Pentecost Sunday
Year B [Jn 20:19-23]
23.05.2021
Jesus Breathes
His Spirit in the Apostles
1. Theme in
brief:
Gift
of new life and mission of peace and reconciliation
2. Focus
Statement:
The Risen Lord breathes his Spirit of new life upon
us and sends us to carry forward his mission of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation with a new zeal and vigour.
3. Explanation of the text
According to today’s gospel text, on the evening of “the first day of the week” (20:19), that is, on first Easter Sunday, Jesus fulfils his promise of giving his disciples “another Advocate” besides himself (14:16) by breathing on them his life-giving Spirit (19:22). The symbolism of “breathing” on them indicates that the Holy Spirit is the Risen Lord’s own breath or life. Just as God had breathed into the nostrils of the first man (Adam) the breath of life, and he had become a living being (Gen 2:7), so also Jesus breathes on his disciples in a similar fashion and says: “Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). By giving them the gift of the Holy Spirit in the form of breath, he makes them a new creation or imparts new life (zeal and vigour) to them. This new creation also symbolizes the creation or birth of a new community of believers, i.e. the Church.
The gesture of breathing on them may also refer to prophet Ezekiel’s vision of a valley full of dry bones. The Lord asked the prophet to prophesy to those dry bones that he would cause breath to enter in them and they would live (37:1-14). The apostles were now like dry bones – lifeless and locked up for fear of the Jewish authorities (20:19). Like Prophet Ezekiel, Jesus caused his breath or life (Holy Spirit) to enter into the lifeless dry bones and they began to live (Ez 37:9, 14). The Holy Spirit regenerates or rejuvenates them in such a way that they emerge from their hideouts to become courageous witnesses of the Lord.
The Risen Lord’s twice repeated salutation of peace (20:19, 21) is also a gift that is closely associated with the Holy Spirit. He gives his Spirit to remain in the Church for ever so that he might motivate her for her mission to build up peace and harmony in the world. Peace in this context does not mean quietness or mere absence of war; it involves all-round well-being, wholeness, harmony and building up of human relationships. In the OT, peace is closely associated with the blessing of God and salvation to be brought by the Messiah. Here probably John wants to tell his readers, with the outpouring of the Risen Lord’s Spirit, the messianic hopes are fulfilled.
Further, the Holy Spirit also is closely associated with the mission of Christ. By breathing his Spirit on them, he empowers them to come out of their locked doors and fears so that they can carry out his mission. Just as the Father had sent Jesus (20:21), he sends them to continue his work. They were locked in, now they are sent out. The mission of the Father is the mission of the Son, which is also the mission of the Church. Though the concept of mission is common in all the gospels, since today’s passage is from John, we have to understand this mission in terms of John’s main themes – to share God’s (divine or eternal) life, light and truth with others; to dispel darkness of sin and death; and to lay down our lives in humble and sacrificial service for others.
A further aspect of the mission of the Church is emphasized in today’s text – to forgive sins of any so that she may proclaim the forgiving love of God and carry forward his ministry of reconciliation (20:23).
4. Application to life
Today we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, ‘fiftieth’ day (in Greek) after Easter on which the Spirit of the Living God descended on Mary and the twelve apostles in the form of a mighty wind and tongues of fire according to the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-4). But according to John’s gospel prescribed for today’s feast, the Risen Lord, who himself was filled with the Spirit, imparted the first fruit of the Holy Spirit to the apostles on the evening of Resurrection Day itself by breathing on them with these words: “Receive the Holy Sprit” (20:22). The Holy Spirit is the breath of God (or Jesus) who breathes new life or fullness of life into us, making us a new creation, so that we may share that life with others. The Risen Lord continues to breathe his Spirit into us even today. He empowers us with the same Spirit to come out of our locked doors and fears (as the apostles came out of their hideouts) so that we could be sent out for a mission – a mission of peace, forgiveness, liberation and reconciliation.
