This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder John 20:19-23. The English Standard Version supplies the heading “Jesus Appears to the Disciples.”
In the earlier verses, John tells how the apostles Peter and John came to see that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb, and how Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and sent her to the disciples with the message, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
John then continues with the account in today’s reading.
He tells us that on the evening of the same day, “the disciples” were hiding in a house, behind a locked door, “for fear of the Jews.”
He tells us that Jesus suddenly appeared among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
He tells us that Jesus showed them the wounds on his hands and his side – wounds which were inflicted on him by the men who crucified him.
He tells us that Jesus then repeated the words, “Peace be with you,” and added the words, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
John tells us one more thing that Jesus did. He tells us,
“[Jesus] 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.”
We can be sure that John recorded this second appearance as further proof that Jesus had indeed been resurrected, been raised from the dead.
But why did Jesus say he was sending them as the Father had sent him? Why did he breathe on them before adding the words,
“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
And when he said, “Peace be with you,” was he just being polite, like when we say good morning or good afternoon, or was he saying something deeper? How should we understand today’s passage?
Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglicans use this text as one of the grounds to claim that their priests are successors of the 12 apostles.[1]
Lutherans, like most Protestants, reject that claim; we base our rejection on the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, and the doctrines of gifting and appointment by the Spirit, recorded in the book of Acts and in the New Testament letters. This is why, unlike Anglicans and Catholics, we don’t call our ordained ministers “priests.”
The same applies to forgiveness. Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches practice the doctrine of sacramental confession,[2] which requires members to confess their sins to a priest, who will then tell them what they must do to gain forgiveness. Protestants reject this, on the basis of texts like 1 John 1:9, which direct believers to confess their sins directly to God.[3]
So, why did John write about what Jesus said and did during his second appearance? The key to understanding lies in where they were, and how they felt. They were behind closed doors. They felt terrified. They thought they were going to mocked, tortured, and killed, just like Jesus had been.
John was writing to his congregations, his churches. Many of his members had been kicked out of synagogues because they recognized Jesus as the Messiah; the one the prophets said would come; the Son of David; the king; the king who deserved their allegiance over against all others.
This is why John tells them Jesus breathed the Spirit into the disciples while telling them they had power to forgive;[4] even power to not forgive. They knew that God created man by breathing his spirit into dust.[5] They knew Jesus had just demonstrated that they were new creations.
This is why John tells us Jesus repeated the words “peace be with you,” while commissioning them, sending them out, with the words,
“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
What does Jesus expect us to understand by the words, “as the father has sent me”?
That is a call to be Christ-like. I think the apostle Paul came closest to understanding it when he wrote to Christians in the city of Philippi:
“[be] of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Today’s passage tells us what happens when the world identifies us with Jesus. It tells us we will face the need to hide. It tells us Jesus will come to us in our need. It tells us we will know we have great power – and that we will choose to use it only to bless others, not to harm others. It tells us we will give off the scent of humility. It tells us we may yet die on a cross.
Does the world identify us with Jesus?
Peace be with you.
[1] Called the doctrine of “Apostolic succession.”
[2] Catholics have seven sacraments. Protestants have two sacraments: Baptism and The Lord’s Supper.
[3] We’re also to confess our sins to one another; see James 5:16.
[4] The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke use the word forgive and it’s derivatives in a total of 37 verses. The corresponding count in John is one verse: John 20:23.
[5] Genesis 2:7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
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