John 20:19-23 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
INTRODUCTION
Good morning, Grace. Happy November and happy end of daylight savings time day. There’s no better day to consider John 20:19-23.
What we have here is yet another remarkable passage describing the immediate aftermath of Jesus’ resurrection. From it, I want to highlight seven “realities” presented in these five verses. That is, in this passage we find John describing real historical events, real fear in the disciples, real power in Jesus, real responsibility, peace, and a real Helper for the disciples, and real forgiveness for the world. As I said…remarkable!
In all these things we’ll see that our charge from Jesus is great and costly, but our help and reward are greater still. And as a result, the main takeaway is to boldly share the good news of Jesus with the world in the power of the Holy Spirit.
REAL EVENTS (19)
You may have noticed that, for undisclosed reasons, John has made it a point of emphasis to help his readers keep track of the timeline of events since just before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. For instance, John tells his readers that…
12:1 Jesus entered Bethany “six days before the Passover”.
12:12 Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem took place, “the next day” (Sunday) after entering Bethany.
13:2 Jesus predicted Judas’s betrayal on Thursday, “during [the Passover] Supper”.
18:28 Jesus was led before Pilate in the “early morning” on Friday.
19:14 Jesus was delivered over to be crucified on the “day of Preparation of the Passover… [at] about the sixth hour” (Friday at around noon).
20:1 The tomb was empty “on the first day” (Sunday morning) “while it was still dark.”
And our passage for this morning opens with yet another time-marked event. Jesus visited His disciples “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week” (19). That is, John explicitly tells his readers that the events of vs.19-23 took place on the Sunday night of His resurrection day.
At the very least, John’s attention to chronological detail tells us that John knew he was writing about events that really happened, at real times, in real places, and among real people.
That might seem to you and me to go without saying, it might not seem like a big deal to us, but John knew, and wanted his readers to know, that he was not writing about things that were merely allegorical or symbolic or spiritual. He knew and wanted his readers to know that he was writing in genuinely historical terms about the most profound physical and spiritual truths the world has ever known.
This is critical because our sin and separation from God are such that they require more than an allegorical, symbolic, or spiritual solution. They require an actual, physical, offspring of Eve to fulfill the requirements of God that every other offspring of Eve was unable to do.
It is true that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13). But there is no saving grace through faith in a mythological Jesus. “Calling on the name of the Lord” means something specific.
It means believing in the God-man who really did willingly go to Jerusalem on the Sunday of Passover week, in order to offer Himself as the One True and Final Passover Lamb on Friday, to rise from the dead in victory, once for all, on Sunday morning before light, and go to visit His followers in His resurrected, glorified state on Sunday evening.
I don’t mean to suggest that people need to know the specific days and times mentioned by John to be saved by Jesus. But I do mean to say that no one is saved apart from believing that Jesus is who the Bible says He is and did what the Bible said He did.
The specific details of the opening words of our passage serve as a reminder of the reality that John was writing about real people and real events, connected to a real salvation accomplished by a really resurrected Christ.
REAL FEAR (19)
The second reality I want to help you see is that the disciples were really afraid.
I’ve shared this before, but on the very first mission trip I ever went on, I was detained in a police station in a Middle Eastern country for handing out Bibles on a college campus. I was there for over an hour, but as far as I can tell, I was never in any real danger. No one was formally arrested. They didn’t even take our Bibles. And certainly no one was murdered. Nevertheless, after a short while, I found that fear was creeping in; a fear that lasted on some level for some days even after the event.
I relay that only to highlight the fact that with even the most benign experience of persecution, or even the most basic imagination, it shouldn’t be hard for any of us to understand the fear of the disciples.
But what, specifically, were they afraid of? John tells us that they were afraid “of the Jews” (19). In fact, he tells us that they were so afraid of the Jews that they had huddled together behind locked doors.
For John, “the Jews” (as you know if you’ve been with us throughout our time in the Gospel) usually (as in this case) refers to the Jewish leaders. They were in charge of the Temple and the synagogues and by implication, many aspects of the ordinary lives of ordinary Jewish people. They had significant religious, political, economic, and social power. As such, they could greatly influence the families, jobs, standing, and overall wellbeing of virtually every fellow Jew.
Their authority was designed by God to be a blessing to His people. They were supposed to be shepherd-guides to their countryman. They were to explain God’s laws, model obedience, and help everyone to obey. They were meant to be a critical cog in Israel’s flourishing and a key component to Israel’s witness to the nations of the unique and sovereign grace of God.
