Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.              Psalm 119:2

Equipped by

the Holy Spirit

John 20:21-23

Second Sunday after Easter

March 30, 2008

John 20:21-23 (ESV) ²¹Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." ²²And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."

            This past week being a “lighter” week here at St. Paul ’s, I found myself with some spare time. So in efforts to fill my spare time, I told Jennifer that I was going to go out and take apart the engine to our car and put it back together. Jen didn’t seem too happy with this idea I had to occupy my spare time. She told me that I was not equipped to take apart the car engine and put it back together. Being that I have very little experience with cars and mechanics, I would tend to agree with her. If I would have gone through with this idea, I imagine several “extra parts” would be lying around after my attempt to put the car engine back together.

            To be honest with you, I never would have dreamed of trying to take the engine of our car apart only to put it back together. In fact, I wouldn’t trust myself to do much at all in the area of car engine repair. The reason is because I am not equipped to do so. I do not have a lot of knowledge of the workings of a car engine, nor do I have any experience in the area of mechanics.

            Perhaps many of you can relate to this idea when you think about your search for employment at some point in your life. You create a resume or a job application and the potential employer asks for your credentials. They want to know where you went to school and what subjects you studied. They also like to look at your past job history. Unfortunately, the issue that many of us probably faced at some point in our lives is that employers look for an applicant with “experience” in whatever job opening they are seeking to fill. Everyone is looking for experience; however, very few are willing to give you the opportunity to get the experience unless you have the prior experience. That is a common scenario for recent college grads looking to get into their particular field of study.

            In our text this morning, the disciples have received a mission from Jesus Christ. The disciples spent the past three years learning and watching from Jesus. They saw Jesus heal many diseases. He gave sight to the blind; he made the lame to walk; he healed the sick; and he raised the dead. They spent countless hours at the feet of Jesus, their Rabbi and Teacher, learning about the Scriptures and learning about God. In fact they were all eyewitnesses to Jesus’ crucifixion just a few short days prior to our text.

            The disciples were all present when the Roman soldiers came to arrest Jesus. Unfortunately, none of the disciples stuck around when Jesus was arrested. They all ran to save themselves, leaving Jesus alone. Peter himself denied ever-knowing Jesus later that evening when someone recognized him as being one of Jesus’ disciples. The disciples stood by and watched Jesus be nailed to a cross and crucified. They all saw Jesus die. They saw Jesus’ lifeless body laid in the tomb. To the disciples, Jesus was dead. They were probably trying to make heads and tails of their recent newfound situation. Their Rabbi was dead. They were trying to figure out what the past three years were all about.

            Mary Magdalene had come and told the disciples early that morning that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb. She told them about what she found at Jesus’ tomb. Peter and one of the other disciples went running to the tomb and they saw all this for themselves. John tells us that they saw and believed, but they did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Mary later told them she saw two men sitting where Jesus’ body was once laid. Then she said that she saw Jesus. At first, she told them that she thought he was the gardener, but then when he said her name, she immediately recognized him.

            I imagine that the disciples had a hard time believing what Mary told them early that morning. They may have thought something like: “Ok, woman… you might want to go home and get some sleep.” In the meantime, they have locked themselves in a room together, because they were afraid of the Jews. They saw what they did to Jesus, and feared they would do the same if not something worse to his followers.

            All of the sudden, as the disciples ponder everything that has happened, Jesus appears among them and says, “Peace be with you”. The disciples looked at Jesus’ side, his hands and his feet and they were overjoyed. Jesus was alive! Jesus repeats the same greeting again saying: “Peace be with you.” This time he follows this greeting with a command and new mission for the disciples. Jesus says that as the Father sent Him, so he is now sending out the disciples.

What happens next is reminiscent of the first few pages of scripture: Jesus breathes on the disciples. When we read about the creation of man in Genesis, it was God who breathed life into the lifeless clay that He had formed out of the earth. It was the breath of God that gave life to that form of clay that he named Adam and then later to the woman He created named Eve. Adam and Eve were merely shaped earth until God gave each of them the breath of life.

            The breath of God gave life to Adam and Eve out of the clay of the earth, and now the breath of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, gives the disciples the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives the disciples spiritual life and discernment. The disciples were spiritually dead (as we are) in all of their sins, but it is only through the workings of the Holy Spirit that the disciples could be considered spiritually alive. As Paul said in Ephesians 2:5: we were dead in our sins, but in Jesus Christ we became alive. 

            As we look through the pages that follow in Scripture, we see the disciples do amazing things because of their gift of the Holy Spirit. In our text this morning, the Holy Spirit is given so that the disciples’ minds can be opened to the work of Jesus Christ by his death and resurrection on the cross.

A second example of the working of the Holy Spirit is the one we remember most often: the day we call Pentecost. The Holy Spirit manifests in the disciples in Acts chapter two in what seemed to be tongues of fire resting on each one of them. At this time, the Holy Spirit enables the disciples to speak in other languages.

