Receiving the Spirit - John 20:18-31

           It has been a long day. So much has happened. Even though the day was not over, who could have imagined that it was not yet finished surprising them with unimaginably amazing happenings. It is the evening of the day the resurrection. Early that morning Mary had gone to Jesus' tomb. But then came back fairly quickly, telling them that the tomb was empty, “Come and see! What can it mean?” Peter and John had run to the tomb and and returned telling the other that the tomb was indeed empty, Jesus' body was gone. Only Mary stayed at the tomb to morn this new loss. When she finally returned she carried with her some far fetched tale about meeting a gardener who turn out to be Jesus. He was is not dead, she kept repeating. He is alive; he has risen from the grave, she insisted.

Now it is evening and the believers are locked behind closed doors. The group which has gathered is made up of more than just the twelve. Among those who were there that evening were the women has consistently remained with Jesus during his ministry and several other prominent believers, such as Lazarus. The group may have even been as big as the 120, who are said to have been in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. The group is hiding behind locked doors.

What was going on behind this locked door? Are they afraid? Is there still a possibility they are in danger? Could those who plotted to have Jesus killed, be even now plotting to come after them now?

What are they doing as they are huddled together up in that room? Are they discussing the story with which Mary came back from the tomb? Do they believe her? Do they dare trust her words? Have they merely just dismissed her words as “idle women's prattle?” Do they dare hope that what she has said is true? What if she is telling the truth? What if Jesus is alive? What if the Messiah capable of conquering even death? What are they thinking? What are they discussing? “If Jesus is really alive, where is he?”

As they are trying to process the events of the past three days, the events of the past week, their minds must be dark and stormy seas of confusion. So much has happened since they arrived in Jerusalem a week ago. So many conflicting emotions. Everything must be swirling around inside of them threatening to overcome them. And then add Mary's impossible tale. They must be nearly drowning in the whirlpool of emotions as they try to make heads or tails of it all.

And then suddenly he is, right there in the room with them. He is standing right there. What are they thinking in that moment? Their dead, but now alive Messiah, has just appeared among them.

“Didn't we lock that door?”

“How did he get in here?”

“Whoa, wait he is really alive, Mary isn't crazy!”

“Well, that's a relief.”

“He is alive. He is here. I mean right here.”

And all Jesus says is “Peace be with you.” And then gives them proof that he is whom he appears to be, whom he seems to be, whom they dare wish that he is. He allows them to see the holes in his hands and the cut in his side. He is the Jesus who died on the cross, which means he is the Jesus who has risen from the dead. They can see beyond a shadow of a doubt, through undeniable proof that the man who stands among them, is Jesus Christ himself, raised from the dead, just as Mary had told them he was.

Then he says it again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Jesus' words and Jesus' presence is there to give them relief, to calm their spirits, to allow them to be still within themselves and know, truly know that he is indeed alive. This is not supposed to send them into a tailspin; this is not to bring chaos into the turmoil within them. What he does here does not bring fear. Jesus has returned and appeared among them to Jesus bring them peace, peace which only the God of universe, the creator of all things can bring to them. The peace that only the resurrected Savior can impart.

And with these words not only are the turmoils and tempests within them calmed, but they become a sent people. For John, THIS is when the Church becomes the Church. This band of disciples and believers gathered in that locked room are no longer simply followers and disciples of Christ, they are the people sent by Christ. In this moment of sending, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you send,” they become the Church.

The meaning of what it means to be the Church is here, it is to be a people sent into the world by Christ. In the Gospel of John, this is the “great commission,” “Go therefore . . .” They are sent into the world to teach what Christ taught, to live as Christ lived, to proclaim the risen Savior. In this moment they become the image of God in Christ for the world; reflecting the Savior and their God in a world who truly knows neither.

At this point it would be so easy to just jump to Thomas, skip the next bit and get to the “good stuff.” After all this evening which involves Thomas, is this evening; the evening of the Sunday, a week after the resurrection. It would be fun to compare and contrast these two evenings; to look at the signs the Disciples were given on the evening of the resurrection and see how they match up with the signs requested by and then given to Thomas later.

I love Thomas. In fact MOST of the time that this passage comes up I preach about Thomas. I like bringing Thomas out of the shade, which is usually cast upon him, into the light. He is believing-Thomas, sane and reasonable Thomas, Thomas who simply requests for the same signs and proof of the Risen Savior, as received by all the others. But I digress, because I am not preaching THAT sermon today. Today, I am going to skip Thomas, don't worry, I am sure you will get to hear me preach a sermon about him some other week. I am going to stick to the first part of passage and plow right into the part that is easy for us preachers to skip, because sometimes it is hard to deal with the fact that John tells the story of Christ differently than the rest of the Gospels, most importantly differently than Luke, and how he recorded events in his gospel and in Acts. And we really like the way Acts tells it. And that's OK. What John has to say and his representation of the events is no less true and valuable to the Church.

