John 20:19-25 On the evening of the same day, the first day of the
week, Jesus appeared to the disciples, nearly all of whom were gathered in a
room with the doors shut. Jesus said to them "Shalom." He showed them
His hands and feet, in which the marks of the nails must have been plainly
evident. Jesus then gave them the apostolic charge by sending them. This is
also recorded in the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20), although the context
suggests that He was repeating this charge on more than one occasion so that
they would remember it. He sent them out.
Next, He breathed on them the Holy
Spirit. This recapitulates the creation of Adam, recorded in Genesis 2:7, in
which God breathed the breath of God, literally the Spirit of God, into Adam.
Here Jesus breathed on His disciples. The manifestations of this filling did
not become evident until the day of Pentecost, approximately seven weeks
later. The connection between the
apostolic commission and the filling of the Holy Spirit is also evident during
Peter's sermon on that day. There is a bit of a difference. Although this is
not actually spiritual CPR, in this event, Jesus was breathing spiritual life
into men who did not even understand what was going on but needed to have it
almost involuntarily forced into their spiritual lungs. On the day of
Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came like a rushing mighty wind, revealing the power
of God to create. In that day there was both an external and an internal
manifestation.
Finally, Jesus gave the apostles
authority, as part of their commission, to forgive sins on His behalf. This is
followed by an odd statement, that if they choose to retain the sins of anyone,
they will be retained. In effect, Jesus is giving the apostles the authority to
judge who will and will not receive forgiveness of sins. This authority is
entrusted to those who are filled with the Holy Spirit, who move in the wisdom
and anointing of God through the Holy Spirit. And perhaps it pertains primarily
to the earthly implications of sin, since other scriptures indicate that either
God the Father or Jesus will judge people. (Revelation 20:11-13, 2 Corinthians
5:10) We see this played out in at least one example, in which Paul instructs
the Corinthians to excommunicate a man living in defiant sin from the church (I
Corinthians 5:1-5). The purpose is not to send him to hell ultimately, but to
allow him to experience the consequences of his sin in life on earth so that he
will repent and ultimately be saved.
As a footnote, or a transition to the
next section, the absence of Thomas the twin was noted. Apparently he was not
able to believe the report of the other disciples. Thomas stands in as a
surrogate for all of us who have never seen the risen Lord in the body. Apart
from faith in God's power, what basis is there for accepting the report of
something totally supernatural? Thomas admitted that he did not have that kind
of faith, and insisted that he needed hard physical evidence of the
resurrection in order to believe in it.
John 20:26-31 Jesus did not judge Thomas for his skepticism, but
made provision for him. When Thomas had touched and believed, Jesus went on to
pronounce a blessing on those who believe without having to see the physical
evidence.
We should not be too hard on Thomas.
Recall that the other disciples had already seen Jesus and so had a basis in
empirical experience for their faith. John later recalls that he, too, touched
Jesus, and that was part of the reason for his writing of the epistle. (I John
1:1-3) Most likely, Jesus was speaking to future believers, to those who would
believe in Him based on the testimony of the apostles. The blessing that they
would have is sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, to being able to accept spiritual
things that are outside the natural realm. The blessing is that such
sensitivity will enable them (us) to receive directly from God all that He has
prepared. And in fact, at the end of this section, John records that the reason
for his writing is so that the reader will believe and thereby have life in
Jesus' name.
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