Breath of New Creation Launched Disciples’ Mission
Daily Scripture
John 20:19-23
19 It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Jesus’ disciples were hiding, afraid the Jewish authorities would come after them. Everything they thought they knew about Jesus’ mission seemed lost. Their leader and would-be Messiah was dead. Now his body was mysteriously missing. But no one had stolen the body. He was still their Messiah, in ways beyond their wildest dreams. “Jesus…stood among them” and gave them his peace, his purpose (“As the Father sent me, so I am sending you”), and his power (“Receive the Holy Spirit”).
- John kept including clues to remind his readers of the Genesis creation stories. After Jesus commissioned the disciples in verse 21, “he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’”—a clear echo of Genesis 2:7. How has Jesus breathed new hope and purpose—new life—into you? In what ways can you tangibly bring peace and wholeness to those around you today?
- Have you ever been assigned to work that seemed beyond your ability? Jesus told the disciples, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.” Isn’t that God’s job? Yes—and ours. “They are to pronounce, in God’s name and by his spirit, the message of forgiveness to all who believe in Jesus. They are also to ‘retain sins’: to warn the world that sin is a serious, deadly disease, and that to remain in it will bring death.” * How can you join Jesus in offering God’s forgiveness, peace, and warning against evil to others?
Prayer
Lord God, thank you for defeating death through Jesus’ resurrection. Help me to embrace your peace and purpose, and to trust the Holy Spirit as my power source as I shine your light in the dark world around me. Amen.
GPS Insights
Janelle Gregory
Janelle Gregory serves on the Resurrection staff as Human Resources Lead Director. Janelle finds that her heart is constantly wrestling with the truth that she needs a Savior, and the times when she's at her very best are when she's just too tired to put up a fight.
Over a decade ago, my son insisted on wearing a hooded sweatshirt (hoodie) 99% of the time. It wasn’t really a fashion choice. The hood not only acted as a protection against the wind–it also kept out everything else that he didn’t want to face–frustrations, fears, hurts. What I found fascinating was that beneath the hood he felt like he was hiding from all that he didn’t want to face. At that age, he really felt that the flimsy hood could hide him from anything he didn’t want to face.
But in reality, that was not so different from how we all react when we’re faced with a situation we fear. Sure, we might not bury our head in our sweatshirt, but we have our own “hoods”–food, alcohol, work, status, wealth, busyness, manipulation, sex, charity, video games, etc. Faced with an uncomfortable or scary circumstance, we raise our own hoods in hopes that the situation will go away. If we don’t face it, it can’t find us.
In today’s passage, we see the disciples after Jesus’ death, lost and terrified. Their leader had just been brutally killed, and the Jewish rulers were after them. So what did they do? They hid. Behind locked doors, they shielded themselves from all that they didn’t want to face.
Yet in their secret hiding place, their Savior appears. Their concealment couldn’t keep out their friend and redeemer. “Peace be with you,” Jesus says.
“’Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.’ Then he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.'”
In the place where they felt hidden from all of the world, Jesus finds them. He finds them, comforts them, and He sends them out–not alone to face the world on their own, but with His Spirit to guide and reassure them through the fear.
We may think that we are undetectable under our hoods, but Jesus will always find us there. He gives us the strength to face the world, knowing that we are not alone. When we are scared and want to hide in our vices, we remember the peace He’s given us. Peace be with us today. Receive His Spirit, take down your hood, and be sent out to face your fears with confidence.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 11-21 (The New Testament for Everyone) (pp. 149-150). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
