John 20:19-23

00:00:00:25 – 00:00:23:17
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for joining us. Sorry. A little rocky on the intro here. Getting started, but thanks for finding us. Thanks for signing on with us as we continue through the Gospel of John. We are in the, 20th chapter, the resurrection chapter. Jesus has, been found out not to be in the tomb. He has appeared to Mary.

00:00:23:22 – 00:00:48:15
Clint Loveall
And now we take the next in a series of stories about the appearances of Jesus, this time as Jesus appears to the disciples. There’s some really interesting stuff that John does with this. I’m going to jump in here at verse 19, read a few verses, we’ll come back and have some discussion. When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews.

00:00:48:19 – 00:01:14:15
Clint Loveall
Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, peace be with you, as the father has sent me, so I send you. When he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

00:01:14:20 – 00:01:39:39
Clint Loveall
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. So, Michael, I think for a short passage, this this passage actually does a lot of heavy theological lifting. In, in no particular order. We’ll just kind of go down through it here. First of all, we find this is the evening of Easter.

00:01:39:39 – 00:02:16:17
Clint Loveall
So we’re Sunday evening. The disciples are together. The doors are locked for fear of the Jews, which is John’s way. I think of telling us that the uncertainty, that the worry that the this situation they’re in is still sort of fraught with risk, with danger, perhaps. At least that is, I think the insinuation here. And it is very interesting that it’s in that context that Jesus appears and I say appears.

00:02:16:17 – 00:02:39:52
Clint Loveall
We don’t know exactly what this scene is painting, but it seems to imply that Jesus doesn’t use the door either he walks through the door or he simply appears in their midst midst. We had a little bit of a conversation yesterday about the reality that in the Gospel of John, whatever Jesus is after the resurrection is pretty mysterious.

00:02:39:57 – 00:03:07:49
Clint Loveall
He can come and go. He has a physical body, but yet he can somehow seem to appear and disappear. What at will? We’ll see more of this as we continue through the last parts of the gospel here. But it’s. I think it matters, Michael. I think it’s important that it’s in this context of fear. It’s in this context of being locked away, that Jesus first comes and makes himself known to his disciples.

00:03:07:49 – 00:03:31:13
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. No doubt. I think that can’t be emphasized enough. It it needs to be noted that the beginning of this conversation, that the way John tells the story, the tomb is found empty. You have the interaction with Mary in the garden. She first mistakes Jesus, and then you have this exposition about, you know, I’m not, yet gone.

00:03:31:13 – 00:04:05:51
Michael Gewecke
The the father ascended this, this kind of language. And then now this next story is the story of Jesus’s physical presentation to the disciples writ large. And I do think the context matters. The idea that this empty tomb has already caused ripples, so that this is a dangerous time to be a follower of Jesus, because the the lack of that body represents a opening of the possibilities of, more revolt.

00:04:05:56 – 00:04:25:26
Michael Gewecke
You know that this idea that this man who was crucified is now missing, you know, this has implications both politically. And then, you know, what does that do to the religious leaders? And and everything has been thrown into the air at this point. And so here there is this moment where the disciples are fraught, right? Despite even hearing the words of the witness who’s come to them.

00:04:25:38 – 00:04:49:42
Michael Gewecke
We talked about that yesterday or the previous study. You know, feel free to tune in to that if you’re interested. And but now here, I think it’s just worth noting that the first word that Jesus gives to the disciples, right, is peace be with you. And in the Gospel of John, the words given to disciples has something to do about what Jesus said in the moment in which those words were delivered.

00:04:49:42 – 00:05:23:18
Michael Gewecke
But it’s always looking beyond that. It’s something like what we experienced today in the children’s sermon, where a speaker speaking to the children in front of them. But those words are also being spoken to a congregation behind them. I think that’s what’s happening here in the Gospel of John. That peace be with you is a reminder to Christians who were meeting in boarded up and doors locked houses in fear of persecution and fear of being found out, fear of the retaliation for their faith and Jesus enters through whatever means.

00:05:23:18 – 00:05:49:31
Michael Gewecke
He miraculously does so. And by the way, John could tell us if John thought it, that we thought we needed to know that John doesn’t think. We need to know that. What we need to focus on, as John tells the story, is that when Jesus stands among them, he says, peace be with you. That’s what his return. That’s what his physical presence, that’s what his resurrection is supposed to create in the fellowship of disciples is peace.

00:05:49:44 – 00:05:51:56
Michael Gewecke
And that’s the first word.

