Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Last week, we saw Mary weeping uncontrollably at the tomb, not knowing what was about to happen.

John had been unraveling the evidence to the Resurrection one detail at

a time.

Mary stooped down and saw the two angels who asked her why she was weeping.

God was preparing her for a very special meeting.

Mary should have gotten the idea that this was no mere grave robbery.

The very presence of the angels in white should have tipped her off.

But we must not be too hard on Mary as this was a very confusing and emotional time.

I doubt whether any of us would have managed as well, no less better.

She turned and saw Jesus.

But she though Him to be the gardener and asked where they had taken Jesus.

But Jesus made Himself known in a very personal way, by the calling of Mary’s name.

Others would be sure that Jesus had risen by the breaking of bread, touching the nails, watching Him eat, or even in a glorious vision on the way to Damascus.

It is important to know that Jesus is personal and deals with us as individuals and not just as a large group.

Mary was told to go tell the brethren that Jesus had risen.

The first preacher was a woman!

Jesus could have revealed Himself to Peter and John first, but waited for Mary.

And He sent her to tell rather than going in person.

She had a very difficult bunch to witness to.

They would think her mad, even as the world thinks us mad.

But the truth would be known soon enough.

Exposition of the Text

John 20:19—It was evening on the first day after the Sabbath, and the doors were securely locked where the disciples were because they feared the Jews.

And Jesus came into their midst and said to them, “Peace be unto you.”

This account most closely relates to the account in Luke 24:36-43.

In both cases, Jesus appears suddenly in the midst of the disciples and says “Peace be unto you” which was a familiar Hebrew greeting.

This means that Jesus had already appeared to some of the followers of Jesus on the road to Emmaus where he identified Himself to them in the breaking of bread.

He had also appeared once to Simon Peter (Luke 24:33).

I would guess that the disciples appeared anything but peaceful at the appearance of Jesus.

Peter had seen Him, and Mary Magdalene and the women had seen Him.

There was probably a mixture of excitement, confusion and fear.

They were at a loss to understand what this all meant.

We do know that John mentions that the doors were securely locked because of fear of the Jews.

They were not about to let anyone in who was knocking at the door, regardless of who they said they were.

So Jesus had to find another way in.

The very fact that Jesus just appeared in their midst without coming through the door must have convinced them that they were seeing Jesus’ angel or spirit.

People are not in the habit of materializing out of thin air unless one thinks of Star Trek.

This would have been in the realm of their belief as they did believe in spirits and ghosts.

John 20:20—And after he said this, He showed them his hands and side.

Then the disciples rejoiced knowing that it was the Lord.

The showing of Jesus’ wounds cheered the disciples in that they knew it wasn’t just any ghost or spirit.

It seems unlikely at this point that they understood that they were not just seeing Jesus’ angel, but Jesus in His resurrected body.

Luke goes on to tell us that Jesus asked for a bite of fish and that a ghost did not have flesh and bones as He had (Luke 24:39).

Jesus in the account in Luke invited them to touch Him.

We can see how the details given in Luke and those in John confirm and explain each other.

This is a certification that the testimony is valid and believable.

John 20:21—He said to them again: “Peace be unto you!

Even as the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.

Jesus now repeats His “Shalom to you”.

This time, I think the disciples were more at peace with the greeting.

Jesus comes to bring peace to those who will accept Him.

All of the gospels give a “Great Commission” in which Jesus commands His disciples to go out into the world as witnesses.

And Jesus probably repeated this commission several times to make sure it sunk in using slightly different words.

The word for sent in the Father’s sending of Jesus is the same base word for “apostle”.

Jesus uses a different word for “sent” for the apostles, but they are closely related in meaning.

What is significant is that the verb for the Father’s sending of Jesus is in the perfect tense in Greek.

It indicates that the end of Jesus mission on earth was very near because the act of sending is related as a past tense event.

But the result of Jesus’ mission to earth has everlasting consequences.

This is what is brought out by the perfect tense in Greek.

Jesus’ mission was to be carried out by His disciples when Jesus returned to the Father.

The Holy Spirit would be sent to empower them in the mission, but the emphasis is that the disciples were to continue in the mission that Jesus had begun.

This in a sense the ongoing result of the Father’s sending of the Son.

John 20:22—And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them: “Receive Ye the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit first is mentioned in the gospel in the first chapter in the promise that God gave John the Baptist that he would know Who was the Messiah by the descent of the Spirit upon Him.

The Spirit was proof that the Father sent the Son.

The same Holy Spirit is proof to the world that Jesus has sent us.

From this point on, the giving of the Holy Spirit to the believers appears from time to time.

So the disciples would have known about the Holy Spirit for some time.

The fact they were empowered to cast out demons and perform miracles in the sending of the twelve and the seventy must indicate that they had at least had the Holy Spirit in them for some time, although this was a time to time filling for a particular purpose.

This would have been no different than the Old Testament prophets who were filled with the Holy Spirit on various occasions for a particular work.

But the giving of the Spirit here would go beyond that of empowerment for a particular mission.

In John 1:33, the Holy Spirit came and remained on Jesus the Messiah in the sense of a permanent abode.

We know that Jesus is Himself God, the Second Person of the Trinity who could act on His own authority if He had wished.

In John’s Gospel, the authority of the Father is emphasized in that He completely fulfilled the Father’s will and not His own.

In Luke, the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ life is emphasized.

He is always being “led by the Spirit”.

Luke tells us of the work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus and then emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit in the church in the book of Acts.

Jesus never used this power, no less His own, for personal comfort and enrichment.

He healed others but would not heal Himself.

Perhaps this indicates that the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives is not for our own personal benefit either, but for the mission of the church.

Commentators call this the “Johannine Pentecost” as though this is John’s account of Pentecost.

From plain view, it is obvious that this is an entirely different account from that of Acts 2 written by Luke.

However, many of these commentators are just trying to find fault with the Bible.

Here Jesus is talking to just ten of the disciples (Thomas was missing, and Judas had betrayed Him and was now dead.).

The account in Acts 2 has over 120 people given the Spirit.

I tend to see this as another reminder on Jesus’ part of what was about to happen at Pentecost, although the Holy Spirit may have been given here as well.

What is important to remember in this verse is that the same Holy Spirit was involved in the sending and empowerment of Jesus for His mission is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to continue the mission.

John 20:23—Whosoever’s sins you all forgive have already been forgiven, and whosoever’s sins you hold have already been held.

Undoubtedly, this verse has been one of the most abused verses in all of Scripture.

This is because we do not correctly understand the verb tenses.

We treat the two verbs in the perfect tense as though they were future tense.

This gives us the translation “Whosoever’s sin you forgive will be forgiven, and whosoever’s sin you retain shall be retained.

This makes it sound like we have the power to bind God’s will by determining who will and not be forgiven.

The Catholic Church used this verse to abuse the believers into following her dictates by claiming they could both forgive and not forgive sin.

But understanding the perfect tense easily clears up the abuse.

The future tense in Greek refers to an event which happened in the past which has ongoing implications.

This means that God has already forgiven or not forgiven the sin before the Christians offering forgiveness or not offering forgiveness.

All the Church which is led by the Holy Spirit can do is to confirm what God has already willed.

The abiding result of God’s will concerning whether to forgive or not is what is emphasized.