Sunday School Commentary Lesson
By
Dr. Jason Thrower
March 22
Receive the Holy Spirit, John 20: 19-23, Acts 1:4-8
Recently I was at a local Ministerial Meeting and one of the pastors was talking negatively
about our community. I tried to change the subject. Then he began to fill everyone's ears with
more state and national bad news. Finally i said that I was attempting to change the subject.
This pastor responded, "I know but it's bad news that strengthens me." That statement was
very illuminating. I wonder how many people are strengthened and look for bad news to
provide them with the strength they need. Today, in the midst of a plethora of bad news, so
many people sound like Chicken Little, "The sky is falling!" But as followers of Christ we are
heralds of the Gospel/ Good news. As a people who have received the promise, presence,
power and promise of the Holy Spirit, hopefully we will not merely hear and spread bad news
to find strength. But as a people who have received the Holy Spirit, we can rise above and live
above the potential of our old way of life. Thanks be to God! We have this treasure in earthen
vessels, but because we have received the Spirit, are we ready to boldly share "good gossip"
about what Christ is doing in our lives?
Jesus' Call to Peace
The story of Jesus' appearance to the disciples in John 20:19-23 can be subdivided into two
parts: (1) vv. 19-20, the appearance of the risen Jesus, and (2) vv. 21-23, the disciples'
commissioning by the risen Jesus. This section has elements in common with Luke 24:36-43:
both occur on Sunday evening; Jesus greets the disciples with the same words; and in both
accounts Jesus displays the wounds of his crucifixion to the gathered disciples.
"Peace be with you" was a familiar greeting. What is striking about that is the disciples were
experiencing a total lack of peace. Their Master, Rabbi, Lord, and their world had been brutally
crucified by the Romans and now they were hiding behind locked doors. The disciples were
fearful that Jesus' fate would be their own, so we find them hiding.
John 20:19-23 is linked with the preceding story in the garden by the emphatic expression "that
day" (vv.19), although the disciples' fearful conduct indicates that they have not credited
Mary's report (Luke 24:11). The locked doors may be mentioned to heighten the drama and
supernatural effect of Jesus' entrance into the room. But, their primary importance in the
Fourth Evangelist/book of John is found in the phrase "for fear of the Jews." This expression
derives from the Johannie community's conflicts with the Jewish authorities of their day. The
Fourth Evangelist thus intends his readers to see their own experience reflected in this story of
the first disciples.
Jesus' greeting, "Peace be with you" is a conventional greeting, but it has an additional meaning
in v. 19. With these words, Jesus fulfills another of his promises from the Farewell Discourse:
the gift of peace (John 14:27). This peace is given to a community who will experience the
world's hatred and persecution (John 15:18-25). The gift of his peace to the disciples who have
locked themselves away "for the fear of the Jews" is an explicit reminder to the reading
community that they need not face the Jewish authorities anxiously, but can do so with the
peace of Jesus.
The Gift of the Holy Spirit
Jesus' breathing on the disciples (v. 22) is explicitly linked with his words in (v.21), so that the
gift of the Spirit is presented as that which empowers the community to continue Jesus' work.
The Spirit was promised for the time after Jesus' glorification (John 7:37-39), and at v.22 that
moment has arrived. The verb "to breathe" occurs only here in the New Testament, and it's
usage clearly evokes the description of God's breathing the breath of life into the first human in
Genesis 2:7. It also recalls the description of the breath of life in Ezekiel 15:11 "and breathed
living spirit into them" (NRSV). Jesus' breathing, the gift of the Holy Spirit for his disciples is
described as a new, second creation. The image of new life provides an important link with
Jesus' announcement in John 20:17. Those who believe in Jesus receive new life as children of
God, and the Holy Spirit is the breath that sustains that new life. The gift of the Holy Spirit
empowers believers to live the Christ-centered life and to be the people of God.
The Holy Spirit and Forgiveness
The commissioning scene closes with Jesus' words in John 20:23 about forgiving and retaining
sins. This is a very complex verse to interpret. It's vocabulary is usual for the Gospel of John;
this is the only occurrence of the verb "to forgive" and "to retain" in the Gospel. C. H. Dodd
proposed that this verse was an independent form of the teaching about binding and loosing in
Matthew 18:18. While this may explain its traditional roots, the adaption into the Johannie
setting gives it a quite different meaning from the Matthew version.
Also, this verse has had a controversial role in the history of the church, as the church leaders
have debated its significance for the practice of baptism and penance. For example, it was a
crucial text in the Council of Trent's defense of the sacrament of penance and the role of
ordained clergy in granting absolution from sins, and it is often used in discussions of the
relationship between rituals of repentance and the rite of baptism. We must hear Jesus words
in context. Yes, his words were given to the apostles, but the implications of forgiveness are
not only for the apostolic ordained priests, but for all who follow Jesus.
Thus, the emphasis remains squarely upon the gift of the Holy Spirit which enables modern
disciples to forgive.
It is not in our nature to be forgiving, apart from the gift of the Holy Spirt. I was playing
racquetball with my step father and he was beating me like a drum. Finally, I got a chance to
crush the ball and I hit it as hard as I could. Bam! It hit my step father square in the back of the
head. He groaned and grabbed the ball and shouted, "I will not get mad, but I will get even!"
That is only human nature. When someone has said or done something to hurt our feelings, we
want to strike back, to get even. However, life in the Spirit offers us a different approach to life.
Lewis Smedes writes in his book Forgive and Forget, "When you forgive someone for hurting
you, you perform spiritual surgery inside your soul; you cut away the wrong that was done to
you so that you can see your 'enemy' through the magic eyes that can heal your soul. Detach
that person from the hurt and let it go, the way a child opens his hands and let's a trapped
butterfly go free." (p.27) Forgiving through the power of the Holy Spirit is the gift you give
yourself.
Jason Thrower
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