The Holy Spirit

Reading Amount:

John 20:1-31

Central Verse:

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they ware forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

John 20:21-23

Central Truth:

The Holy Spirit has been given to all of us so that we might spread the light of Christ to all the world!

Food For Thought: (Questions about the Text)

The word for "breath" here is meant to call to mind the text in Genesis where God breathed life into Adam and Eve, it is also meant to call to mind the text in Ezekiel where the dry bones are given life.

There is nothing in the text that limits the disciples to only the twelve. It is safe to assume that there were more followers than just the twelve present. Making this text about forgiveness of sins inclusive of all the church life not just the clergy.

Connections: (Time with our Society)

The first Methodist pastor my family ever had had a habit of saying "so what?" after a Sunday school lesson or bible study. In other words we read all this, learned all these things and now we have to find something to do with it. Here we are beginning to wrap up the book of John, in fact some scholars believe that the original book didn't include chapter twenty one. Jesus has died and has risen again and we have to ask ourselves "so what?"

Before we answer this question I want us to keep a couple of things in mind. First is that when the gospel of John was written it would have been read aloud to the congregation. In other words it was meant to be heard. This means that there would have been auditory cues to help us understand the so what. Secondly, that opens up for us to remember the entire book when answering the so what question. We are not limited to only the few verses listed as the theme verses.

In our theme verses we are seeing the founding of the church, it is the giving of the Holy Spirit, not at the beginning of the book of Acts, but here in Jesus' presence that starts the mission and ministry of the church. That mission and ministry are difficult to understand just from these verses alone though. How are we to understand that we can forgive sins and people can retain their sins if they choose. In order to understand this fully we need to remember what Jesus said in chapter thirteen that "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." It is the love that we show one another that will demonstrate the forgiveness of sin and the rejection of that love that will retain sin.

Our mission given to us by God here is to spread the light of Christ to all people, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to love others and bring the Love of God to all!

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