            The pages of Acts then tell us of amazing accomplishments of the disciples because the Holy Spirit enabled them. Peter speaks to the crowds of people about Jesus Christ, and over three thousand were baptized and accepted the Gospel message that Peter proclaimed that day. We also see the Holy Spirit enabled Peter to heal the crippled beggar in Acts chapter three.

We often will look at the accomplishments of the disciples and wish we could have their same zeal and vigor. We want to sit and talk with the disciples and learn all about their lives. We place the disciples on pedestals, saying that we could never do the things that they did. After all, they were physically in the presence of the Son of God.

They were there when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. They were there when Jesus healed the lame. They were there when Jesus gave sight to the blind. They were there when Jesus walked on the water. They were there and heard first hand the words that came from Jesus’ mouth. They learned directly from the master himself. Jesus gave the disciples the mission to go and share all that they learned from their years with Jesus to the entire world. Jesus specifically said: As the Father sent me, so I am sending you. Jesus sent the disciples out into the world to preach the Gospel to the world.

If only we were there with the disciples and experienced everything that they experienced. So, we look at the accomplishments of the disciples and all that they experienced and think: I could never do the things that they did. After all, look at the background they all had, they walked side by side with Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. We let our human fears and personal shortcomings distract us from sharing the Gospel as the disciples did in the pages of Acts. We wouldn’t possibly know where to begin to share the Gospel with our family, friends or co-workers.

We say that we desperately want our friends and family members to come to faith, but we don’t bother to open our mouths to share with them for fear of “saying the wrong thing”, not knowing what to say, or “offending” them. Our excuse is simply: I don’t know what I would say or how I would say it. We search the world over for that magic formula of our words to share the Gospel. Once that magic formula is found, THEN we say will share the Gospel.

That is where we are all wrong. We place the disciples on that pedestal thinking we could never do what the disciples did, because we do not have what the disciples had. However, it is so important that we realize this important truth: we have exactly what the disciples had, nothing more or less. Jesus’ death on the cross gave the disciples and us all new life in Him. We were all once dead in our sins. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we are forgiven for our lack of faith and we are then given a new and most incredible gift: We all have the Holy Spirit!

We have the Word of God! Paul tells us in 2 Timothy chapter 3 that all Scripture is God-breathed. As we read through the Scriptures, we have everything the disciples had. The pages of Scripture enlighten each and every one of us to the plan of Salvation that God had in store for His children, His creation. God’s Word, the Bible, gives us close-up and personal knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ and what he accomplished for us on the cross.

We are all enabled with the Holy Spirit. When we share the Gospel, the message of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, the Holy Spirit is speaking through us. It is not our words, but it is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can and will use us to accomplish those same great things the disciples accomplished two thousand years ago – the spreading of the Gospel!

As we look at what follows in the text, Jesus says something that might trip us up a little. Jesus says, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” We hear these words and we think that it is a pretty stern comment. Besides, isn’t God the only one who forgives sins? The answer is of course YES!

God is the only one who forgives sins. However this forgiveness is simply the result of the preaching of the Gospel.  When the Gospel is shared, one of two things happens. Either the Gospel message brings us to repentance for our sins and we are then washed clean and forgiven because of the costly death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; or the Gospel is rejected, which is done by an unrepentant heart, and that person remains in their sins.

So now you might be saying: Ok Vicar… I get your point I have the Holy Spirit… but how on earth do I share the Gospel? Do I just open my mouth and wait for the words to start pouring out? That still sounds a little awkward!

We don’t need a magic formula, or a particular equation of words to share the Gospel. As I stated earlier, we often wait until we think we can perfectly articulate the message of the Gospel in a way that will leave the hearer with no choice but to accept the words that we say. However, this thought is in error because it focuses on what I do.  When we do that we lose sight of the fact that it is not our words that are being spoken when we share the Gospel, but it is the Holy Spirit speaking through us.  All we are asked to do is speak the Gospel as the Holy Spirit enables us. Nothing less and nothing more.

We have the tools at our fingertips. We have the Word of God: the Holy Bible. By being in God’s Word on a daily basis personally and in public Bible study, the Spirit comes to us, and strengthens us. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we can encourage one another in our walk of faith by listening to each other and praying for each other.

Most importantly, remember that our daily lives are more telling than any words that will ever come out of our mouths. The world will see a difference in your life when you live your life according to what Christ has done for you. Our life as Christians should mirror the Gospel, and leave non-Christians scratching their heads wondering what we have that they are missing. And when that person asks you what is so different about your life compared to their own, the Holy Spirit will give you the words to speak to that person as you share the saving message of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. Jesus gave us all new life by His death on the cross, and He commanded us to go out and share that message with all people—the world over.

May the Holy Spirit work through each one of you as we all obey the command he gave to his disciples then and now: to go out into the world to share His love with all people.

Amen.