..."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 his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven" (Jn. 20:21-23).
The breath of God (ruah) is forgiveness itself. The Pharisees had accused Jesus of blasphemy because "only God can forgive sins," and there He was, telling the paralytic that his sins were forgiven. Now, He is telling the apostles that they too have the power to forgive sins.
He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." The scene reminds of God breathing the breath of life (ruah) into Adam in the Garden of Paradise: "and man became a living soul." The word "ruah" in Hebrew can mean "breath, wind, breeze, Spirit." When the Spirit of God blows through a land or a person, it is just like a gentle breeze on a hot summer's day; it refreshes and gives life. Sometimes, however, the breeze must be a strong wind, as on the day of Pentecost.
Here is what I have experienced over and over again: Left to myself, I become a slug mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, morally, allowing life to drift away day by day. With the Spirit of God "blowing through my inner man," I am alive, vibrant, energized, purposeful, focused, enthusiastic, loving, generous, confident, unafraid of the future.
I am convinced that the Gift of the Holy Spirit is for everyone. Why, then, do we not all receive the Gift? Jesus said, "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." I think maybe that only they who hunger and thirst after God receive the Holy Spirit-- i.e., are "born again." And, typically, we 'hunger and thirst' only when we have come to the end of our own resources and strength.
Scripture tells us that God "heard the cries" of His people in Egypt and sent Moses to deliver them from Pharoah's strong arm. Once in the Promised Land, they were constantly threatened on all sides by their enemies, who were always on the prowl to conquer the territory God had given them. Again and again, they cried out to the Lord, and He sent deliverance in the form of the "judges," who were not judges in our sense, but those who decided the fate of Israel in time of danger.
Once the generation who entered the land had died out, the next generation had no memory of God's deliverance and love for them. They may have been told stories of their ancestors, but they had not experienced for themselves God's hand of deliverance. It has been often said that God has no grandchildren. Our mother's God, our father's God, is not "our" God until we come to know Him for ourselves. Every person has to experience the love of God for him/her personally.
And that "deliverance" usually comes in a time of pain and suffering. Until that moment, the stories in the Bible are just "stories." When we have experienced God's love and faithfulness toward us personally, those stories become our stories, our history, our people.
When we are "desperate" for God, we find Him. When we draw close enough to Jesus for Him to 'breathe' on us, we will receive the Holy Spirit from Him. When we are burdened enough by our sins and the sins of the world, we will seek His deliverance. In America, we have been comfortable for so long that we have had no need for 'deliverance,' except for the poor, the black before the Civil War, the oppressed, the children of abuse. These are the ones who have drawn close to God for help -- and who now know Him for themselves.
A priest who ministered for many years in Mexico once told us, "I pray that the United States of America suffers the way those in South and Central America have suffered -- in order that they may know for themselves the God of their deliverance." I was a teen when I heard this, and I was shocked to hear that statement. Now, however, I understand his perspective. Those who suffer come to know their God; they are the ones who no longer rely on the government, on their wealth, on their education, or their strength, to save them. And knowing God, receiving the Holy Spirit, is greater than anything the world has to give us.
"Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven!" We are so grateful to go through life not burdened, but free!
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