00:05:52:01 – 00:06:19:31
Clint Loveall
And if you if you know some Hebrew throughout the Old Testament, there’s this concept of shalom, which means peace and well-being. And strength, and about 100 other things mashed together in one beautiful word. And I think that’s the idea here. And there’s a wonderful irony as John paints this scene, the tomb is open and Jesus is free, and his disciples are locked away in fear.

00:06:19:31 – 00:06:48:11
Clint Loveall
And so even here in the aftermath of Easter, Jesus is in the business of setting people free. He wants to set them free from their fear. And how does he do that? By proclaiming to them, peace be with you. And then he shows them his hands and his side. The mystery and theoretically proving that it’s himself, I suppose.

00:06:48:16 – 00:07:32:35
Clint Loveall
Then we get told the disciples rejoice when they see the Lord. And you know the A again, from a preaching standpoint, or from what does John want us to know? Peace replaces fear, and the natural outcome is joy. That the interaction with the risen Christ is one in which peace replaces our our hesitancy, our our fear, our complacency, our terror, our panic, and then sets us free to be joyful, to rejoice, to have joy again.

00:07:32:40 – 00:07:58:01
Clint Loveall
And so, this is I think this is beautifully done. Jesus repeats the words saying to them again, peace be with you. And then he adds this, Michael, as the father has sent me, so I send you. Now, we don’t yet understand what that means to be sent other parts of the gospel probably even arguably other parts of the Scripture.

00:07:58:01 – 00:08:39:09
Clint Loveall
We’re going to flesh this out more, but very interesting. From the very first moment of Jesus interaction with the disciples, there’s this language of sending Christians. Disciples are to be sent. We are not to stay in the room in fear or even in joy. We are to go out. Jesus has said this the Great Commission in other gospels, the book of acts, but even written here subtly, is this inherent assumption that when we know the truth of Jesus, we are not to keep it with us where we are, but take it with us as we go.

00:08:39:09 – 00:08:51:39
Clint Loveall
And I think John does a really nice job of not not in a heavy handed way, but but in a really nice way of just going to making sure that gets in the story.

00:08:51:41 – 00:09:11:06
Michael Gewecke
I think you’re right to point out the idea that this story starts with that idea of shalom in the sense of the the peace, the fullness that, that that’s certainly a callback to an idea that would have been comfortable and known to any first century Jew, anyone who had the experience of the Hebrew language would have that in their lexicon.

00:09:11:11 – 00:09:42:25
Michael Gewecke
I also want to point out here, I think that that has a resonance in verse 22, where it says that he breathed on them because the creation story has in it the idea that God’s breath is the thing that gives life to humans, that it’s God’s breath that animates reality. So there’s a way in which the risen Christ here is repeating the very task done at the beginning of all creation, which is giving life to the disciples by the power of the Holy Spirit.

00:09:42:25 – 00:09:43:36
Michael Gewecke
We have this in red.

00:09:43:40 – 00:09:49:16
Clint Loveall
Right? And how does John start this story? Yeah. How does he start his gospel?

00:09:49:21 – 00:09:50:34
Michael Gewecke
It starts in the beginning.

00:09:50:34 – 00:10:02:20
Clint Loveall
In the beginning, which takes you to Genesis. And I think you’re absolutely right. When you read this context, he breathed on them. I think that is exactly where John wants our mind to go.

00:10:02:33 – 00:10:27:31
Michael Gewecke
And notice the bookmark of this. And this is essential, right? John starts the gospel with Jesus Christ, who is in the beginning. Now, at the end of his life and resurrection, we see that that bookmark, that book end is being initiated over these disciples. In other words, they are the next baton passing of God’s work in the world by Jesus’s gracious offering.

00:10:27:36 – 00:10:49:26
Michael Gewecke
You know that matters. And then Clint, you know, I think this is where John, it does become a difficult book to study, I think, without some time and patience, because you go from that in verse 22, and then we get to 23. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

00:10:49:26 – 00:11:15:52
Michael Gewecke
And it’s fascinating how quickly we become fascinated with that sentence and completely disregard everything that came before it. I’m just going to tell you here today, and maybe Clint’s going to, you know, shine a light on this and and we’ll get the answer. But I don’t think we know exactly what Jesus means by this. I think there is some forgiveness and there’s some, you know, be the kinds of witnesses that passes on the good news you’ve received, certainly.

00:11:15:57 – 00:11:40:03
Michael Gewecke
But the human mind wants to figure out these formulas. Right. Well, I’d love to know how to retain other people’s sins, and that’s not the point. It focus on the point. The point here is, in a room filled with fear comes the author of peace, the one who just conquered death itself is the one who now breathes life upon those in that room that they might now be in, dwelled by the power of the spirit.

