John 20:19-23
e Jews” meant death was just outside the door in their minds.
There also was the tremendous sense of loss in seeing their dreams and hopes destroyed. Their daily encounter with Jesus had filled their hearts with powerful hopes and extravagant dreams. All was wiped out in a brutal few hours. They had to begin to see they just wasted three years of their life.
If the story sounds familiar, it should. We may not be the intensity of the drama, but fear and loss are our common heritage.
So, the “Peace be with you” of Jesus, was truly world shattering. These men had been too self-absorbed to hear Mary Magdalene’s proclamation in the morning but now Jesus was right in front of them.
The peace of Jesus burned away their fears and sense of loss. It was a liberating embrace of conversion. Gradually, they would move away from their narrow world to a sense of universality never experienced before. Understanding and wisdom would penetrate their engagement of different cultures and languages. Their little world would be shattered. They would soon encounter new horizons of countless opportunities.
Like the Disciples, so too with us, the gift of the Spirit demolishes our fears and anxieties to set us free to go wherever Christ calls. This is the great liberation of Pentecost.
The true peace of the Spirit is not just the elimination of war and violence, nor just the cessation of arguing and fault-finding in the family and community. It is a much richer gift unveiling the presence of an all-loving God in the midst of life’s struggles and experiences. The Spirit allows us to share peace and forgiveness and blessings with all. With this peace of the Spirit we become the hands and feet, the eyes and ears and the heart of Christ in the world. It makes Christ present wherever there is love, reconciliation and service.
The breath of Jesus that passes on the Spirit is the same word describing the Father breathing life into Adam. The Pentecost is not only the call to a new creation. It is a call to the original unity of the Garden. We are already one in God and in our brothers and sisters. The Spirit of Jesus is the gift that guides us through our brokenness and falsehoods into the ultimate call to be one in God. It is a slow process of purification and transformation. Like Jesus, the Spirit allows the Disciples and us to become people who lay bare the presence of God hidden in the flow or daily life. We are already one in God by the original creation. We need the power of the Spirit to help us discover this hidden unity. With the gift of the Spirit we are on our way home.
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