“When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
22″ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
John 20:20-22, ESV
The history of the world is about to be rocked! Jesus isn’t dead anymore. He joins His frightened disciples in a room that has a locked door. His stunned followers are hiding from the Pharisees, but all of this is about to abruptly change. Jesus is alive–genuine flesh and blood, as real as you or me.
The disciples who are already afraid, are pretty much freaked out by all of this. Fearful mutterings can be heard, “What is this… who is this…and, who left the door unlocked?” :-)
The risen Lord walks in with 22 eyes fixed on him.
He is confident, and walks with resurrection authority. He holds out his hands–they see for themselves the puncture holes the nails had made. He lifts the hem of His robe, and they saw for themselves the holes in His feet. In spite of His brutal wounds, He shows them He indeed is the Lord Jesus Christ, the living Savior of the world!
The disciples are ecstatic!
I see them laughing and crying and leaping around the room. It’s like they just won the World Series (and if they had champagne everyone would be soaked). Pure joy pulsates through them. He is very much alive!
(Hey, isn’t that Andrew, doing a backflip?)
It’s in this gonzo-intense moment, Jesus speaks–and they become very quiet. He proceeds to impart something into their hearts and minds with a simple command, “Peace be with you” in verse 21. Peace is a vital ingredient in the humble heart of every faithful disciple.
He directs them to complete the work that the Father had given Him. He now extends the baton of evangelistic work to the disciples. Seeing the resurrection up close like this will drastically alter your life’s trajectory. (They’ll be further fortified by the coming of Holy Spirit at Pentecost described in Acts 2:1-4.)
It’s now time to exchange the excited emotion of the moment in order to put on work gloves.
In this Jesus does something unprecedented–He leans over each disciple and exhales on them. Now this is more than just a really weird ritual. You see, His breath is saturated with resurrection life, and they breathe into their lungs the life of the risen Savior! They now carry his ‘life essence,’ and in the light of Jesus’ previous statements to them, they’re going to need it.
When God created Adam, he gave him His breath, (Genesis 2:7). But the new life is more than existence; for the believer it’s the energy to come alive supernaturally–to be recreated.
And when you’re really recreated you’ll discover the power that Jesus had when His eyes fluttered open in the tomb. It’s far more than good and noble ideas about religion. You’ll need Jesus, and you will need to rely on his breath to lead you to wherever you’re sent.
Jesus breathes on all His witnesses.
His breath fills our lungs, his oxygen enters our blood stream, where it now powers us on both a spiritual and biochemical level. It’s totally supernatural. You will never, ever be the same again. Even if you tried.
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
Romans 8:11
Be aware. No matter what your personal issues are–He’s in charge now. Are you locked in a dingy room–fearful, depressed, angry and alone? Jesus’ disciples understood all that. But they also saw the risen One, face to face.
The key to our lives as believers today is how clearly we “see” by faith the resurrected Christ.
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Broken Believers 