Instead, however, “the Jews” often lorded their authority over the people. Instead of using their power to bless others, they used it to bless themselves; to make themselves feel significant and comfortable. They did so by heaping additional, oppressive laws on others and by focusing on the letter of the law over and above its spirit.
The pinnacle of their misuse of their God-given power and authority had just occurred three days earlier in their orchestration of Jesus’ crucifixion. They had conspired together with the Roman authorities to unjustly put Jesus to death; the very man they claimed to be preparing the people of Israel for (the Christ God promised to send).
In other words, the disciples were afraid because they’d just seen the full weight of the wrath of “the Jews” come down on Jesus. If they could do that to the same man who had healed the sick, walked on water, fed 5000, turned water into wine, and raised people from the dead, how much easier could they do that to them?
From every human perspective, their fear was justified and so they huddled together behind locked doors in fear.
REAL RESPONSIBILITY (21)
I want to go a bit out of order in order to help you feel the full weight of what the disciples in the locked room felt, and with it the full weight of what Jesus promised them. That is, I’d like to take a look at v.21 before coming back to where we left off in v.19.
As we just saw, the disciples were scared of the Jews on account of what they did to Jesus. In v.21 Jesus raised the stakes even higher, saying to them, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
There are two parts to that charge. Let’s quickly look at each.
As the Father Has Sent Me
The first part concerned the manner in which Jesus was sent. So, how did the Father send Jesus?
Jesus was sent into the world by His Father (3:17) to “do His will (6:38-39; 8:29), to speak His words (3:34; 8:28; 12:49; 14:24; 17:8), to perform His works (4:34; 5:36; 9:4), and to win salvation for all who believe (3:16-17)” (Kruse, TNTC, 375). Jesus did this in perfect obedience to the Father (5:19-30; 8:29) and in His obedience He did accomplish the salvation of the world. But, as we’ve seen, His obedience was accompanied by nearly continual, severe persecution, culminating in His public and horrific murder.
If this was all Jesus said, if this were the only part of His message to His followers, we would have an awesome picture of obedience and the costly, but efficacious grace of God. We would have a praiseworthy description of our Savior’s perfect surrender to His Father’s will in the Spirit’s power, bringing about the salvation of the world. Far from adding to the disciples’ fear, it would remind them of the rightness of their faith in Him.
It is all those things for sure, but that’s not the only part. There’s more. There’s another part to what Jesus said. “As the Father has sent me…even so I am sending you.”
Even So, I Am Sending You
The second part is the scary, the intimidating part. Jesus was sending His disciples as He had been sent.
If Jesus was sending them incognito, or to an entirely new region away from the murderous Jews, or in some other manner than the one which got Jesus persecuted, arrested, mocked, tortured, and killed, then it would be different. But Jesus didn’t send the disciples in some other way. He sent them “as the Father sent [Him].”
In other words, Jesus charged His followers to do the will of the Father, to speak His words, to perform His works, and (as we’ll see even more clearly in v.23), to offer salvation to the world, in the power of the Spirit. They were to obey God and proclaim the good news of Jesus, no matter the cost. Even if it cost them their comfort and lives, as it did Jesus, they were being sent as the Father sent Jesus.
The disciples were afraid that the Jews would come after them just because they’d been associated with Jesus in His life. And now Jesus was charging them to go out and preach the same good news of the Kingdom of God that got Him alienated, threatened, rejected, betrayed, and killed.
If they were afraid already, being sent out among the wolves by themselves would only add to their fear, right?
Grace, as I said in the beginning, our charge from Jesus is great indeed. But the thing I hope to help you see throughout the rest of this sermon is that the real fear of the Jews in light of Jesus’ charge was for the disciples in our passage just like Mary’s weeping at the death of Jesus.
As we saw last week, if what Mary believed about Jesus had been true, her tears would have been right. But Mary was wrong, which meant that her tears were misguided as well.
In the same way, if what the disciples believed to be true about their circumstances was true (that “the Jews” had defeated Jesus and would soon, easily defeat them as well), then their fear and cowering would have made sense. But, just like Mary, the disciples were wrong and, therefore, so was their fear.
The Jews had not defeated Jesus. Jesus willingly handed Himself over to them. Far from securing His defeat, their treachery was merely a tool in Jesus’ redeeming hand. He was not crushed by their putting Him to death, He gained perfect and eternal victory over death through it.
