Pentecost Sunday
(C) [Jn 20:19-23]
08.06.2025
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 of apostles 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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