Breathe Conference: appearing to the other disciples

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And 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 withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 20:19–23.

Jesus appearing in the room with the disciples says the statement “Peace be with you” not only because this was the standard Jewish greeting but it was meant to communicate peace…jesus literally entered into a locked home. The doors were locked to protect the disciples from the Jewish authorities. This communicates that he literally just appeared revealing his resurrected body. Earlier in chapter 16 he has promised to leave and replace grief with joy and peace and now he was fulfilling this. He was not only fulfilling that but the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus first brings up the authority in which he is even able to offer this which is the Father. Christ imparted the Spirit before his ascension and before Pentecost as a pre-filling as a waiting for the spirit to fall on the church. One commentator puts it as providing for spiritual needs prior to Pentecost . This same spirit language is seen just as God “breathed” into Adam. This life giving spirit the Spirit used in Ezekiel 37 in the valley of dry bones. Life . Life. Life.

Jesus came to bring life, peace, and power that came from the authority of the Father. And because of this we have to it. I am so grateful for the life that is breathed into me. The power that has been layed upon me. And the peace i carry. It’s easy to forget that. It is easy todo things out of our own strength and come to conclusions in our mine because we have determined them. But when we allow the Spirit to continue to breath on us is far better than our own flesh. When i do it in my flesh. I am not in peace. When i do it in my strength I am drained quicker and offer no life.

Let us be reminded that we carry his breathe with us