Holy Breath
John 20: He took a deep breath and breathed into them.
The story of the resurrection rightfully dominates the passage. If we don’t quite grasp some of the other things here it’s okay as long as we get that. Still, it’s worthwhile to slow down and, once we’ve freshly soaked in the power of the resurrection and look around a bit. Here we are, still in that first Easter and Jesus arrives inside a locked room where the disciples are gathered. On his agenda is this “breathing into them” event. He connects it to their receiving the Holy Spirit, using the word that we translate “breath” or “Spirit” to describe the event. In this they’re being invited breathe the breath of God. This is obviously related to the opening pages of our Bibles in which the Lord God makes human beings and then breathes into them the breath of life. Now, following the resurrection, Jesus symbolically breaths into his disciples the spiritual Breath of Life, the Holy Spirit. As we know, in the not too distant future, the disciples, likely in this same room, will be filled with “Holy Breath” as the Spirit dramatically comes upon them. One of the results of the resurrection is the potential of God’s people being filled with the new spiritual empowerment of “Holy Breath.”
Take Away: “Breathe on me, Breath of God.”