About this sermon
On the evening of the first day of the week, the risen Jesus stands among his frightened disciples and says, “Peace be with you.” He shows them his hands and side, sends them as the Father sent him, breathes on them, and gives them the Holy Spirit with authority to declare sins forgiven or retained. The meeting marks the beginning of a new creation and of the church’s mission: apostles sent by the Son carry his word of peace and forgiveness to the world.
Sermon transcript
I remind you that this is the inspired word of God, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, beginning to read at John’s gospel, chapter 20, verse 19. Give your attention. So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you. And when he had said this, he showed them both his hands and his side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, peace be with you.
As the father has sent me, I also send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.
But Thomas, one of the 12, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, we have seen the Lord. He said to them, unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. After eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Tellimus with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, peace be with you. And he said to Thomas, reach here with your finger and see my hands. Reach here your hand and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed.
Thus far the reading of the word of God. Let’s pray together. Our Father, we pray that the spirit of the risen Jesus would be at work active among us here now, both in the reading, preaching, and hearing of the word. Also, Father, in our ability to lay hold of these things, might we, Lord, be built up in our knowledge of Christ, our love for Christ, the peace and the assurance that are ours because of Christ. that your church might be sustained for the work that is before her, oh God. And may, Lord, even tonight that word that you have revealed in the gospel be a blessing to the lives, to the souls of this people gathered here, to others that they might meet and have contact with in their daily lives. We pray these things together now in Jesus’ name, amen.
This narrative and the preceding incident at the tomb involving first Peter and John, along with Mary Magdalene, and then Mary Magdalene seeing the risen Jesus. Now Jesus meeting with his disciples on the evening of the first day of the week post-resurrection. This narrative and the one that had just come before it are certainly distinct. But in content, there is a very close connection in that the disciples’ involvement now in Jesus’ ascent, mentioned last week in verse 17, is being further explicated. Jesus had told Mary, that you go tell my brethren, that I ascend to my God and your God, my Father and your Father. And that ascension has already begun, that ascension of Christ raised from the dead and his participation now in his glorious resurrection and the outworking of what that means in terms of the turning of the ages, the transformation that has come upon the church as a consequence of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. So what we’re looking at this evening in chapter 20 is particularly verses 19 through 23 in this first meeting with the disciples on the evening of that first day of the week of this new week of new creation, as it were, following the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. This incident which John reports as taking place on the evening of the resurrection day is peculiar to John’s gospel.
John is concerned with establishing the identity of the person of Jesus who was crucified with that of the one who is and will always be the ever-present Lord of the church. And to point out to the church what the nature of belief in the Lord may be. In other words, here is comfort, here is assurance, here is a clear indication of who Jesus is and what that means in his resurrected and ascended state for the church of Jesus Christ. The manner in which Jesus now reveals himself to the disciples, and as the risen one, gives them direction for the future of the church. give special meaning to this first appearance to them on that first day.
This narrative of John 20, 19 and following certainly connects with what took place in Luke’s gospel in chapter 24, verse 36 and following, where Jesus is described as meeting with the disciples. But for all of the agreement in the substantial, the fact that there was a meeting, John, the gospel writer, conveys the story in a form and a wording that are uniquely his own, as we’ve seen time and again. And he does this in a very strongly summarizing manner, first by briefly describing the appearance of Jesus, and then by speaking of, in three main points, and here’s three main points for your sermon topic here this evening, the instruction and powers that Jesus gives to the disciples, their mission, verse 21, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, verse 22, and their authorization to forgive and retain sins, verse 23. And so Christ instructing his disciples regarding one, their mission, verse 21, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, verse 22, and their authorization to forgive and retain sins, verse 23.
There’s your three points in this particular text. The story begins with a clear time reference that marks the salvation historical character of this Jesus’ first meeting with his disciples. It was evening on that day, the first day of the week. Resurrection day, the evening of that first day of the new creation beginning, post-resurrection.
