He Breathed On Them.....What!?
John 20:19-23 was one of those passage of scripture that used to puzzle me as a Protestant. So get your Bibles, I'll wait. Or you can read it here. In the end, I figured since nobody ever bothered to talk about the "breathing on them part" it wasn't that important. I figured it was probably some obscure cultural reference that I would hear about some day.
And of course, despite the superficial support of those Catholics and their completely WRONG practice of confession, it really didn't mean that. It was really more about the Holy Spirit don't you know and the rest of that passage was just details that weren't important. Certainly, they were never fleshed out in any sermon that I heard...except of course to assure me that the apparently plain support for Catholics and confession was completely off the mark.
But wouldn't you know that some Christians....cough....think that those unimportant details might just be important. This is one of those passsages like the one in Matthew that when I heard it preached on in the Protestant church was ALWAYS a sermon that included why it DIDN'T say what it looked like on the surface. But just like the casual reference to Jonah in that passage in Matthew on Peter and the Keys, there's a little bit more lurking below that tranquily looking surface. This is another passage where Jesus repeats and reinforces His hard-to-swallow-message...in this case the idea that He is giving authority to the Apostles (and those they designate) to act in HIS PLACE!
Listen....
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."
Peace be with you. This calls to mind an angelic choir that sang on Bethlehem when He was born. "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests!" The ability to grant peace with God in the Highest is a matter of reconiling a sinful humanity by the pending sacrifice by God's divine Son. While we certainly attempt to mirror Our Lord in bringing peace on earth, only He can truly give us peace and that is by His Blood poured out for us in a worthy sacrifice paid for our redemption.
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Our Lord not only shows them that it really is Him, but His wounds are the basis for his ability to truly with them peace. They recognize and pay homage to Him....and Thomas will reinforce the Apostles' collective opinion of Jesus divinity at the next meeting which is recorded right after this passage.
(Jesus) said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
Again Jesus, reiterates, PEACE which He has restored by His Sacrifice. You can sense His desire to tell the Apostles His Father's good wishes! Now if what has gone before could just be a greeting and not carry any theological significance at all, He goes on to make an incredibly bold statement. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Now just back. up. What was the mission that the Father sent Jesus on? To reconcile a sinful humanity to God in the Highest. To restore the spiritual life lost in Eden. Jesus came to bring us life and that we might have it abundantly? Sound familiar? Sure if you are a Christian, that's all relatively easy to believe but look what He is saying in this passage. He's not just saying that He has done it "Peace be with you." and showing His Wounds....HE'S PASSING ON THAT MISSION!! He's telling the disciples that it's now their mission to reconcile sinful humanity and restore lost spiritual life now that He has paid the price.
Sure. You're saying, "I don't believe that." I don't blame you. That's a pretty staggering concept. So just in case you didn't get it the first time and just in case you think that you were hearing things, Jesus repeats and confirms what He has just said by expanding on it adding to it.
And of course, despite the superficial support of those Catholics and their completely WRONG practice of confession, it really didn't mean that. It was really more about the Holy Spirit don't you know and the rest of that passage was just details that weren't important. Certainly, they were never fleshed out in any sermon that I heard...except of course to assure me that the apparently plain support for Catholics and confession was completely off the mark.
But wouldn't you know that some Christians....cough....think that those unimportant details might just be important. This is one of those passsages like the one in Matthew that when I heard it preached on in the Protestant church was ALWAYS a sermon that included why it DIDN'T say what it looked like on the surface. But just like the casual reference to Jonah in that passage in Matthew on Peter and the Keys, there's a little bit more lurking below that tranquily looking surface. This is another passage where Jesus repeats and reinforces His hard-to-swallow-message...in this case the idea that He is giving authority to the Apostles (and those they designate) to act in HIS PLACE!
Listen....
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."
Peace be with you. This calls to mind an angelic choir that sang on Bethlehem when He was born. "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests!" The ability to grant peace with God in the Highest is a matter of reconiling a sinful humanity by the pending sacrifice by God's divine Son. While we certainly attempt to mirror Our Lord in bringing peace on earth, only He can truly give us peace and that is by His Blood poured out for us in a worthy sacrifice paid for our redemption.
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Our Lord not only shows them that it really is Him, but His wounds are the basis for his ability to truly with them peace. They recognize and pay homage to Him....and Thomas will reinforce the Apostles' collective opinion of Jesus divinity at the next meeting which is recorded right after this passage.
(Jesus) said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
Again Jesus, reiterates, PEACE which He has restored by His Sacrifice. You can sense His desire to tell the Apostles His Father's good wishes! Now if what has gone before could just be a greeting and not carry any theological significance at all, He goes on to make an incredibly bold statement. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Now just back. up. What was the mission that the Father sent Jesus on? To reconcile a sinful humanity to God in the Highest. To restore the spiritual life lost in Eden. Jesus came to bring us life and that we might have it abundantly? Sound familiar? Sure if you are a Christian, that's all relatively easy to believe but look what He is saying in this passage. He's not just saying that He has done it "Peace be with you." and showing His Wounds....HE'S PASSING ON THAT MISSION!! He's telling the disciples that it's now their mission to reconcile sinful humanity and restore lost spiritual life now that He has paid the price.
Sure. You're saying, "I don't believe that." I don't blame you. That's a pretty staggering concept. So just in case you didn't get it the first time and just in case you think that you were hearing things, Jesus repeats and confirms what He has just said by expanding on it adding to it.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."
He breathed on them? What a bizarre thing to do. But wait, get out your Bibles and read Genesis 2:7 "the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being." God breathed on Adam, and He lived....he had LIFE! So Jesus, breathes on the Apostles tells them to receive the Holy Spirit....even though they are going to receive it in fullness later at Pentecost....and tells them that they are to pass on spiritual life by forgiving sins. Just like He said right before this....As the Father has sent me, so I send you....
No wonder I didn't like to think too much about that passage of scripture.....
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