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.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.' And 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 are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.'
(John 20.19–23, ESV)
During the lockdown of spring 2020 it sometimes became quite hard to remember what ‘mass gatherings’ used to look like. But one of the more unusual kinds of mass gathering in the last couple of generations has been the re-enactment of major battles. I remember watching one about 30 years ago in Suffolk – truthfully I can’t remember which battle was being re-enacted, but I do remember noticing that ‘dying’ in the battle seemed remarkably popular. Later, I wandered past the beer tent and realised why ...
What we see here in today’s passage is a far more important re-enactment, one with eternal and global consequences. The Gospel of John is all about new creation, a re-telling of the story of Genesis. It begins in the same way: ‘In the beginning ...’ In chapter 3, Jesus meets Nicodemus and tells him that he must be ‘born again’ i.e. re-created. And here, in John 20, the risen Jesus does something which appears quite odd: he breathes on his disciples. Again, in this season, we’re not too keen on anyone breathing on us, but there is a vitally important reason here.
What Jesus does seems odd, until you compare it with Genesis 2. There we saw God breathe his divine Spirit into human beings. Now, here in John – the ‘re-telling of Genesis’ – our risen Saviour initiates a new act of creation. When Jesus breathes on his disciples, he is effectively saying: ‘You are each God’s new creations now.’ What a thought that is!
When we become Christians we don’t just ‘join a religion’ or ‘try to be good people’. It’s far deeper than that. We start a new life: we become new people, filled with the Spirit of God. Through the work of Christ, God is creating a new humanity, able to worship and serve him, to be the pinnacle of his creation that we were always intended to be. Or as St Paul summarises elsewhere: ‘So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new’ (2 Corinthians 5.17, NRSV)!
Often, it might not feel like that – as we wake up wearily on a wet Wednesday in February, or struggle to say a few prayers before we go to sleep – but that is who we are. Jesus has put his Spirit in us, and we are made new. And we can observe that two consequences of this new life in our passage are peace (verse 19) and forgiveness (verse 23). Because we are at peace with God, we can be at peace with ourselves, with others, with our world.
Why not let that peace rest in your heart for a few moments now? You are Jesus’ new creation. Receive the Holy Spirit. Let Jesus fill you with peace today.
Lord Jesus, thank you that in you I'm a new creation and I have eternal life. Thank you that my relationship with God is restored and that I can live in peace with him, with others and with the world. Help me to be aware of this peace and for it to shape the way I see everything and live my life.
These Pentecost reflections were written by Revd Matt Trendall, a minister working in Milton Keynes. Check out his blog at www.dailyinspiration.org.uk.
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