Release and Believe – John 20:19-23

A text – John 20:19-23

¹⁹ When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, 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.”

A reflection:

Here in John’s Gospel we have a different view of the receiving of the Holy Spirit than we have in the Book of Acts. This isn’t the familiar Pentecost story. Instead, it is Jesus in person, on Easter evening, beathing his wind or breath (the same word for spirit) onto 10 of the disciples. Thomas and of course Judas Iscariot were not there.

The words that follow this giving of the spirit are these: “²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Scholars whom I know say that released or set free is a better translation than forgiven. “If you release the sins of any, they are released; if you hold any, they have been held.” A bit different, right?

And remember, in John’s gospel, sins aren’t things we do wrong, such as telling a lie or taking God’s name in vain. My former New Testament colleague Dr. Matt Skinner says, “In John’s Gospel, Jesus talks about sin as unbelief, the unwillingness or incapacity to grasp the truth of God manifested in Jesus. To have sin abide [or be retained], therefore, is to remain estranged from God.” So Jesus’s instructions place a mission upon the disciples: They are to release from people whatever keeps them from believing. They are to deliver, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the story of Jesus to human beings everywhere, so that the Spirit can enable those new hearers to believe in what they have heard. Imagine for a few seconds what effect Jesus’s breathing into his disciples has resulted in, over the centuries. That breath and giving of the Spirit has brought even you and me to faith. Powerful Eternal Holy Spirit. Grateful, those of us who have received it.

Now we, like the disciples, can tell the story to others and watch the Holy Spirit bring them into faith. It’s only right that we do so, since we too have been given the Holy Spirit. It is a gift that multiplies when we share it, as Jesus did that evening. Let’s all live this week deep in our belief and relationship with God through Christ Jesus, by the power of the Spirit. And then let’s sing it out somehow so the world hears.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. Help us to cherish and live out our relationship with you through our love and service to others. Amen.