The Breath of Life

                                        John 20: 19-23

 

 

          I sat in the hospital room and watched. When she was semi-awake, I just stole glances at her because I didn’t want to make her nervous. After all, her parents were right there. She was lying in the hospital bed sprawled across her mother’s arm and her dad sat in the rocker only a couple feet away. Her hand was bandaged in an attempt to keep her from pulling out the IV line bringing nourishment and antibiotics to her eighteen month old body.

          No matter how necessary hospitals are to our society, they are nevertheless disconcerting, and when the patient is so young, it is even more true. The rhythm of normal life is interrupted by tests and needles and gowns with no backs. Our normal pace is replaced by the sounds of diagnostic machines and stethoscopes and doctors in white gowns who never seem to get to us soon enough.

          I watched as the medicine began to do its work…as her troubled face began to relax. Her fitful attempt at sleep became effortless as she sighed and slipped into a comfortable rest. Her mother lovingly tidied her matted hair and she sighed and slept, her breath coming easily now. As she began to rest, I could even see a more rested look on the faces of her parents.

          Breath. We take it for granted until it is in short supply. Whenever we swim and test the limits of our lungs, we long for the luxury of one simple breath. When respiratory problems affect our health, we would give anything for one long, deep breath. I can still remember the first deep breaths I was able to take when I quit smoking.  Breath. It seems almost like it is the source of life. Maybe that’s because in a very real sense, it is.

          In Genesis 2, we are told that God formed man from the dust of the ground and that he breathed the breath of life into his nostrils.  In Ezekiel 37, God invokes the four winds to come and breathe on the slain nation of Israel and a valley of dry bones takes life from dust in Ezekiel’s vision.  Today, we look at the gospel of John, at the appearance of the resurrected Jesus in the upper room, and we see yet another example of the breath of life that comes only from God.

          The Greeks called it pneuma. We translate it as breath, but it can also mean spirit or soul. Perhaps the best translation is the combinations of breath and spirit. That might come out as breath of life. Look at our three examples. In Genesis the breath comes from God. In Ezekiel, God calls the winds of the earth to do his bidding. In John, it is the risen Jesus who breathes life into the inhabitants of the upper room. In every case, new life is the outcome. In every case, that which did not exist or had expired is brought to new life.

          You might say that is not the case in John. Everyone was already alive. Were they? Certainly they were not dead, but they were hiding in that room in fear of their lives. They were paralyzed into inaction. Then Jesus came and everything changed.

          It was the evening of the day of the resurrection. Jesus was missing from the tomb. He had already appeared to Mary Magdalene and she had told the disciples, but what did a hysterical woman know? Now it was late in the day and the disciples were gathered behind locked doors. Three days before, an angry mob had called for the death of Jesus and it had gotten its wish. Now Jesus’ body was missing and the religious leaders were going to be in a foul mood. The disciples had good reason to stay behind locked doors. They could most certainly be next. They were scared for their lives.

          Then Jesus is standing among them. No door has been unlocked, but there he is in the flesh. As they gasp in disbelief, he shows them the nail holes in his hands and the sword wound in his side. Twice he says “Peace be with you.” William Barclay translates the phrase as: “May God give you every good thing.”

          What follows is nothing less than the commission of the Church. Jesus said: “As the Father is sending me, even so I am sending you.” It was the marching orders of the Church, orders for which the Church has never been de-commissioned. When Jesus had said this, John’s gospel tells us that “he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

          We know that the event that we now call Pentecost was about fifty days after the resurrection. We associate that event with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon those disciples present. This event takes place the day of Christ’s resurrection, long before Pentecost. Though this narrative is focused on resurrection appearances, nevertheless here is Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. We are not given any specifics of what actions the disciples took. That is not John’s focus.

          Is there conflict between John’s account and Luke’s account in Acts? I don’t see any. It was the initial announcement from our risen Savior. The events surrounding Pentecost were to give life to this announcement. Besides, I can look to my own life and to those of others and I see various deposits of the Holy Spirit at different times in different degrees in different places. Sometimes it has come with the fire of Pentecost into my heart and other times it has come with a whisper not unlike the easy breathing of that little girl in the hospital bed. No matter how it comes, it is always profound and it is always life changing. The Holy Spirit is God’s breath and it is the breath of life.

          Each of us has or will experience our “Aha” moments with our Savior. All of us can relate those moments when something changed, when we knew that we were in one of those “thin” places where we were closer to God than usual. For Christians, it is our lot that such moments must remain both lost and found until our sanctification, our walk with God in this time and place, is complete. But when we want to get closer, we have the written revelation at our fingertips. Paul reminds us in 1Timothy that all Scripture is “God-breathed.” We have but to open God’s Word to find the breath we are seeking, the new life that is promised us.

          Jesus comes to us. He comes to us even behind locked doors and penetrates our hearts and he breathes the breath of life right into us. All we have to do is believe…and receive. So…inhale… and receive the blessing!