'Today’s virus drives us apart. Jesus’ viral Spirit brings us together.
Today’s virus takes over healthy cells. Jesus’ viral Spirit heals unhealthy souls.
Today’s virus brings death. Jesus’ viral Spirit brings life.'
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
When
[Jesus] had said, [Peace be with you,] he breathed on [the disciples].
What? Hasn’t Jesus
heard? Doesn’t he know how very dangerous that is? Doesn’t he know that if he
breathes on a person, he could give that person whatever he has? That the
person could be infected and become a carrier to others? That he could become
the cause of an outbreak?
Why,
yes, of course he knows. That was his whole point in doing this. His whole
point in coming to earth was to cause this outbreak, to infect the entire human
race with what he has.
When
[Jesus] had said, [Peace be with you,] he breathed on [the disciples], and said
to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
Jesus
breathes on the disciples, and they catch what he has, the Holy Spirit of God
his Father. He is ‘patient zero,’ if you will – the source of the outbreak that
will sweep the world beginning from Jerusalem and continuing to the ends of the
earth. He is the person with whom it began, and it is still in the world all
these years later. No vaccine has been or will be found.
But
this virus is not of the kind with which we deal today.
Today’s
virus drives us apart. Jesus’ viral Spirit brings us together.
Today’s
virus takes over healthy cells. Jesus’ viral Spirit heals unhealthy souls.
Today’s
virus brings death. Jesus’ viral Spirit brings life.
When
[Jesus] had said, [Peace be with you,] he breathed on [the disciples], and said
to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
The
unique ministry of Jesus was the forgiveness of sins. There were many teachers
of God’s law in that time, many miracle workers, many prophets who proclaimed God’s wrath against sin and God’s
desire for people to repent. But no one, not even John the Baptist, claimed the
power to authoritatively forgive a person’s sin before God.
Now,
by his death and resurrection, Jesus’ authority to call to repentance and forgive
sins has been confirmed by his heavenly Father. And by the Spirit, he gives
that authority to the Church, so that the Church may authoritatively forgive
sins in the name of Jesus. It is the message I just proclaimed to you, ‘I
thereby declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’
This
is the promise we grasp in the Holy Communion, in which Jesus gives himself
again and again, by the power of his Holy Spirit, in the bread and wine, his
body and blood: given for you, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. When we believe these words given with the
bread and wine, we have what they declare: the forgiveness of sins.
And
it is the promise that God forgives our sins in Christ’s name that the Church
proclaims to the world. When you tell your neighbor you’re going to church, and
you invite him or her to come along; when you confess your faith in a room full
of others, when you offer the sweat of your brow so that your congregation can
continue, you are helping to spread that message further: God forgives sins
through Jesus Christ.
Jesus
said, peace be with you. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of peace, which is
reconciliation with God. Therefore we are reconciled with each other. When we
say ‘Peace be with you,’ to each other, it is a direct echo of what Jesus said
to the disciples. Much more than a simple hello, we are declaring to each
other, ‘I am reconciled to you, I forgive you your sins, just as God is
reconciled to you and forgives you your sins. Let us break bread together, the
bread which the Lord gives.’ Thus reconciled, thus forgiven, we go together to
the Lord’s Table.
Jesus
said, Receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit makes us holy in a world that
struggles against God. The Spirit is setting us free to live holy lives. We are
empowered to bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. We do not revenge ourselves or
repay evil for evil. We do not allow our anger or fear to control us. We shine
as lights in the world. If we cannot solve all the problems of the world, at
least we do not add to them. We pray for all people, including those whom we
fear or who anger us. We forgive those who have wronged us.
Jesus
breathed on them. The
breathing upon the disciples, of course, is to be a metaphor for what is
happening. I’ve been using the metaphor of a virus spreading from person to
person, but a virus of healing and life, a virus of power and love. But the
metaphor Jesus is about is slightly different. For the word ‘Spirit’ is related
to the word ‘breath.’ Jesus breathes his own breath into the disciples. Filled
with his breath, his Spirit, it becomes their life.
But
isn’t it appropriate on this day, and at this time, that we’ve used the other
metaphor – that here, when breathing on each other is so taboo that we must
wear masks, here Jesus breathes on people, and he breathes not death, but life?
He infects us with his own self, and this infection cleanses our lives from sin
and death. And we do become carriers – carriers of him to others.
When
[Jesus] had said, [Peace be with you,] he breathed on [the disciples], and said
to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
May
this Holy Spirit spread from shore to shore, pole to pole, until human beings
are united in its possession, until all claim the confession, ‘Jesus is Lord.’
In
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
