Jesus' Breath

“ Jesus to them, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained. ”

The close of our service extends a blessing from the God Father, Son and Holy Ghost, expressing why we came here, but only after pronouncing Peace, “The Peace of God which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds the Knowledge and Love of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ.” Philip. 4:7 That kind of peace: peace at the heart of things, peace between God and man; peace of mind; peace between all those who love peace—that sort of peace is not easy to find. It always costs somebody.

I was born in 1949, at the height of the baby boom, just a few years after WWII ended. I didn't live during that war, but felt the effects of it's aftermath most of my childhood. There were combat movies and television shows that recounted the drama of life and death situations, dealt with having a real enemy, depicted true evil: unreasonable, relentless, committed and powerful. In our play we alternately were cowboys and Indians, or GI's against Germans or Japanese. The peacetime world I was born into had recently suffered the losses of D-day, the Battle of the Bulge, Pearl Harbor, and Okinawa. But America didn't commiserate its battle dead. It celebrated its victory. We had just saved the world, and the blessings of peace were upon us, though briefly.

Korea reminded us that peace was transient, and that with one enemy out of the way, we would always have another. America later celebrated the fall of Communist Russia, as though we'd never face another world-stopping evil. That sense of relief lasted about ten years until 9-11. Peace is hard to find, and harder still to keep. Sometimes it takes a war. And sometimes, as in Vietnam, the war can bring no lasting peace at all.

A world without peace—in constant hostility, danger, death and enmity—is difficult for us to imagine. Such a world was Vietnam, from the early 50s through the withdrawal of American troops, a lifetime for most of its inhabitants. Most Vietnamese had never lived without war their whole lives. Similarly, people in parts of Africa, the Mid-East, some of South America have lived in warfare and danger from their infancy to middle age. They can't imagine peace.

In a spiritual way, most of us can relate to total war. We're not conscious of it, don't talk or even think of it as such, but we know that even in our sleep there is a battle on. An enemy stalks us, wants to kills us, steal us away, entrap us and make us prisoners of war. He wants our children, wants our livelihood, wants our minds and hearts to obey his desires upon us. He attacks us at times least expected, using underhanded tactics that we're often not ready for. He keeps us under close surveillance and studies our weaknesses. He uses psychological warfare, terrorism, and offers false truces and ceasefires, even treaties and alliances that promise peace, but give only oppression. We've never known peace from that war—it's been on all our lives, day and night, and we can find nowhere our enemy can't get to us.

What makes us especially vulnerable is the rift between our hearts and God. We feel like traitors and are sometimes certain that He will not come for us, protect us, give us the benefit of His peace because we have betrayed Him, fallen from Him, broken that peace ourselves. The enemy may press upon us, but we fear that God may be a fiercer enemy Himself, and we turn away from His peace.

What Jesus did was to defeat our enemy and regain that peace with God. He did it through great pain and loss to Himself. His cross and passion were worse than any battlefield of modern warfare. And it was necessary that He suffer and die for us. It was a good war, and He won through defeat. His resurrection was the final victory over death, and the triumph over evil He came to achieve. Now He had to give that to us. That very night, He did just that.

“Peace be unto you.” Jn 20 He showed them his hands and his side. Why? Because His wounds had bought that peace. His battle scars were His testimony of war against the enemy, and His life was His proof that peace had been won. Then He repeated: “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” This peace between God and man, triumph over Satan, had to be transmitted all over the world, to every human being, and Jesus gave that power to His Apostles. “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said, ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.'”

He gave them life-giving power over sin and death. His victory had won Him the right to bestow that power on others, and that was the beginning of the Christian priesthood. Jesus' breath ordained them into the ministry of reconciliation. Reconciled with God, a man, woman or child may battle sin and temptation with an inner peace, knowing we have the power to win within us.

Jesus breathed on them. This is significant. He used His breath to impart life-giving power. That power comes in the form of forgiveness, a forgiveness that sets prisoners free. God made man, and then breathed into him life. “ The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Job 33:4 “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.” Psalm 33:6 God's breath gives life, and Jesus' death and resurrection restored that life to us. And with that life comes the knowledge of peace with God.

The kind of peace we seek may elude us. We might look for temporal peace, an easy life without conflict, our kids grown up and productive, leading healthy lives and bringing grandchildren to our knees to love. We may look forward to retired living in a cabin or RV, taking trips and growing roses out back. It's the vision most of us share, and yet it may not come like we plan. Our kids are most vulnerable, and our marriages may not be havens of peace. Our health may not last, nor our earnings or our livelihood. The economy may tank, and friends fail us. Life isn't easy, even in this relatively peaceful town amid plenty. It's when we think we've made it that the enemy of our souls can strike at the very heart of our peace.

But peace won on the Cross of Jesus Christ can win over all. Our hearts must be certain of it. Our minds must be made up. It's either The Lord or it's total war. How can we find that peace and keep it? The breath of Jesus. “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

“Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1 “He Himself is our peace, who made [us] one, and broke down the barrier… by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is in the Law… that in Himself He might make [us] into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile [us] in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached Peace to you who were far away, and Peace to those who were near.” Ephes. 2:14-17 “…through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” Col. 1:20

Such peace requires sacrifice, someone willing to stand up to the bully, somebody carrying a weapon. I ride with cops and it's interesting to see an officer enter a place of potential danger right in front of me, placing his hand on his holster, ready to draw and use his Glock 40 should a threat present itself. Me, I carry a big black flashlight—that's about it. My officers maintain peace in Chico at the cost of having to carry lethal force on their belts. Fortunately, we've added less than lethal devices that can stop some threats short of killing, sometimes. Carrying a gun may seem to you a thrill, a special power, something to crow about. Not at all. It's a heavy weight. It's a serious calling. It takes a toll on him or her who must answer every call to danger with swift and yet careful use of force. But our world will not always look like that. Someday, we can all lay down our weapons.

“And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the kid, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze; Their young will lie down together; And the lion will eat straw like the ox. And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:6-9 “Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,” Says the Lord, “and I will heal him.” Isaiah 57:19

Today such peace may only be complete in our worship of God in His church for an hour or so. We come here to find peace, a little peace in a world at war: war against our children through drugs, immoral behavior, and lies. War between races, between the sexes, between people of different faiths, war inside our very hearts. We look for peace and yet we find all the talk is about war. But that's why we're here, at the altar of God, brought to the knees of Jesus on His Throne, begging peace from the one who won an eternal peace through the ultimate sacrifice.

Thirteen years ago we reconstructed this sanctuary from the ruins of its former church life, and pronounced its prophecy on the day it reopened. “The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, and in this place I shall give peace.” Haggai 2:9

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