LIFE & BREATHSample

DAY FOUR: A NEW KIND OF LIFE AND BREATH

And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22

Throughout this week we have journeyed from the cradle to the cross – and onto the empty tomb. But the story is still unfolding – and the theme of life and breath is still very much the thread running through it. Today we’re introduced to a new kind of life and breath - the precious, matchless gift of the Holy Spirit.

John chapter 20 guides us through the narrative – we have been taken to the empty tomb, where we saw the stone removed from the entrance and the rolled-up grave clothes. We have witnessed the startling moment the risen Savior appears to Mary and speaks her name. But the next few verses of John chapter 20 take us somewhere new – a locked room where the disciples now gather in fear and confusion. All of a sudden, Jesus is standing there too, showing them the hands and sides that bled for them, and announcing, “Peace be with you.” Then, John 20:22 records:

And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

It is the breath of God upon them, mirroring Genesis 2:7 when mankind first received the blessing of breath. But this time it is breath of a different kind. It is the promised gift of the Holy Spirit – a gift unlike any other. He is our Counsellor, our Helper and our Advocate. Our Teacher, Revealer and Guide. He is a deposit in our hearts – a down-payment guaranteeing what is to come. He is our Witness – testifying that we are the children of God. He is the in-dwelling strength that enables us to live for God - and display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control as we do so. In that moment, the risen Jesus breathes upon his feeble, fragile followers with the gift of His Holy Spirit – and nothing will ever be the same. They become bold, entrepreneurial, adventurous leaders – full of vison, passion and a perseverance which would not back down even in the face of a painful death.

The fact is, nothing Jesus breathes upon will ever stay the same. It was true for the disciples that day - and it will be true for our own lives too.

We end with the words of a hymn composed in 1886 – let this be our wholehearted prayer today:

“Breathe on me, Breath of God,
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love the way You love,
And do what You would do.”