Jesus said,
‘Peace be with you!
As the Father has sent me,
I am sending you.’”
John 20:21
As the day came to an end they were gathered behind locked doors, probably in prayer and fellowship. The terror of religious leaders, exacerbated by an already inflammatory situation of the empty tomb and rumors of a resurrection, consumes their thoughts. They confine themselves together in one home. Mary Magdalene has told them that she spoke to the risen Lord and he would soon be ascending to his Father and God. Then to add fuel to the flames, two disciples from Emmaus return with news of seeing Jesus. The Good News of Jesus’s resurrection has a telling impact on the disciples. There is a growing expectancy in the air as to when they will see the Lord.
Then suddenly there in their midst stood Jesus, The Risen Lord, gently greeting them as he always had, “Peace be with you (Shalom)!” (John 20:19). A climatic peace of mind that calms their fears and soothes their trauma of having seen Jesus suffer and die. The renewal of the peace of conscience Jesus gives to his disciples is an assurance that even though they all abandoned him at the time of his trial and crucifixion there is nothing to be ashamed of any more (Colossians 1:20). They are forgiven (John 14:27).
He shows them his hands and his sides (John 20:20).They see and believe. Then he extends his peace to them once more. Their hearts rejoice and are overflowing with everlasting joy of seeing their Lord and Savior just as he said they would (John 16:22). Our hearts and minds wonder with amazement. How did Jesus just appear out of thin air? What did the scars look like? Did they touch them to see if he is actually still flesh and blood? Clearly the resurrected spiritual body is beyond comprehension or supernatural in many ways (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).
Jesus commissions them to go spread the Good News of Salvation all over the world. He says, “just as the Father sent me so am I sending you (John 20-23) to proclaim the forgiveness of sins and salvation to all who believe”. He breathes on his disciples and gives them the Holy Spirit. The disciples experience an exclusive filling of the Holy Spirit which all believers would experience on Pentecost.
St. Paul says that the first Adam was a living being, referring to how God breathed into the man formed from dust the breathe of life (Genesis 2:7). Jesus the last Adam breathes the Holy Spirit into the disciples (1 Corinthians 15:45). The Spirit equips all of us to live a transformed life from now to eternity (2 Corinthians 4:6).
If Christ had not come back and spent time with them they would have probably gone back to their old professions. After they met the Risen Christ they are not the same men any more. They were the eye witnesses of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus while he was in the world. Their testimony is the foundations on which the church of which we all are a part of is built (Ephesians 2:20-22). From disciples of Christ they become known as the Apostles.
Prayer: Lord Jesus just as you breathed the Holy Spirit into the disciples, breathe on us your breathe. Lord fill our hearts and minds that we may see the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives. May the light of your presence in this world help us to see the way ahead and beyond this life where you live and reign forever and ever. Amen
Soli Deo Gloria
9 comments:
Christian Mission
The vision of the risen Christ, the touch of His hands, the peace that He breathed over believing souls, the gladness that sprang like a sunny fountain in the hearts that had been so dry and dark. Those things constituted the disciples’ qualification for being sent, and these things were themselves-even apart from the Master’s words-their sending out on their future life’s-work. Thus, whoever-and thank God I am addressing many who come under the category!-whoever has seen the Lord, has been in touch with Him, and has felt his heart filled with gladness, is the recipient of this great commission.
C.S. Lewis (1996). “Joyful Christian”, p.65
The New Testament writers speak as if Christ's achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the 'first fruits,' the pioneer of life,' He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so.
The apostles had the best of all rights to bring Jesus' message to men, because they knew him best. If they knew that a person was really penitent, they could with absolute certainty proclaim to him the forgiveness of Christ. But equally, if they knew that there was no penitence in his heart or that he was trading on the love and the mercy of God, they could tell him that until his heart was altered there was no forgiveness for him. This sentence does not mean that the power to forgive sins was ever entrusted to any man or men; it means that the power to proclaim that forgiveness was so entrusted; along with the power to warn that forgiveness is not open to the impenitent. This sentence lays down the duty of the Church to convey forgiveness to the penitent in heart and to warn the impenitent that they are forfeiting the mercy of God.
“The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.”
― Henry Martyn
“If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?”
(David Livingstone)
“We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God.”
(John R.W. Stott)
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny”
~ C S Lewis ~
Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ’ and His interests and His work are entrusted to our hands.
How shall the servants continue and carry on the work of the Master?
The chief way to do it is by proclaiming everywhere that finished work on which the world’s hopes depend.
Note,-Jesus said, ’as My Father hath sent Me, so send I you,’
-then we are not only to carry on His work in the world, but if one might venture to say so, we are to reproduce His attitude towards God and the world. He was sent to be ‘the Light of the world’; and so are we. He was sent to ‘seek and to save that which was lost’; so are we. He was sent not to do His own will, but the will of the Father that sent Him; so are we
Peace or Shalom engulfs a lot of properties of God. In short, it denotes Oneness with God.
Bodily Resurrection is the first time of occurrence. God is Spirit. We all become spirits as we leave our physical bodies behind. Yeshua is and would be the only full physical being in Heaven. Moses and Elijah came to meet the transfiguration Yeshua on the Mount, but we do not know whether it was in their physical bodies or just apparitions. Yeshua recounts a story about Lazarus the beggar safe in Abraham's bosom and the rich man in torment in hell. So Yeshua's Resurrection was truly the first and only fully bodily Resurrection, andwe will all meet a full physical Yeshua! Our Mission is to spread the Gospel of Yeshua which mainly was that God is our loving Father who is eagerly awaiting our return to Him. And that we are to Love God unconditionally and love our fellow humans equally unconditionally! Nothing more and nothing less.
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