Sunday, April 19th

Scripture: John 20:19-23

Sermon Title: Breath of God

It’s hard to believe the Global Pandemic caused by Covid-19 was 6 years ago already. I remember how frightening those early days of the Pandemic were. Our oldest Ellie was only 8 months old at the time, so as new parents we were worried about her health. As someone with my own heart condition we were especially worried about my health as well.

We began social distancing. I began working from home with Ellie, and Jesse did all of the shopping. Masking became a normal part of life. It was so scary any time you heard someone coughing, worried you would get sick. Any time I started to cough, even if I just took a wrong sip of water, I felt like the world was staring at me as if I were contaminated.

Breath, and being breathed on became something we associated with germs, sickness, and possible death. But here in today’s scripture, we see Jesus breathing on his disciples, and it is notcausing a panic. In today’s scripture we see the breath of God as life giving.

Easter Sunday was 2 weeks ago, but we’re still celebrating Easter. We’re in the Season of the Church known as Easter Tide. The 50 days between Easter and Pentecost. And we’re looking at different Easter Encounters, different places where the Resurrected Jesus appeared to people.

Last week, we looked at Jesus appearing to the two people on the Road to Emmaus. They didn’t recognize it was Jesus walking with them until he broke bread with them. We celebrated communion, and I pray that you recognized Jesus in the bread and juice. I pray that you had your own Easter Encounter with the Risen Lord.

Today we’re in the Gospel of John, only 5 verses, it’s what comes right before Jesus’s encounter with Thomas, forever known as Doubting Thomas. And we’re going to save that encounter for next week. But today is Jesus appearing to all of the other disciples.

The disciples are together, with the doors locked, in fear of the Jewish Leaders. Their Rabbi, their teacher Jesus has been executed on a cross, and they are traumatized. They are fearful of what they have seen, and they are fearful they might be next. Will they be executed for being followers of Jesus?

I imagine this is similar to how people experiencing war in places like Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Ukraine might feel. Fearful and scared. Will I be next?

And while I don’t love that the disciples are living in fear of the future, I love that they aretogether. There is something about being together in community when your world is falling apart. There is something about knowing that you are not alone in your grief and pain.

When I have experienced a death in my family, as painful as it is, the best part is being all together with family. Sometimes with people you haven’t been around in years. It’s wonderful to tell stories and reminisce about that person. Sometimes you even find yourself laughing at memories of the loved one.

We don’t know exactly what was taking place as the disciples hid out. But I wonder if they were telling stories about their beloved Jesus. I wonder if they were talking about the times he called each of them to come and follow. I wonder if they were telling his parables and laughing at how they didn’t always make sense. I wonder if they were sitting in awe telling his healing and miracle stories. Maybe even Peter talking about the time he walked on water with Jesus.

We as a Christian Community should be a place where people don’t feel alone, even in our pain, even in our grief. We should be a place where people come and experience Community, come and experience what it means to be a part of the Body of Christ.

And then, in the middle of their pain, in the middle of their grief, in the middle of their fear, Jesus shows up. Jesus is not afraid to show up in the middle of our life. Jesus is not afraid to show up in the middle of our mess. Where do you need Jesus to show up in your life? Where do you need Jesus to show up in the middle of your mess?

Jesus appears and says, “Peace be with you.” Perhaps Jesus actually said, “Shalom.” Shalom is a Hebrew greeting and means peace. It can also be used as a greeting like hello. If we were traveling in Israel even today, we might hear this greeting of “Shalom.”

It makes sense for Jesus to show up and say the common greeting. A greeting of peace when they are not experiencing any kind of peace before this moment. Then Jesus showed them his hands and his side. The hands with the holes where the nails had been, holding him on the cross. The spot on his side where he had been pierced to make sure that he was dead. Maybe these other disciples weren’t too different from Thomas, maybe they didn’t believe until Jesus showed them his hands and side as well.

The disciples’ reaction to this Easter Encounter with Jesus is joy. They are overjoyed that Jesus is alive, Jesus is risen from the dead. Imagine our joy if a deceased loved one were to come walking through the door. Shock and joy would be our response. Maybe even questioning our sanity a little bit as well.

Again, Jesus says, “Peace be with you,” but this time he adds something on to this familiar greeting of Shalom. Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Jesus has not only come to prove he is risen from the dead. Though that is part of this encounter. Jesus has come to give the disciples a mission. Remember, they are hiding behind locked doors. They think all hope is lost. Their leader, their Rabbi is dead. And with that, they think their role as disciples is dead. Maybe they’ll go back to whatever they were doing before Jesus called them to come and follow.

