“So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22)
We hear words like this week in and week out in church services, Bible studies, song lyrics, and devotional readings. We probably focus on the “Peace be with you,” part more than what is said in the rest of Jesus’ statement. Peace sounds good. We need peace. Jesus loves me and wants me to have peace. This is wonderful. And away we go about our day.
When Jesus said this, two very traumatizing and dramatic events had just occurred and been witnessed by the disciples. Jesus had just been crucified. The sky turned black for three hours in the midafternoon. The veil of the temple tore in two from top to bottom. This veil was about sixty feet in length, and about four inches thick. There was an earthquake that opened graves, and many of the saints who had died came walking out of their graves. And Jesus died.
Then on early Sunday morning the disciples learn of Jesus’ empty tomb from Mary and others. They go to see it. Jesus is gone, but the linen wrappings remain. More disturbing is the testimony of these women who had visited Jesus’ tomb regarding the words of the angel, and the interaction with Jesus Himself.
Now, in John 20, Jesus has appeared in the midst of the disciples having passed through the closed door. And then He says, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” That statement has a completely different meaning if you put it in context. But not only the words of Jesus pronouncing peace. The commissioning to send them.
When dead men have come back to life, it is probably time to sit up and take notice. This is not the act of a mere human. This is God in the flesh standing in front of them. “I also send you,” must carry more weight when we hear it like that. And consider that Jesus is saying, “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” The obedience of the Son to the Father is without question. Jesus had obeyed through sweat drops of blood to the point of death, even death on a cross. With that authority and that insistence, and that power Jesus sends His disciples.
No wonder He begins with peace and no wonder it ends with Jesus’ breathing on them, and saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Because, as we learn in Acts, when they received the Holy Spirit, they received power to be His witnesses. The Holy Spirit lives in us to comfort us in the sending and empower us in the sending.
Romans 10:14-15, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent?”
How indeed? How will people call upon Him? How will they hear? How will they believe? They need a preacher. How will the preacher preach unless they are sent. It is almost as though the Father and the Son were talking to One another in those verses. The obvious answer is, “Son, I will send You. And Son, when you have accomplished all that I send You to do, You send them. And so, He has, and so He is.
By His Grace and For His Glory,
Pastor Mark
