Acts 2:1-21 Psalm 104:24-34,35b 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 John 20:19-23
When Susan and Lucy arrive at the home of the Witch, in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, they are confronted by a daunting sight. All over the place Aslan the Lion was breathing on the stone statues bringing transformation and new life. But when CS Lewis describes in this story how Aslan just breathed on the feet of the Giant Rumblebuffin, Susan wondered if it was ‘safe’.
‘It’s alright!’ shouted Aslan joyously. ‘Once the feet are put right, all the rest of him will follow.’ It wasn’t the response Susan expected. But it always reminds me of the conversation Jesus had with Peter when he washed his feet at the Last Supper. As the country emerges from lock-down, it sometimes feel as though we need something of that stirring once again. For somehow we are coming to a new way of life, and it may not be in the way we were expecting.
In John’s account of Pentecost, Jesus breathed on the disciples: ‘receive the Holy Spirit’. Just as CS Lewis describes, even those as cold and lifeless as stone can be transformed; and in that transformation are two effective accomplishments of the Holy Spirit.
First of all, there is a link to creation, for in Genesis chapter two, God breathed into the man the breath of life. Secondly, it is the breath of God that is seen parting the Red Sea during the Exodus (2 Samuel 22:16). (There is a link, of course in both Hebrew and Greek, where the same word is used of ‘wind’ and ‘breath’.)
And sometimes this creative and saving work necessarily involves both judgment and punishment by the compelling breath of God, as can be found in Job 4:9 & Isaiah 11:4.
But more often it is the persuasive breath of God as recorded in the famous vision of the valley of the dry bones; given when the nation of Israel was at very low ebb, where God breathes new life into his people (Ezekiel 37:5).
it was this amazing vision that convinced Ezekiel that God was about to do something new for the people of God. I can’t help but reflect ‘what new thing is God about to do today?’ (And probably more importantly, are we ready to work with God!)
John’s account, like the more familiar record in Luke’s ‘Acts’, has the disciples all together in one place, but unlike Luke, John uses an emphasis which keeps the crucifixion, the resurrection and the gift of the Spirit, closely linked. No wonder!
Paul also keeps crucifixion resurrection and the gift of the Spirit linked, when he wrote to the church at Ephesus (1:19f). Here he described the power that raised Christ from the dead as the same power available to God’s people, through the Holy Spirit. That is quite a thought.
It is often difficult to know how people in the Bible-stories were feeling – that has never been the focus of the story-teller – but on this occasion we have a hint. They were fearful and had locked the doors. Yet the arrival of Jesus, even in the midst of strain, turmoil and uncertainty, brought the possibility of receiving joy. And he still does.
This gospel also gives a rare occasion on which Jesus offers peace twice. First of all, it was linked with the presentation of his wounds to help Thomas – one of the disciples -to understand what had happened. The risen Jesus bore scars of crucifixion…the ‘scars of imperfection’. I have been thinking a lot about that this week, because a friend spoke of heaven as a place where all disabilities will be made whole (as if people with disabilities are somehow not whole). But that is a sermon for another day!
Those marks which for all time remind us of our own frailty and sin, are glorified as a reminder of the gift of life now offered. This peace is comforting, because these wounds offer acceptance, and these scars speak of love.
But the peace is also linked with commissioning, ‘As the Father sent me, so I send you’. The disciples were sent out with a glorious message: a peace that saves; the peace of reconciliation with God resulting from Christ’s death and resurrection.
It is the reception of the Holy Spirit that makes the seemingly impossible commission possible. This is not just a message that we take to the world, we are also invited to live it in the power of the Holy Spirit, as we represent Christ to the world. This is impossible in our own strength but with God all things are possible.
To be a Christian means that in the power of the Holy Spirit we are sent out into the world to live to God’s praise and glory; bringing the grace and forgiveness which we ourselves have received. The message of grace and forgiveness is much needed today.
Worship at home 