All of a sudden, Jesus is in their midst. His message is not vengeance. Amazingly, He does not even point the finger at their cowardly collapse. His trusted disciples were too awe-struck to feel the shame. It was a “wow” moment to the thousandth degree. Jesus had risen as he said! Alleluia!
His message was direct, clear, and simple: “Peace be with you.” (Jn 20:19). His peace conveyed the treasure of forgiveness. These two gifts of peace and forgiveness are in the context of His commissioning and gifting the disciples. “‘As the Father has sent me, I send you.’ As He said this He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the holy Spirit.’” (Jn20:21-23)
Receiving the Holy Spirit is a symbol of a new creation. Just as God breathed life into Adam in the Garden, so too, Jesus breathed new life into the disciples that makes them holy and leads them to conquer evil.
After the reception of the Holy Spirit, the disciples’ story is very different. Fear gives way to courage and commitment. A new conviction leads them to confront power with patience and perseverance. The two-edged sword of Jesus’ gospel message cuts through the yoke of terror and cowardice. The gospel is proclaimed in spite of conflict and confusion. Cultural barriers and native parochial narrowness open up to a vision of a universal community that continues to grow to this very day.
Gifted with the Holy Spirit, they join the risen Christ in witnessing to the victory of love over evil and death. The seeds of the new creation were sown in the hearts of these very weak and pedestrian followers of Christ. They began an ever expanding community of faith that has survived and prospered over these two thousand years.
Paul draws us into the beautiful mystery of how this new creation flows from the Spirit-filled hearts. In Galatians Paul writes: “I say live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desires of the flesh…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Gal 5:16, 22-23)
Today, on this feast of Pentecost, we are invited again to receive the gifts of the Spirit. To do so, we need to turn away from sin which is the refusal to love. As with the first disciples, the Spirit beckons us to continually expand the horizons of our love.
The Spirit empowers and invites us to pray. The Spirit offers a peace that transcends our endless search for security in the things of the world. The Spirit allows us to break loose from the captivity of the cultural bondage to racism, sexism, a blindness to the destruction of creation, and most of all, simply to love one another. Pentecost is the feast of liberation from our fears, anxieties and divisions.
The Spirit calls us to be the hands and feet and, most of all, the heart of Christ within the world of our responsibilities and relationships. We are called to be true witnesses to Jesus gospel message. Less we forget, a witness is one whose life’s actions speak so loudly that people cannot hear what you say.
The peace of Christ comes at a price. The patience and gentleness along with the joy and kindness and the other fruits of the Spirit described by Paul are ever so precious gifts. They are possible only in a heart seeking reconciliation that brings the new life of Christ into a world ravaged by sin and death. This is the call for us on this Pentecost: transform our lives by the gift of Christ’s peace and His call to forgiveness. Slowly, we must understand that, for the Spirit, there is no limit on forgiveness and the target of inclusiveness is ever expanding and dynamic. The numerous descriptions of “those people” in our heart have to give way a new definition of “us”. In this struggle to move out of our comfortable world, we must be open to the Spirit to find the only way that leads to the prized gift of Christ’s peace.
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