Many of us have a poor understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit in our personal life. He is mostly presented to us in an impersonal manner through biblical symbols such as dove, fire, water, breath or wind. In my pastoral field here, when I ask children (teenagers) preparing for the sacrament of Confirmation whether the Holy Spirit is really a dove, that is, a bird, all of them firmly say: “Yes”. When I ask them whether he has wings and feathers exactly like a bird, they answer with great gusto: “Yes”. When I ask them whether we can kill that dove and prepare a nice dish or curry, they just keep quiet and stare at me in utter confusion. We are not taught from childhood to develop a personal devotion to the Holy Spirit and consider him as another intimate friend (besides Jesus) who is always at our side to guide, defend and renew/ re-create/ regenerate us. We are taught to sing, “What a friend we have in Jesus,” but never taught to sing or pray: “What a friend we have in the Holy Spirit.” In spite of the efforts of Charismatic Retreats, he still remains an Unknown God to be remembered only when we begin a meeting/ retreat/ seminar/ novena, and when we celebrate feasts like this one, Pentecost. Yes, the Holy Spirit, though an invisible power, can be experienced as an intimate friend if we develop sensitivity to his presence and consciously cultivate a close friendship with him and increase it through a passion for him. But it does not happen automatically because you have heard about the Holy Spirit in catechism and sermons or undergone a theological course on him.
Based on today’s gospel, how can we develop a friendship with the Holy Spirit? His role as the Breath or Life of God (or Jesus) is presented to us symbolically in today’s Gospel in terms of one of the most common but absolutely essential activities of human body, that is, breathing. Hence the Spirit of God is in every breath we take. The activity of breathing takes place in us even when we are not conscious of it. To become aware of it, we need to quietly sit in a place and breathe in and breathe out as we concentrate on the tip of our nose. Similarly, we need to become conscious of the Spirit’s presence by invoking him as we breathe in and breathe out: “Come, Holy Spirit; you are the Giver of New Life; you are the Giver of God’s own life; you are the Giver of Divine Life. Infuse that life into me and renew me; re-create me; regenerate me.” (In fact, this is what the symbol of breath implies.) Regeneration in this context means imparting a new nature, God's own nature or divine nature. All of us are born with a nature perverted by sin. The Spirit gives us the power to rise above our natural inclination to evil, selfishness, negativity, narrow-mindedness and despair. We need his power not to cling to present status quo always by strongly resisting any change, and slip into a life of routine and lethargy.
Though
the Holy Spirit is an invisible power, his presence and action can be
experienced by the result of his work, just like wind or storm can be felt by
the shaking of trees, flying of dust, its blowing sound, etc. To recognize his
work or action we need to look at what happens to us, to others, to the world
around us with the eyes of faith. Suppose we observe people who take a lot of initiatives to bring about a change in themselves, in others, in their surroundings
or society; show a lot of creativity in their work; are able to overcome their
lethargy; show a burning
zeal for the mission of Christ; then in faith we must ask,
from where does this come? For a firm believer in the re-creative and
re-generative power of the Holy Spirit, it is sign of
his powerful presence and action. Because it is written here, the Holy Spirit
will not re-create us automatically. We need to consciously invoke him, call
him to our side as a friend and request him to make us more creative and enthusiastic in service and promotion of life. We experience the ‘breath’ of the
Spirit blowing in us whenever we hunger for real life and move from coldness, indifference and mere physical existence, to lively and proactive approach
to life. Whenever we have a passion (= a strong feeling/ sense/ commitment)
for life and its meaning/value, we begin to promote the fullness of life under
the influence of the Life-Giver (Holy Spirit).
