In John 20:19-20, Jesus appears to His disciples on the evening of the day He was raised from the dead. Jesus isn’t only here to reassure His disciples, though (although that was one thing that His appearance accomplished, I’m sure). He has a commission for them, in four parts.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
John 20:21-23 NIV
First, Jesus reiterates His blessing of peace upon them. I wonder if they didn’t even process what He said when He first appeared, because they were so shocked. In fact, when I proposed to my wife, I was so overwhelmed by the moment that I had to ask her a few minutes later, “You said yes, right?”
Secondly, Jesus sends His disciples. He had faithfully served God the Father throughout His ministry, and now He was giving a similarly divine calling to His disciples. We might think of the “Great Commission” from the end of Matthew as one example of Jesus’ instructions, but that was not the only time that His disciples were sent out.
I don’t think that these are necessarily multiple commissions, just different reiterations of the same commission. When my family plays video games, we might have a long-term goal, but often have multiple “missions” required to achieve that goal. I think of Jesus as giving us one commission – calling us and sending us out to make disciples – but the specific “missions” that each of us are called to execute vary (like a soldier’s missions do). We are called to different missions of different durations, but all as part of the same commission, and all as part of the same leader’s (i.e., God’s) instructions.
Thirdly, Jesus doesn’t send His disciples out (i.e., on their missions and commission) without divine help. He promises them the Holy Spirit. I’m not sure how many different aspects that the Holy Spirit works in our lives, but there seem to be different specific ways that He does so. Here, Jesus tells His disciples to receive the Holy Spirit, but that seems to be different from how they receive the Holy Spirit’s power on Pentecost. Maybe Jesus was prophesying what would happen on Pentecost here, or maybe the actions of the Holy Spirit were different at different times. The Lookout (cited below) suggests, “It was as if Jesus were saying, ‘The next time you hear a sound like breath or wind, buckle up.’ ”.
We could get into a theological debate here about the details, but my suggestion is to accept that the Holy Spirit does whatever is in His perfect will, and our job is not to prescribe His behavior, but rather to follow His leading.
Finally, there’s this sort of unusual pronouncement that the disciples can forgive – or not forgive – other people’s sins. I don’t think that this is like, “Oh, cool. I can now do what I want and withhold forgiveness from people I don’t like.” Instead, this seems more like the ability for the disciples to, 1) listen to the Holy Spirit, 2) know God’s will for who has received forgiveness through Jesus’ sacrifice, and 3) prophesy that truth to others.
For instance, a pastor or other fellow Christian can tell you that if you have accepted and followed Jesus, and living in a life of obedience to Him that demonstrates your love for Him and commitment to Him, then your sins are forgiven. The other Christian isn’t the one that paid for your sins, but they can speak the truth to you.
So, how about you? Have you accepted your commission from Jesus, to make disciples in the Kingdom of God? Do you know what your specific mission is today, whether it is just supplying others in the family, or going out on the “front lines” of the battle of God vs. evil? If you’re not sure, I’m fairly certain that our God doesn’t mind being asked for a refresher!
From Sunday School lesson prepared for February 25, 2024
References:
- The Lookout, February 25, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – John, by Beauford H. Bryant and Mark S. Krause. © 1998 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 