That the doors were shut where the disciples were is explained in part in verse 19 by their fear of the Jews. As several of the disciples were well-known followers of Christ, they would have still felt threatened by the Jewish presence in and around them, so that at Jesus’ arrest they had all fled and sought their shelter each on his own. But now they are assembled again all together but not without taking precautions. They have locked the doors or closed the doors because of their fear of the Jews.
Still, the prominent mention of the closed doors is undoubtedly also and primarily intended to indicate the miraculous character of Jesus coming to them. All at once, despite the closed doors, Jesus came into their midst and addressed them with his reading. In these circumstances, a particularly powerful reading. He comes into their midst and speaks to them a word. Again, think resurrection, think ascension, think of a church that has been wounded terribly by the crucifixion of Jesus. He comes into their presence behind closed doors and says to them, peace.
Be with you. And we’ve called our sermon by that title here this evening. And I want to emphasize that text. Although we’re focusing on verses 19 to 23, you’ll see two times in that text, 19 and 21 is the repetition of this phrase. Peace be with you. Peace be with you. But also down in verse 26, it’ll come back again. Peace be with you. I believe it’s improper to come to this place in the text and this place in the gospel story and not catch that emphasis. And if you have a red letter edition, it’s highlighted for you. The words are in bold and red print for you to see.
Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, on the first day of his resurrection, and then the eighth day of the resurrection, again on the Sabbath, the first day of the week, standing in the midst of his brethren, standing in the midst of the disciples, saying, peace. be with you.
After he greets them, Jesus shows them his hands and his side as a means of self-identification, self-disclosure. He has returned to them in his identity as the historic person who before his death gave them the promise of that return. You remember how Jesus in the course of his farewell discourses through the large portion of John’s gospel had said to them after a little while you will see me and not see me and then a little while you’ll see me again and here he is. He has kept his word.
He has come back and shows himself alive to them even raised from the dead and in that process of ascending to the Father. And to prove who he is, he shows them the scars of his suffering and of his violent death, not just as signs by which to recognize him, but also as signs of victory. He is alive, after all, raised from the dead. He shows himself to them as the triumphant one, the one whom they pierced. the one whom they crucified, in keeping with what chapter 19, verse 37 has said about the prophetic messianic significance of his pierced side. The one whom they have pierced, they will mourn his crucifixion, his death, but now he is alive and he is raised from the dead. He returns to them to enable them to share in his victory over death and over the grave and thus to give them the sign by which they will be allowed to continue his work on earth.
He’s not taking them out of the world. He’s prayed the Father to keep them in the world. They are in the world but not of it. They are to continue his work on earth and they are to know the secret of their power, the content of their message as they go forth into the world.
We are already given verse 17 concerning the nature of Jesus’ self-revelation as the risen one. in this present tense context of I ascend or I am ascending to the Father. He tells Mary Magdalene, don’t cling to me in this world. I’m the resurrected heavenly Jesus, heavenly Son of God about to return to the Father. And it is in keeping with the transformation of Christ himself in terms of that exaltation and ascension, it bears with it the transformation of the standing of those joined to him. by faith.
That is the church, the disciples. It is clear that in rising from the dead Jesus does not hear return in his earthly corporeal existence. This is not the old body. This is the new resurrection body. The body that Jesus will bear with him into heaven. And the involvement of his body in the event of resurrection to which the earlier verses so clearly testified points precisely to the transition to the heavenly body. Put in the grave, raised from the dead in glorification, raised from the dead in resurrection body, the transition, the translation to the heavenly body which Paul describes in Philippians chapter 3 verse 21 as the body of his glory. This is the body that will be and is in heaven and we shall see again.
It is on the basis of this ascent which began with the resurrection. that here he makes himself known to his own in his victory as the one who was pierced on the cross just as he had made himself known to Mary Magdalene by calling her by name to the disciples going to Emmaus and the breaking of the bread and finally as the one who from then on takes his leave from the earth at his ascension to heaven in Luke 24 and Acts 1 when we see We hear of Him rising.
