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."
How often do I lock away my heart for "fear of the Jews" ? For fear of those who level false accusations, who can kill my dreams and my hopes, I lock my heart away. But Jesus comes to me and says, "Peace be with you. Open your heart. I am here. You are mine."
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
The disciples see the proof of his love, of the sacrifice, of the death. Yet they also see the proof of the hope, of the resurrection in his bodily presence. And they were glad. May I be glad.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
This is such great mercy in light of their desertion, their fear, and their unbelief. Such amazing love and unending mercy. What is he sending me to do? How am I to bear His father's love to others? In spite of my locked-away, fear-filled heart, in His great mercy, He still sends me to bear the Father's love, as he bore it to us.
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."
The Holy Spirit is given, and then a task. Forgiveness. Whom did they have to forgive? Well, the other Jews must have been at the top of the list. Jesus knew they would need the Holy Spirit to forgive those who killed their dream of an earthly kingdom, of what they did to Jesus. They had to forgive the Jews for the cruelty and death of the cross before they could share the message and hope of the cross and the resurrection. The church could not have started without that forgiveness.
John 20:19-23