In other words, as Jesus was about to reveal to those huddled in the locked room, Jesus’ power was infinitely greater than anything “the Jews” could even imagine, let alone anything they actually possessed. To be among Jesus’ sheep, therefore, was to always be in the most secure place possible. Not even death could defeat Jesus and He promised the same for His followers.
That’s a part I left out. As the Father sent Jesus meant not only persecution and death for obedience. It also meant resurrection life. Jesus was sending His followers out in a way that would be dangerous, but also in a way that would certainly end in eternal life!
This is a critical lesson for us. Trusting Jesus means heeding His words to the “ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe’” (Mark 5:36). It is true, as we sing, that Jesus’ promises to all who believe are such that we ought to always “Be still and remember the worst that can come, but shortens our journey and hastens us home…Though trouble and anguish increase all the more, they cannot compare to the glory in store. Come joy or come sorrow, whatever befalls, the light of the Savior will outshine them all.”
And so, we too are sent as the Father sent Jesus, to do the will of the Father, to speak His words, to perform His works, and to offer salvation to the world, in the power of the Spirit. We too are to obey God and proclaim the good news of Jesus, no matter the cost. Even if it costs us our lives, as it did Jesus.
May we live in faith, in the Spirit’s power, in increasing measure because of what we see here in these real events.
REAL POWER (19)
Real events in history, real fear in the disciples, and real responsibility for the disciples. That’s a lot. They knew that they had hope of a resurrection, and that’s a really big deal, but what about in this life? How would they—and how will we—possibly remain faithful in such a high calling in the face of such opposition?
In answer to those questions, we find the final four “realities” in our passage: The real power, peace, and Helper of Jesus, along with the offer of real forgiveness for the world. That’s a lot of help on the way to sharing in Jesus’ resurrection.
The first and main reason the disciples need not have feared, and the reason we need not fear today, is because Jesus’ power surpasses all the rest.
The greatest example of all, of course, was Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. And yet we have an example of the same power that raised Jesus at work in our passage.
John made sure to note the detail that the disciples were hiding out in a room with “the doors being locked” (we’ll see the same thing in v.26). In addition to testifying to the fear of the disciples, it also testified to the power of Jesus. Locked doors might have been able to keep “the Jews” out, but they couldn’t even slow Jesus down.
…the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them…
The disciples were going to be hunted by the Jews as they obeyed Jesus’ commission, but their mission, their lives, and their eternal lives alike were all in the hands of the One who had real, total power over death and… door locks.
You need to play in a best ball golf tournament, but your partner is Scottie Scheffler.
You need to build a house, but Norm Abram is your contractor.
You need to write a symphony, but Bach will help the entire time.
You need to paint a beautiful painting, but Rembrandt will be holding your brush.
You need to fight a war, but the world’s greatest generals are on your side.
You need to share the gospel with a hostile world, but the resurrection power of Jesus is with you always.
Our charge from Jesus is great and costly, but our help is greater still.
REAL PEACE (19-20, 21)
The first help we saw was the reality of Jesus’ unmatched power. The second help is the reality of the peace Jesus gives.
Again, our passage opens by noting that the disciples were in hiding because they were afraid of facing the wrath of the Jews. Jesus knew that, of course, and so the first words He spoke to them were, “Peace be with you” (19).
Do you remember Isaiah 53:5? “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
Of all the words Jesus could have said, “Peace be with you,” must have had a special kind of sweetness. When combined with the very marks of peace promised by the prophet, the scars on His hands and side, “Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” Jesus’ first peace blessing for His disciples was received as they saw the cost of His obedience.
But that wasn’t all. We also need to remember that Jesus immediately upped the cost. He gave them peace and then immediately “threatened” that peace by charging them to go out among those who would seek their harm.
The disciples were afraid as they imagined the Jews’ animosity toward them. And then they found genuine relief as Jesus presented Himself and His wounds of faithfulness to them. And then there must have been a renewed sense of fear as He commissioned them to go back out into the world.
Therefore, for a second time, in anticipation of a rekindled fear, Jesus reiterated His blessing, “peace be with you” (21).
He knew what they were feeling and why. He knew what awaited them. And He knew they were afraid and confused and restless because of it. But He also knew what they needed most in that moment—the peace of God. And so He blessed them with it.
REAL HELPER (22)
The third help Jesus offered to his fearful disciples was another promise of the Holy Spirit.
They were afraid, they would be more afraid. It was hard and it would get harder. But Jesus real power, peace, and Spirit would be with them as they took the gospel into the world. We see this in v.22.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
There are a few things to note from this verse. First, it’s received a lot of attention from biblical scholars over the years (along with the next verse). Many interpretations have been offered. I’ll share with you in a minute the one that I think is by far the most likely.