Here He is giving Himself to His disciples, showing Himself alive. They see the wounds, the former wounds of His body. They see Him and hear Him declaring, Peace be with you. We do not need to assume then that this is His earthly body, but the resurrection body. All the text here allows us to say is that during the time of Jesus’ ascent, he revealed himself and he appeared to his disciples. We lack adequate words and ideas for this manner of self-revelation. It is a glorious new thing that has come to be.
But the evangelist, John, immediately after relating Jesus’ appearance to Thomas, mentions this manner of Jesus’ revelation after his resurrection among John’s gospel, the end of the text we read this evening, mentions the manner of Jesus’ self-revelation after his resurrection, among the signs that Jesus did in the presence of his disciples, and that form the content of the apostolic witness and the faith of the community based on that witness, that this is the Christ, the son of the living God, and that believing on him, we may have life in his name. And so here in this appearance is one of those signs, one of those indicators that he gave to his disciples post-resurrection.
Of the disciples, it is then said, and this is their only reaction here in verse 20, that they, quote, rejoiced when they saw the Lord. This is not merely a comment in passing, beloved, but this is clearly a reflection of the joy that Jesus had promised them earlier. This was a people who just hours before had been a people cut to the quick, devastated by the death of Jesus. But Jesus had promised them in his farewell address, saying to them, your sorrow will be turned to joy and that your joy would be made full.
Chapter 16, verses 20 to 24. And so for John to record the fact that they rejoiced when they saw the Lord, indeed is verification of those very words that Jesus had spoken to them earlier There he had spoken of the joy of seeing one another again, in contrast with the sorrow of the farewell for which he was preparing them.
He has returned. He is back. He is resurrected from the dead. He is ascending to the Father. And that very simple statement, so profound in its meaning, they rejoiced when they saw him. It is that joy of reunion that in part determines and gives content to the repeated benediction we find in this short passage of 10 or 12 verses.
Peace be with you. Raised from the dead, ascending to the Father, my Father and your Father, my God and your God, brothers, peace be with you. Earlier he had said to them, again in his farewell addresses, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
Earlier in that 14th chapter, Jesus had said, let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me. In my father’s house are many rooms. He had said to them that they should rejoice because He goes to the Father, chapter 14, verse 28.
And in John 20, this joy and this peace in turn forms the transition to those three core statements in verses 21 to 23. Those three very specific, very compact statements of what Jesus did in His appearance with them on the evening of that first day of the resurrection. joy, peace, peace be with you, Jesus raised from the dead, Jesus ascending to the father, their father and his father, and giving to them these transitional statements that we find here in the gospel, a summary that is strongly reminiscent of Jesus’ word of farewell in the great commission of Matthew’s gospel, chapter 28, verses 18 through 20. The summary that we have here in John, first of all, concerns the disciples’ mission, which Jesus has spoken of in His farewell prayer to the Father. John 17, verse 18, speaking there of sending them into the world. So Jesus here in verse 21 of chapter 20 said to them, Peace be with you as the Father has sent me I also send you.” A very compact statement to be sure. Here in John 20, He addresses it to the disciples themselves. Not praying to the Father, but now to the disciples.
Even as the Father has sent me, I send you. And there in the prayer, so here also, He speaks of their mission in immediate connection with His own mission. as the one sent by the father, which is again related to the unity of the father and the son, both in their deity, but also in their purpose and the decree and the execution of the decree, a unity now in which the disciples are understanding they are participant. Even as the father has sent the son into the world, he is sending them. As the Father in sending the Son continues to stand beside, behind the Son, and to take part in the Son’s work, so also Jesus, being sent by the Father, remains in force in the mission of the disciples, who will continue his work on earth. And he gives them a part in that work in the sense that in keeping with the meaning of the Greek word used here, apostolane, from which we get the word apostle, which means sent, messenger sent with a message. They represent him according to the rule that whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. Coworkers with the father, as the son sent by the father, so now the disciple sent by the son.
