, let us pray that we may live our lives faithfully, worthy of such a gift of forgiveness of sins that was Jesus. Let us pray in gratitude to the One in whose name we pray: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy own me a sinner.
From the Bible:
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” John 14:26.
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words”
Romans 8:26.
“And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”
Acts 2:38.
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