A second thing to note is that the words, “on them,” are not in the original. Literally, John wrote, “And when He had said this, He breathed [no ‘on them’] and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.” In other words, the nature of Jesus’ breathing is probably more explicitly symbolic that it sounds in our ESV.
And a third thing to note is that the disciples’ actions from this point until the day of Pentecost look nothing like their actions after Pentecost. That’s significant because one of the most common interpretations of this passage is that this is John’s version of Pentecost. This fact alone seems to me to eliminate that possibility.
These things combined help us to see that in this gesture (“He beathed”) and charge (“Receive the Holy Spirit”), Jesus was almost certainly reminding His disciples of the promise He’d already made to send the Helper, the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 16:8-14).
In v.22, Jesus charged His followers to receive the Spirit gladly when He came (at Pentecost). For the Spirit’s work was to give Jesus’ fearful followers all the wisdom, remembrance, strength, conviction, glory, and peace they needed to obey as Jesus commanded.
In this interesting exchange, Jesus was acknowledging the fear of the disciples and promising even more help for their time of need. And so it is for us, Grace. We too have the Holy Spirit in us if our hope is in Jesus. And the Holy Spirit’s work in us is the same—wisdom, remembrance, strength, conviction, glory, and peace—for all who obey Jesus’ commission. Share the gospel! But as you do, do not rely on your own wisdom or strength, but on the Spirit who gives truth and power.
REAL FORGIVENESS (23)
Finally, let’s consider v.23.
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
On the surface, it sounds like Jesus was giving His disciples the ability to forgive the sins of others and to keep others from having their sins forgiven. That is, of course, not what this means.
It is similar to what Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:19, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
In both Matthew 16 and v.23 of our passage, Jesus’ promise was to work (binding and loosing, forgiving and withholding) through the work of His followers. There are three textual clues that help us know this.
First, the context (of v.23) is Jesus’ sending of His disciples as He’d been sent by the Father (to do the will of the Father, to speak His words, to perform His works, and to offer salvation to the world, in the power of the Spirit). In other words, the promise of v.23 is connected to the Spirit’s help of v.22 and Jesus’ commissioning of v.21.
Second, while, interestingly, this is the only time the forgiveness of sins is explicitly mentioned in John’s Gospel, there are a number of other examples of sins being unforgiven (8:24; 9:41; 15:22, 24; 16:8-9; 19:11). The key is that each time unforgiveness is mentioned, it is in connection to unbelief in Jesus. Unforgiveness always flows from unbelief (and forgiveness from belief).
Third, to get a little technical, the verb tense in the two key clauses (“they are forgiven” and “it is withheld”) is a “divine” perfect, passive. That indicates that it is God working (to forgive or withhold forgiveness) through the work of the disciples. Again, this is the same in the church discipline passages of Matthew 16 (and 18).
In light of these three things, one commentator concludes, “This supports the view that the way in which the disciples forgive sins and retain sins is by preaching the good news and declaring the effects of believing it (forgiveness) and rejecting it (no forgiveness)” (Kruse, TNTC, 377).
In other words, Jesus taught in v.23 that when the disciples preach the gospel, they offer God’s forgiveness. And when they withhold the gospel (refuse to proclaim it), they withhold God’s forgiveness.
All of this means that the fourth and final help, and the seventh and final reality of this passage is the promise of an effective ministry. As Jesus’ followers obeyed His commission, in light of Jesus’ power, in Jesus’ peace, and with Jesus’ promised Spirit, God would rescue His elect out of the world through their ministry.
And again, this is the case for you and me today. We give ourselves to proclaiming the good news of Jesus to the world. We do it. We share the truth in love. We take risks. We press on and persevere. We take courage. And God uses all of that to forgive His people; even as He uses our silence to withhold forgiveness.
God is sovereign over all things and He has sovereignly chosen to use our obedience (or disobedience) to our commission to forgive (or withhold forgiveness) the world of sin. What a promise. What responsibility. What grace. What help.
CONCLUSION
In this passage we find John describing real historical events, real fear in the disciples, real power in Jesus, real responsibility, peace, and a real Helper for His followers, and real forgiveness for the world through our ministry.
In all these things we see that our charge is great and costly, but our help and reward are greater still. And as a result, the main takeaway is to boldly share the good news of Jesus with the world in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Interestingly, one of the ways we do this is by taking Communion together, for when we do, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He returns (1 Corinthians 11:26).