But with Jesus appearing, with Jesus bringing peace and joy, with Jesus showing them that he is risen, he is saying their mission is not over. They are not to stay living in fear behind locked doors. They are to go out into the world.

The work of the Kingdom of God is not over; it’s just getting started. Jesus has come to send them out. This is John’s version of the Great Commission.

Then Jesus breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This is where it might seem a little strange to us. Especially for us 21st Americans who have gone through a Pandemic where someone breathing on you brings to mind images of germs, sickness, and possibly death. But no, that is not the case here. Here, with Jesus and the disciples, the breath of Jesus is the breath of God, and the breath of God is life-giving.

When we go back to the creation account told in Genesis, we see that God breathed into dust the breath of life and formed Adam. We are living beings because God breathed life into us. And now, Jesus is breathing life into his disciples. They are worn out, scared, traumatized, and they need the life-giving power of God breathed into them. They might be feeling like the dust of the earth, scattered and useless, but Jesus has come to breathe life into them. Jesus has come to bring them the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost is the time of the Church when we truly celebrate the Holy Spirit coming, but today, we’re getting a little taste of the Holy Spirit. Maybe a better word would be a breath of the Holy Spirit.

Where in your life do you need the breath of God breathed into you? Where do you need the Holy Spirit’s power at work in your life?

Maybe like the disciples you have a situation going on in your life, and you are feeling afraid. You’ve maybe even locked yourself in your own prison, because you are fearful. Do you need Jesus to breathe the Holy Spirit into you?

Do you need to experience the life-giving breath of God in your life?

Have you ever been on a Spiritual Retreat? Maybe something like a Walk to Emmaus, or simply a retreat your church organized. I have been on my share of retreats in my life. Its been a little while though.

A few years back I was part of something called The Institute of Preaching. It’s a program through the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church to help us grow as preachers. And we had three retreats throughout our year in this program. The final retreat though was up at St. Simon’s Island in Georgia, at a place called Epworth by the Sea. Anyone been there before?

It’s basically a Methodist Retreat Center. And the history of this place is that the founders of Methodism, John and Charles Wesley came to St. Simon’s, Georgia for a mission to Georgia when it was just a colony.

The retreat I went on for those few days was life giving, it was God breathed. Through theteaching, the conversations with other pastors, worship, communion, and time alone, I experienced the breath of God breathed into me. We all need the breath of God breathed into us.

Sometimes the breath of God comes to us through a retreat. Sometimes it’s through Sunday Morning Worship. Sometimes it’s through Dinner Church. Sometimes it’s a quiet walk around your neighborhood. Sometimes it’s through serving and volunteering. Sometimes it’s through Bible Study. But we all need the breath of God breathed into us from time to time. We all need to experience a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit.

So maybe you aren’t like the disciples, maybe you aren’t hiding in fear behind a locked door, but maybe you need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit today. Maybe you need God to breathe the breath of life into you. I know a few of us have taken Mary Yochum’s CPR class, maybe today you find yourself in need of some spiritual CPR.

If that’s the case, I invite you to say, “fill me Lord with your Holy Spirit. Breathe on me your breath of life. Renew me and remold me into the person you are calling me to be.” Maybe pray that prayer throughout your day, or throughout your week.

Remember though, we are not filled with the breath of God just for ourselves. We are filled to be sent out. Jesus was sending the disciples out. Jesus was telling them that their mission wasn’t over, it was just getting started.

The same is true for us. Our mission of being disciples is just getting started. How is Jesus filling you with the breath of God, how if Jesus filling you with the Holy Spirit so that you can be sent out to spread the good news of Jesus Christ with others?

Remember last week on the road to Emmaus, as soon as they realized it was Jesus, they walked back another 7 miles back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples what they had experienced? Ourexperiences of God, our encounters with Christ, are not to be kept for ourselves. We must spread the good news with others so that others may come to have an encounter as well. So that others may experience the living breath of God for themselves.

Be filled with the breath of God. May the breath of God make you come alive for Christ. May you be sustained in your faith by the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. And may you breathe on others the breath of God as well. Not germy, scary, Covid breath. But the life-giving breath of God. Be filled with the Holy Spirit so that you may be sent out to others.

Amen