Posted by Mark Mong

April 14, 2020

John 20:19-23

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 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 retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

In the middle ages when a castle was besieged by a conquering army, the castle would have several defense mechanisms. Most castles had high walls that would keep the opposing army out as well as a moat around the walls with only a drawbridge giving access to the castle and the drawbridge could be raised completely isolating the castle from any opponent committed to seizing the castle and its occupants.  These defense mechanisms gave the attacking armies new obstacles in which to overcome and gain entry. Armies created siege towers to climb the outside of the walls, and battering rams to destroy the gate, and trebuchets to break down the walls. The victor was the one who could overcome the obstacles of the opposing army.

Just as it was in middle age warfare, so too it is with God. But the defense mechanisms are not moats, walls and drawbridges but the human defense mechanisms like fear, denial, guilt, insecurity and anger.  The attacking army is not an army at all but God who wants not to occupy and destroy, but instead to occupy and create. The attacking army must have the tools necessary to overcome the defenses, God must do the same with the human heart. God must overcome the fears and anxieties in the human heart if God is to enter in and occupy.  God must overcome the doubts and insecurities in the human spirit if God is to bind God’s self to the person.  God must overcome the anger and guilt which not only closes off a person to God but which inspires a person to flee away from God, if God is to dwell among God’s people full of Grace and Truth.

For the Resurrected Jesus, no obstacle exists which can close him out and separate him from his people.  In our text from John, the disciples have separated themselves from the city, isolating themselves from the rest of the Jewish people in the locked upper room, for fear of the Jews.  But despite the obstacle of a locked door and closed walls, the Resurrected Jesus appears amid the disciples.  Space is no longer an obstacle to the Resurrected Jesus, he has in fact transcended space, bound no longer by the rules and laws of physics as we know it.  Jesus appears amid the disciples in their self-isolation and fear over being arrested and killed, and no physical object can deter him.

But does he enter their space in order to smash and destroy?  Quite the opposite, he does not come with a warning or a stern disappointment.  No instead he comes with Peace be with you.  Peace for their guilt over having abandoned him.  Peace for their fear over meeting a similar fate.  Peace for their insecurity and anger over the Jewish leaders.  Peace for their doubts over a grief-stricken women’s crazy report of an empty tomb and a ghostly figure.  No locked room or human defense mechanism can keep Jesus out, but no human emotion or mental roadblock can keep the Peace of Jesus out either.  Not only does the Resurrected Jesus transcend space, but the Resurrected Jesus transcends the fallen human state.  Peace be with you indeed.

Well not much has changed, just as the disciples were separated behind locked doors out of fear, we also are separated from each other behind doors and walls out of fear of the virus.  We did not gather face-to-face for services during holy week. We must wear masks to keep our bodies from sharing and catching the virus.  We must keep 6 feet away from each other respecting personal space.  And these all are the right thing to do.  But its harder now to be church and to be disciples of Christ if we cannot gather and assemble.  But locked doors could not keep Christ out then and locked hearts cannot keep Christ out now.  Because Christ not only transcend space and time, but also the human condition.  Christ can always come in even when we keep him out and Christ can always bestow Peace instead of all the junk currently in our hearts.

But the most illuminating idea in our text is how Jesus bestows this Peace on the human heart, Jesus does it by breathing.  I said it is the most illuminating, because in this age of masks and ventilators cleaning out the virus and delivering oxygen, it is the breath of Jesus we need to most to inhale deeply.  Peace and forgiveness and wholeness all come from the breathing out of Jesus and us breathing him in.  The Spirit in our lungs.  The Spirit in in our blood.  The Spirit in our minds and hearts.  The Spirit in our spirits.  Out from Jesus and into us.  And no obstacle can keep that breath out, no defense mechanism can close that breath off and no sickness of the body or mind or heart or spirit can thwart the work of this breath.

While we cannot gather together, while we cannot visit friends or travel, while we must work from home (if we are still employed), while we worry about the economic future or perhaps even the economic present, while we listen to the daily reports and fret, during this difficult time when we cannot do most ordinary things, one thing we can and must do and that’s breathe.  Breathe in the Spirit of Jesus Christ and enjoy unassailable joy.  Breathe in the Spirit of Jesus Christ and rest in unconquerable security.  Breathe in the Spirit of Jesus Christ and appreciate unquestionable forgiveness.  Breathe in the Spirit of Jesus Christ and dwell in the unshakeable Kingdom of God.  When we cannot do much else, do as Faith Hill sings, and Just Breathe.

My friends, we are assaulted and besieged daily by the struggles of living in this world, with its bodily sicknesses, incompetent and corrupted politicians, profiteering corporations, and out-of-control human desires, no more so than now.  But in our self-isolations and self-quarantines, even though we might be behind the locked doors of our own making, no power in Hell nor scheme of man can block out the Resurrected Jesus and his Breath of Peace.  So, while the world is panicking and worrying; we are still breathing in the Breath of God.  In this difficult time, let us rest in the Breath of Jesus Christ which fills us and surrounds us with the Peace that passes all understanding, that no power can keep out and no power can take away.  To God be the Glory, for such a gift as this!  Amen.

Prayer

O God of power and love, we thank you for the pouring out of your Sacred Breath upon all your people.  Fill us anew and again with your Peace which the world cannot give and none can take away.  Calm our hearts, inspire our doubts, and move our hands and hearts to love.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. 


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