00:11:40:15 – 00:12:00:29
Michael Gewecke
That forgiveness might live and reign through. The John does this beautiful theological textured layering of of the meaning here, and it is so easy to fixate on one sentence that, quite frankly, you shouldn’t build a theology on and miss the beautiful piece that’s been put in front of you.

00:12:00:34 – 00:12:35:24
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I, I completely agree. I think we should be very cautious whenever we take one verse and we build from it some kind of theology. If if John wanted us to know a great deal more about this, he likely would have helped us fill in the gaps. I do think, though, that by implication, it is interesting that Jesus, in John’s words, connect the work of the Holy Spirit and the sending of the disciples with the proclaiming of forgiveness.

00:12:35:24 – 00:13:03:57
Clint Loveall
I think there’s a sign there that part of what the Jesus community, what will be called the Christian Church, is to do is to be an arbiter of grace, to give grace, to forgive sins, and a sort of dangerous warning. If you don’t do that, others may not have access to it. If you withhold that grace, that good news from them, then they may not hear it.

00:13:03:57 – 00:13:37:32
Clint Loveall
They may not know it. Now, is that exactly what John means? I, I don’t know, I’m not able I don’t think, to say that, but I think it’s an interesting place to go that I’m sending you. And as part of the sending. Folded into the very foundation of that is forgiving, or at least the deciding about forgiving. And I think, I think your caution is well stated, Michael, that we should be careful with that.

00:13:37:37 – 00:13:56:00
Clint Loveall
But it’s it is instructive, I think, that Jesus, in John’s telling, connects peace, joy, sending and forgiving through the work of the Holy Spirit. And I think that should give us pause and hopefully tells us something.

00:13:56:07 – 00:14:20:30
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, I think that’s absolutely fair. And I just want to note, the context of this story where it set the actual room, I think matters, Clint, because Christians often think of the place where their faith is at least enabled and supported, if not lived out. I think some Christians think in those terms in our sanctuaries. These are open rooms where people come in and gather.

00:14:20:34 – 00:14:51:23
Michael Gewecke
I just want to point out that in this telling you the story, it’s a locked room, right? So the movement of the gospel is Jesus enters into the cordoned off places, the places that are locked down because of fear. Jesus sets free those people caught within that place of bondage. And then the natural movement is out of that place that in rejoice you leave.

00:14:51:25 – 00:15:15:25
Michael Gewecke
The point of the locked room was the encounter with the one who broke in. And then that one sends you out to be witnesses, sends you out to be the one who, by the power of this Holy Spirit, lives a new kind of life. That movement is essential in this gospel, because John has been telling us the whole time that a disciple is a witness is a testify or to our encounter.

00:15:15:25 – 00:15:41:42
Michael Gewecke
And so I think we need to reframe our modern Christian. The sanctuary is not the place where you live out your faith. The sanctuary is the place where you’re sent out from. The sanctuary is more akin to this locked room that is akin to the mission field. The Christian life is lived out when we are sent out from the place of encounter, and I think that that is a way that John is reflecting sort of that gospel movement inside this story.

00:15:41:49 – 00:16:08:51
Clint Loveall
Yeah. The place they gather is not the place they’re called to stay. They are called to leave that place of fear and to do so knowing the peace and joy of being breathed on, being filled with spirit so that they can go out and forgive. And I, I think that’s a really nice paradigm through which to see our interaction with the church.

00:16:08:56 – 00:16:29:33
Clint Loveall
The point is not to withdraw from the world. The point is to encounter the risen Christ who proclaims peace and joy over us, fills us with himself, and then sends us out in the very place we afraid of. And I think, yeah, that that’s not by accident. It’s well attested throughout the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament.

00:16:29:38 – 00:16:47:06
Clint Loveall
And again, they’re not Mary. What do we hear? Five verses. Four verses. Yeah. There’s that there’s a lot. I mean, John has done an exceptional job in these verses of packing it in. I think there’s so much here that we can be challenged by and learn.

00:16:47:11 – 00:17:17:34
Michael Gewecke
No doubt. And that’s probably enough for today. I’ll just sort of tease you for the study tomorrow that if you doubt this, you’re in good company. And the reality is John is going to address that head on. So there’s more for you tomorrow. Thanks for making it this far in the video. You know, like this. If, this has been helpful for you, but do subscribe, do stick with us because this these resurrection stories have a lot to tell us about different reactions to this momentous, world changing event, and I hope you’ll join us for it.

00:17:17:45 – 00:17:18:10
Clint Loveall
Thanks.