Apostles. I love the book of Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1 that speaks of Jesus as the apostle of our confession, the apostle and high priest, the one sent with a message from heaven. And now about to send the apostles into the world with that message to go and preach Jesus to the peoples of the world. Very compact statement, however. The content of their mission is not spelled out here in John 20. Also are lacking the words that were found there in John 17, 18 in the prayer into the world. He simply uses, so I send you. All the stress here falls on the idea of authorization.
When we think of Jesus’ words in Matthew 28, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples. Well, here, too, the concept that falls, the emphasis that falls on these words is authorization, Jesus sending them. Even as the Father sent me, I now send you. Although this last component of being sent is indelibly included in the calling that the disciples as apostles of Jesus must fulfill, their authorization is not limited simply to missionary activity, that is to activity outside the church, but is also evident from what follows where this mission coincides with the bestowal of the Holy Spirit and the authorization that we’ll see in the third instance to forgive and retain sins. role and discipline and the ongoing care and life of the church, which clearly relates to an ongoing activity of the disciples in the community of faith that takes shape as a result of their labors. Authorization of the one who sends them, the authority with which he sends them. So that’s the first point of the being sent.
Verse 22 speaks of this giving of the Holy Spirit. as empowerment for the disciples’ mission. The text says, subtly but powerfully, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. Of course, the word for breath, the word for breathe is the same word as the word for spirit. And so here is the one who gives the spirit, the one who dispenses the spirit, who sends them with the spirit as he breathes upon them his own breath, saying to them, receive the Holy Spirit. This breathing on the disciple certainly recalls biblical texts for us, something like Genesis 2-7, where God breathed life into the man that he had created out of the dust.
Or Ezekiel 37-5, where the prophet is commanded to preach to the dry bones and the spirit brings life and puts flesh on those bones and raises them up in the valley of dry bones. We have not, however, a clear reference to those texts. It’s more indirect than direct. And if it were more direct, it would be that the meaning would be just that.
As at the beginning, God breathed the living spirit into humankind, so in this moment of new creation, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into the disciples and so grants them eternal life. The manner of the expression and the context of the expression can also refer to the transmission of the working of the Holy Spirit in a broader sense, not just life giving, but in this present context of the spirit that is given in the context of the mission and of the authorization of the disciples to be sent into the world and to remit or retain sins. There is a power that is dispensed here. The giving of the spirit can therefore be understood as Jesus equipping of the disciples for the work for which they’re being sent into the world to do the work which has been assigned them. The last words of Jesus addressed to his disciples are also to be understood in that close connection have, first of all, this business of being sent, secondly, receive the Holy Spirit, and then the third, the close connection of what follows.
If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained. Such a verse, such a word clearly recalls the administration of the keys of the kingdom referred to in Matthew chapter 16, verse 19. where Jesus speaking to Peter and the disciples. And chapter 18 of Matthew, verse 18, again, where this business of retaining, giving, remitting sins, and reconciliation in the body of Christ.
This saying also contains the central content of the disciples’ mission referred to in verse 21, namely, to proclaim with authority as representatives of the exalted Lord, The remission of sins as the real goal of His mission from the Father and therefore also of their mission on His behalf. To go and preach the forgiveness of sins to all who believe. For as many as will believe in Him will most certainly have eternal life.
The main point in these three items, however, is the authority given to the disciples. And it falls here in this, particularly the third one, that they have an authority. They are, if you forgive the sins of any, they are, or they have been forgiven. Again, if you retain the sins of any, they are retained, or they have been retained. That is, they are retained by God.
Often this is understood as referring to the pronouncement that God will make in the final judgment. That what you say about them will be what comes into pass at the final judgment when God declares the outcome of all men. And that is certainly undoubtedly included in these passive expressions speaking of God’s action, but still forgiven and retained cannot be speaking solely of the final judgment for in the proclamation of the gospel in the name and in accordance with the instruction of Jesus.
