JESUS APPEARS TO HIS DISCIPLES

 

John 20-19:25

New International Version (NIV)


19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

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’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.

25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” 

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

20:21-23 Commissioned with a Mandate and a Message. WORLD EVANGELISM. 

John’s Gospel presents the deity of Jesus-the Son of God. As God, He has created all things (1:1-3), and as God He has come to redeem all- to bring the fullness of forgiveness. This aspect of His mission is conveyed to His disciples as their commission as well: Go with forgiveness. It is stated here as both a mandate, and a mission:

1. "Even so send I you." Precisely as the Father sent the Son to bring salvation as an availability to every human being (3:16), so we are sent to insure that availability is understood by everyone.

2. "Whose soever sins ye remit" Indicates the conditional nature of His provision. It cannot be responded to unless it is delivered.  There is no escape from the awesome nature of His terminology here. We are not only sent with the substance of the message- salvation, we are sent to bring the spirit of its truth-forgiveness. Only the breath of His Spirit, which He breathed upon those who first heard these words, can enable us to go obediently and to reach lovingly. The message (salvation) and its meaning (forgiveness) are ours to deliver, and we need to receive the Holy Spirit to do both.

20:19 Closed doors were not a barrier to the risen Lord (see v.26).

20:20 The appearance of the risen Christ dispelled the fears of the disciples. They were convinced the He was the same Jesus who had been crucified a few days earlier, as the scars in his hands and side showed.

 

20:21-23 The commissioning of the disciples to the mission of Christ is what made the "apostles," or "sent-forth ones." The empowerment for such mission comes through the Holy Spirit poured out upon all believers at Pentecost.

20:22 Breathed. The allusion to Gen. 2:7 is unmistakable. Now Jesus breathed life into His own. Some interpret the statement Receive ye the Holy Ghost as symbolic and as anticipating Pentecost. Others understand the Greek to denote immediacy in the sense of "receive right now," and view the day of the Lord’s resurrection as making the transition from the terms of the Old Covenant to those of the New Covenant. The old creation began with the breath of God, now the new creation begins with the breath of God the Son.

20:23 The disciples are to preach both the way of salvation and the way of damnation, explaining how sinners can be forgiven and the danger of rejecting the gospel. Whether or not hearers’ sins are forgiven depends on their acceptance or rejection of Christ.

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Director, Playwright, Producer,

Gospel Lyricist, Screenwriter

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of Fine &

Performing Arts