21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
~ John 20:21-23
These verses from John 20 are read the Sunday after Easter. The passage opens with Jesus’ disciples (except for Thomas) behind locked doors. Understandably, they were afraid. They saw what happened to Jesus. I’ll save you the gory details, but crucifixion is a horrible, cruel way to die. They heard as Jesus was whipped. They heard the nails being driven into Jesus’ body. They didn’t want the same to happen to them.
Just taking a moment to lift up a few important pieces of this passage – notice the order of events.
- Jesus says shalom – peace be with you – perhaps as a greeting and as a way to calm them down.
- Jesus commissions them to go … to continue the mission that Jesus was sent for.
- Jesus breathes on them and says “Receive the Holy Spirit”. This is significant because Genesis 1:2 mentions a “wind from God” and Genesis 2:7 tells of God breathing into man “the breath of life”. These are allusions to the Holy Spirit. So, when Jesus breathes on them as says “Receive the Holy Spirit,” it conjures images of creation, order out of chaos, the full power of Almighty God, and God empowering His people with His Holy Spirit to carry on the mission.
- And then … forgiveness. I have to admit that I haven’t thought about this piece before. Forgiveness must be very important to Jesus for Him to include it in His words of commission. Think back or read through stories of Jesus’ dealings with “sinful” people. How did He interact with the religious leaders – the Scribes and Pharisees – who knew everything there was to know about “the law”? Zacchaeus. The woman at the well. The woman caught in adultery. Most of us are aware of our sin, and we don’t need people to keep reminding us and beating us up about it. We need to know that there truly is nothing that “will be able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
At some point, the disciples were able to move out from their locked room and out from their fear. They did, in fact, receive the Holy Spirit and continue the God’s mission of love and forgiveness. And they found that this mission was, in fact, worth dying for. All but one of the twelve apostles was martyred.
You and I have also received the Holy Spirit – not to hold onto as a trophy or a talisman, but so that we may also go, share God’s life-giving Holy Spirit, forgive, and bear Christ’s peace. In this month after Easter, I encourage you to see what your locked places may be, hear Christ’s peace and call to move beyond those locked places.
In Christ,
Pastor Jeff
Epicurious Lutheran 