Jesus himself is the speaker, the one who speaks through them. And he came to earth to forgive sins and to declare the forgiveness of sins, not just at the end of the world, but here and now that men and women and children might hear the gospel. He came to earth to forgive sins. That forgiveness goes into effect with his word.
And so here also the disciples are permitted in their being sent to pronounce a word that declares forgiveness and declares those who will not be forgiven, who do not repent and call upon the Lord Jesus. For that reason, it is undoubtedly important that the authority to forgive sins is closely associated here with the reception of the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit whom Jesus bestows on the apostles for the appointment and fulfillment of their task, he shows himself to be present with them as the living Lord who forgives sins on earth. The authority to forgive and to retain the sins of others that Jesus gives to his disciples consists in placing people before the decisive choice of the gospel, to accept in faith the grace of God manifest in the sending of the sun, or to remain in sin and to fall under divine judgment.
Without Christ you perish. as we conclude on these three items that Jesus speaks. I’m sending you as the Father has sent me. Receive the Holy Spirit with you. Those sins you forgive are forgiven. Those sins you retain are retained. But still left finally is the important question. Whether the powers that Jesus confers on his disciples are exclusively or at least primarily for the narrow circle of the 12. Is this the last place this has effect of these 12 chosen disciples? 11 at that hour, of course.
Or do these words apply without distinction to the whole church? To all who believe in Jesus as the Christ? Is this the commission that is put upon every believer? To all who believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, or is something else in view?
Carefully, we must see the fact that throughout the gospel, The appointment and the authorization of these first 12, these first apostles, are foundational for the faith of the church. The work of the apostles will be continued in the church under the banner of the ongoing promises of the risen one, now ascended, and by the power of the spirit sent by him. But it will continue only on the foundation of those who have been his witnesses from the beginning and in accordance with their standard. In other words, we are an apostolic church, after all. And that is the foundational authority. And their word stands.
In that sense, then, they, the apostles, have a unique standing in the history of the church, a unique standing in reference to that commission, if you will, that is given in Matthew 28 and here in John chapter 20. in the history of the church and in the apostolic provision made through them and recognize that through the apostolic provision, there are provision for offices. We’re not going to go into a detailed discussion of offices tonight, but it will be through the apostolic writing that we hear and read of pastors and teachers and ruling elders and deacons in the carrying out of the responsibilities of the Great Commission. Here in John 20, it is the provision of Christ and the abiding peace which are emphasized for the new church about to be sent into the world through her apostolic witness. The provision of Christ and the abiding peace emphasized for the well-being, for the comfort, for the joy of that church that is emphasized here. We are not left in the world as orphans. but as those who are well cared for by the ascended Christ.
I send you even as I have been sent, he says to the disciples. Receive the Holy Spirit and the sins that you forgive, I forgive. Those that you retain, I retain. Peace be with you. And they saw the Lord and they rejoiced. Our Father, we see the formation, the commission of the Church of Jesus Christ here in this resurrection event, this ascension event as Christ is taking his place with the Father and appointing his church in the world to be that instrument that he leaves in the world for his mission. Father, we thank you for the apostolic mission, the apostolic word that we have before us, the foundational truths that are laid out in the gospels and in the apostles’ epistles that are instruction for us. And Lord, as we think upon those words, we receive them as they are, the instructions of the King who is in heaven, the Lord Jesus raised from the dead in power and glory, the Lord who is providing for his church and can declare to her who was once beside herself with intimidation and fear, peace be with you. Don’t be afraid. Be about the business for which I, the son, have been sent into the world in which I now send you into the world to the ends of the earth for the in-gathering of his own, of those who belong to Christ. Lord, we thank you for this word of direction and comfort. We praise you for it in Jesus’ name. Let’s sing together hymn number 230.
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