“And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”
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The Resurrection of Our Lord was unlike anything that had ever happened in the history of the world. There had been resuscitations before as when Elisha raised the boy from the dead or when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but both of those people had to die again. They were not new creations but their souls were again summoned back. The word resuscitation uses the Latin verb stem, citare, to summon, as its root. But the word resurrection comes from a very different Latin verb, surgere, which means to rise. To rise again, like Jesus did, has an inherently different emphasis–one on newness, like a new birth.
Jesus’ resurrection, which we are now celebrating, instituted something completely new, and this evening I want to explore what is this new reality in which we have a new hope. I use the term reality because the resurrection of Jesus Christ transforms our temporal reality since he instituted new rules such as eternal life and a sacramental life.
I want to tell you the story of this new reality by looking at another word–its a Greek word that shows up only three times in our Bible (given the Septuagint). That word is emphusao (ἐμφυσάω). By looking at its three appearances, we will learn about our new reality and the true meaning of Our Lord’s resurrection.
ἐμφυσάω is a compound verb — meaning it is composed of two Greek words. φυσάω literally means to to “puff” or blow, i.e. to swell up; but only used in the implied sense, to germinate or grow (sprout, produce), literally or figuratively. The prefix, em, just means into and so this verb has the idea of breathing or blowing life into something. The first time it was used, I think you can guess, is in Genesis. [Gen 2:7 KJV] And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This breath of life is something special when compared to all other creations–for only in man did God breath life. God then puts man and woman in the Garden of Eden to not only tend the Garden but also to be with Him, walking with God without shame or fear.
But as we well know, Adam and Eve went against the guidance of their Creator and ate the fruit of the Tree. Their souls were wounded by their sin and no longer could they be present with God without fear and shame. They were exiled from the Garden, and their union with God was now hampered by their festering wounds. They needed healing but man, of his own volition could not heal himself.
The second use of emphusao in the Bible comes to us in Ezekiel’s vision which was one of the readings this week for Morning Prayer. When the prophet Ezekiel was born, around the 620s BC, in Jerusalem, King Josiah had instituted sweeping cultural and religious reforms in order to restore the nation of Israel and keep the commandments of the Law. The city was thriving and the people were enjoying the peace which their king had brought to them. However, the safety did not last long, and Ezekiel saw the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians and he himself died in Babylon.
Ezekiel wrote down his vision of the valley of the dry bones while in exile, while he yearned to be back in Jerusalem in the presence of God at the temple. In his vision, Ezekiel walks through a valley of scattered bones. He tells the bones, at God’s command, to put themselves back together. Then God puts flesh back on the skeletons and finally, breathes new life into these bodies. Ἐμφυσάω. It is a striking vision. It is a vision of resurrection, a new body and a new life. But today, in our Easter season, we are not looking at a prophecy but a historical account. We no longer hope in a vision, but look towards a person. We do not have a dream in front of us but a real body, the Body of Jesus Christ.
And this brings us to the third use of emphusao in the Bible–from the Gospel of John. In our Gospel reading today, we find the Apostles back in the Upper Room, the same room, probably, that Jesus had washed their feet and led them through his last Seder meal. John tells us, to no surprise, that the Apostles are afraid. Like Adam and Eve after the fall, they are hiding in fear and shame. Like Ezekiel, they are now in exile. The Gospel account now completes this great chiasmus, and Jesus recapitulates the error of our First Parents.
When Jesus comes to them, he first offers them Peace, a fulfillment of a promise he made back in John 14 and also a fulfillment of Ezekiel’s vision and an answer to Adam and Eve’s sin. Peace is the antidote to fear, the very thing that Adam and Eve longed for. The power of death and shame held Adam and Eve in fear, but the presence of the resurrected Jesus brings new life to the Apostles, and destroys the power of death and feeling of shame.
After that greeting, John writes: “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” This is the same word used in Genesis and Ezekiel’s vision: emphusao. First, we should notice that Jesus’ action is a divine action. Only God can breathe life into His creatures. Second, we should notice that the Apostles are given a new Spirit: the Holy Spirit. When Adam and Eve sinned, they could not stand in the presence of God without shame and fear. They needed to get back to God, but they could not now as a result of their sin. But now the God-man fills the Apostles with His own Spirit so that they can once more walk with God.
Look at what power Jesus mentions at this time: “Apostles, now whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.” God has lifted up mankind into His life by giving them His Spirit, Jesus has reversed the sin of Adam, and as a result of that power, the Apostles now have power and command over sin. I want you to think for a moment just how amazing that is! The full gift of the Holy Ghost, of course, will come at Pentecost, but it should not pass us by why Jesus breathed His Spirit into the Apostles now for the sake of forgiving sins. This is exactly what Adam and Eve could not do! This is exactly what man needed in order to re-enter into a proper relationship with God. In the history of the world, man could never before have power like this over sin.
This is the start to a new reality, a reality based upon the resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the reality in which we live, a reality that transforms our day-to-day temporal reality. By transform, I mean in the sense of how Jesus’ resurrection transformed his body so that while it was recognizable, it was no longer bound solely by temporal constraints. Likewise, our reality is transformed so that our day-to-day no longer has to be determined and bound to sin and death. This is the Truth and it can set you free as it did the Apostles. Next week we will look more at what living within this new reality looks like.
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“And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”