We have a tendency within us to go through all the religious practices such as daily prayers, Holy Mass, novenas, and rituals without allowing our faith to bring about change in our attitudes, prejudices, life-style, and the way we imitate the corrupt practices of the world. Is this not a sign of living a lifeless life? We have to invoke the power of the Holy Spirit today to mould us and melt our stubborn resistance to his power to shake us up. At baptism, we too received the breath of the Risen Lord, that is, his Spirit that made us a new creation. In spite of that we become like dry bones (of Ezekiel’s prophecy) lacking zeal, vitality and creativity in our Christian commitment. Suppose we ‘faithfully’ and blindly carry on what is handed down or bequeathed to us by our ancestors or predecessors without showing any creativity and vitality in our service to the family or society, how can we say that the Holy Spirit is active in us? When we shut our minds against new ideas and avenues, we block the Spirit of new creation. When we are unwilling to read the signs of the times and resist any renewal and adaptation of our faith to the changed conditions, we just shut out the Holy Spirit or block his entry into our hearts. Today we must open our hearts to the Risen Lord and beg him to breathe his Spirit into us and renew and re-create us, so that like Adam we may become really LIVING BEINGS.
Just as the gift of the Spirit was given to
the disciples to empower them for their mission, the Lord continues to send us today
with the empowerment of his Spirit to continue his mission – to share his peace where
it is broken, to reconcile where there is disharmony, to breathe a fresh life where there is no life (where people sit in the shadow of death),
to dispel the darkness
of sin and to spend our life in humble service for others. Peace is both
a gift and a task. We are given this gift by the Risen Lord not only to
experience it in our hearts but also to engage in a peace-building mission – a
mission that makes whole what is broken into pieces. Forgiveness of others’ sins is the key to peace-building mission. There is a link between
peace and ‘not retaining the sins’ (20:23) of others in our hearts. When
we retain the sins of others instead of forgiving them, we grieve the Holy
Spirit dwelling in our hearts. Retaining or holding on the sins of
others in our hearts is like allowing a wound or a sore to remain untreated.
Healing takes place only when we let go, instead of holding on to the hurts
caused by others. In a world which is so much wounded by hatred, violence and divisions,
forgiveness and reconciliation – and through them building up peace – is a mission which the Church
cannot afford to forget for the sake of her own relevance in the world. Let
us ask ourselves whether in our families, neighbourhood and communities we are
known as peacemakers
or peace-breakers.
Peace and reconciliation are very much related to building unity in the midst of diversity, plurality and multiplicity prevalent in our globalized world. By overemphasizing those things which make us different from others and never relishing or highlighting what is common among us, we bring division and fragmentation; thus grieve the Spirit of Unity. Unity is not uniformity – forcing and expecting everybody else to think/ act/ behave like us and to follow our cultural pattern. When we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit, we begin to appreciate the richness of variety and diversity among people. They are not a source of conflict, but various colours that are moulded into a single rainbow. The Holy Spirit inspires and energizes us to develop this kind of ‘rainbow spirituality’ in multi-religious and multi-cultural situations in our globalized world today.
5. Response to
God's Word
Are we
satisfied with mere physical existence or do we hunger for real life? What
makes us lively and what makes us cold? Do so many people have to please us? Am
I a difficult person to please? What are the signs of indifference and coldness
in me? Do we grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30) by spreading hatred,
bitterness, division and unforgiving attitudes? Do we quench the Spirit (1
Thess 5:19) by not yielding to his inspiration; and resist the Spirit (Acts
7:51) by stubbornly holding on to our own ways and blocking any change? Is
there creativity and zeal in our service? Are we known as peacemakers or
peace-breakers? What are the ideas and attitudes we do not want to
change, though outdated?
6. A Prayer
Come O Creator Spirit
blest. O Fount of Life and Fire of Love, blow into us the breath of new and
fresh life. Unlock the doors of our minds and hearts to go out of ourselves to
build bridges of forgiveness and reconciliation. Stir us up from coldness and
indifference so that we can serve with creativity and zeal. Our world and the
Church are wounded by divisions. Transform us to work for
reconciliation and forgiveness, thus breaking down the walls of division. Blow,
blow, blow where you will and bend what is stiff in us. Amen.
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