So here we go. After Jesus has calmed their fears, brought them peace, and declares them to be a Sent People, he breathes on them and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit. The newly resurrected Lord instills the Spirit of God within his followers, the newly declared Church. Although this is not the traditional way we are used to hearing about the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit, which in Acts happens on the Day of Pentecost, John relates the story “slightly” differently; with Jesus giving the disciples the Spirit on the day of his resurrection.

So Resurrection Sunday is a big day, in John's gospel. It is the day of the resurrection, the day when Christians become Christians. The day changes every thing forever. But it is also the day the Church become the Church, by being sent on Easter evening, and it is also when the Church receives the gift of the Spirit, and the Church becomes the Spirit filled community we all know today.

John truncates the events. The day of the Resurrection is THE DAY for John. It is the day that changes everything. So when John tells the story of the Resurrection, he puts all the most important things there on Resurrection day. This is the day when it ALL happens for him. This is a day that really and truly matters.

So, Jesus breathes on the disciples. The newly declared, sent, Church receives the Spirit. The words, which describe these events, are the words of creation. On the final day of creation God reached down into the dust and formed a human and once God had finished creating the human, God leans over and breaths into the human, bringing the human to life. It is through God breathing God's own breath into humanity that all humans gained life.

The language John uses here on the first day of the resurrection of the Christ is the language creation. This is the first day of the new creation and Jesus Christ breathes life into his followers, into the Church, life. Here on the evening of the resurrection new creation has begun, this day marks a new beginning not only for Jesus Christ, and for Church, but for all creation. Just as was done on the day humanity was created, life is given. This time, new life is breathed into the Church, reconnecting us all to who we were at creation. Filling us once again, in a new way, with the breath of God. Jesus is giving us a chance to begin anew, in him. Through Jesus, we are brought close to God in a way we have not known since the Garden. When Jesus breaths on them, are filled with the very breath of God, the Spirit of God flows within them. It is God's own breath which gives the believers in the resurrected Christ life. Through infilling of the breath the resurrected savior humanity is able to regain the hope, lost in the Fall.

The new life we find in Jesus Christ is found in the life giving Spirit. Through Jesus Christ, our relationship with God is renewed and strengthened; we get a new start, a fresh life, a new beginning. We are re-created, we gain all that was lost in the Fall, we gain relationship with our God, we gain the ability to be God breathed people, who are inhabited by the very Spirit of God; living our lives reflecting the love of God and sharing that love with all those around us. We are able to live as we were created to live.

As God breathed people we gain the power of God's own infilling, the power of the re-created life. The breath of God gives us the power to gain proper relationship with God, but as a Wiseman once said to a Spiderman, “with great power comes great power comes great responsibility.” The power gained in the God-breathed life has responsibilities as well.

The responsibility of the power is the power to forgive. Jesus tells us that whatever sins we forgive on earth will be forgiven. We are given the power to forgive; to see the faults in those around us, and forgive them. To turn to others and extend to them the forgiveness we ourselves have received from God.

There is a flip side to every coin. Jesus also says that any sins we retained will be retained. This is a warning, a caution. We are to be people of forgiveness but not retention. Jesus gives us the power to forgive and to not forgive. But we must know that when we do not forgive it means just as much as when we forgive.

We can choose not to forgive but what we retain, will be retained. We are called to forgive as freely and generously as God forgives. Our forgiveness of other is a direct reflection of the forgives we know in God. Others will first know the love and forgiveness of God in how we love and how we forgive. When we choose not to forgive we are reflecting to those around us that God does not forgive.
And where ever we do not forgive others, that kind of un-forgiveness will be shown to us. God will retain what we retain. The measure which we use will be used on us. So we are to forgive as freely and unboundlessly as we know God forgives, retaining nothing against others, as God has done with us.

So our first response must always be forgiveness. We are to forgive because we have the power and the responsibility to forgive as Christ forgives. This is an extension of God’s love which God has been shown to us. We, as Christ’s life breath, still living and moving on this earth, are to be Christ’s love and forgiveness here on earth. We love where Christ loves, and we forgive where Christ forgives. It is through us that those around not only know the love of God, but it also through us that they know of the forgiveness of God.

It is here, we, as followers of Christ receive the Spirit. It is here we become the Church. It is here that we learn what means to BE the Church. It means that we are a sent people. A people sent into the world by Christ, by God; sent into the world to love AND to forgive.