He Breathed

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

 HE BREATHED

John 20:21-23

21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."  22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." 

NIV

There is some truth here which is a bit weird in some sense and has been a point of great debate among those scholars who have such a great education in the scriptures. We dare not dispute them for who are we to disagree with such high minded theologians? When Jesus breathed on them they did not at that time receive the Holy Spirit, which was reserved for the day which we call Pentecost. But his breathing on them must have awaken some thoughts of their creation, when God breathed this breathe of life into Adam. Jesus was breathing the breathe of the Holy Spirit, that is for sure, but what he was showing them was that they would now have, as Adam did, the breathe if the Spirit within. As he proceeded to instruct them in what they would do in leading the new movement, the church, they would need this breathe of the Holy Spirit in order to preach the Good News about Christ. They would have the doctrine, the calling of reconciliation, to preach so that whosoever believed in their preaching of the truth would be saved, their sins would be forgiven, and those who refuse the message of reconciliation would indeed condemn themselves by their refusal; their sins would not be forgiven. We too must have this breathe from the Holy Spirit if we ever hope to be able to speak words of reconciliation to those who are still lost. This is the calling of every believer, to speak words of hope to those without hope. It would seem in the world of today, as it has been throughout history, there are people who preach without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but they preach from the mind of humankind, drawing followers upon to themselves for their own personal edification and material gain. One of the gifts of this Spirit is that of discernment and we should be overjoyed he dispenses this gift freely so that we can know those false teachers and stay clear of them, seeing them for who they really are, simply wolves in sheep’s clothing. Without this breathing of the Spirit no one can have the power to preach the truth. We already know that on that day of Pentecost those average, normal men were filled to the brim with this breath of the Holy Spirit and became powerful purveyors of the message of reconciliation. Come Holy Spirit, breathe on us.