Receive the Ruach ha'Kodesh!!
Saturday is not my day for using my +Time blog to post some semblance of a Sunday School lesson, so this isn't it, and I'll come up with something different for tomorrow morning's blogpost. Nevertheless, here's our gospel reading for tomorrow. It's one of our most sacred stories, and I mean to comment on it.
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Judeans, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” John 20:19-23 (NRSV)
Note that the story is about an event, the disciples gathered for supper on the evening of Easter Day. Again, it's the same supper that's described in Luke 24. We are adults, and it doesn't bother us that different things happen and different things are said from one evangelist's story to the next, we expect that.
So, it's evening. Instead of the doleful atmosphere we might expect, there's excitement in the air because some of them went to Jesus' tomb early, found it empty, and have arrived claiming to have seen Jesus alive. As well, in Luke's story, Cleopas and the other disciple come rushing back from Emmaus saying they've met him too. They're all scared though, because Roman, Judean, or Temple authorities might come arrest them at any moment. So the doors are locked. But Jesus appears in the midst of them anyway; he doesn't enter the room in the usual way, through the door, he just appears. That's why Gospel John makes sure we know the doors were locked, so we marvel that he simply appears. Is he flesh, or spirit? Luke clears that up by reporting that he ate a piece of fish. And remember, Thomas isn't there this first time.
Jesus greets them, "Peace be with you!!" fully aware they'll be stunned, as indeed they are. He doesn't say "Peace be with you", what does he really say? According to the gospel's NT Greek, he says "Εἰρήνη ὑμῖν". But OJB, the Orthodox Jewish Bible* version has it right: "Shalom Aleichem!" a traditional Jewish greeting. He greets them again. "Shalom Aleichem!!"
"And having said this, Moshiach breathed on them and says to them, 'Receive the Ruach ha'Kodesh'" (OJB John 20:22). He breathes the Holy Spirit onto them reminiscent of God breathing life into Adam the Earthling in the Garden, remember?! (We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life). Jesus' disciples get the Holy Spirit on Easter evening, everyone else later. His breathing the Holy Spirit is why we read this gospel story at Pentecost.
He says words of apostleship, that he's sending them (a disciple is one who follows and emulates, an apostle is one who is sent)
And according to Gospel John, Jesus adds words that the Church has taken as its authority to grant the absolution of sins. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven". Mind, when the priest raises his hand over the congrgation after Confession and declares the Absolution, this is where the authority comes from. In our church, priests have this authority passed on to us by the bishop when s/he ordains us. Whether this is what Jesus visualized, or what Gospel John had in mind, is arguable, but that's our tradition.
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Noticed this quickie in a respectable online newspaper yesterday. If it applies to going back to favorite restaurants and other destinations, I expect it will apply as well to going back to church,
Why the need to go might prevent us from going out
Americans are making it clear: They won’t be ready to go out to their favorite destinations until they feel confident about being able to go — to the bathroom, that is.
and I'm ready to go back to Hunt's, back to Gene's Oyster Bar, back to Uncle Ernie's. Not giving up on Captain's Table, but I can see them from where I'm sitting by my window here in 7H, and they aren't looking to reopen anytime soon.
Anyway, my suggestion: go before you come.
https://healthnewshub.org/health-news-hub/top-news/is-it-safe-to-use-a-public-bathroom-during-covid-19/
* Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB) Copyright @ 2002, 2003, 2008, 2011 by Artists for Israel International
In Judaism, Holy Spirit (Hebrew: רוח הקודש, ruach ha-kodesh) refers to the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the universe or over God's creatures, in given contexts. (online)
Definition of spirit/ruach: “The basic meaning of ruach is both 'wind' or 'breath,' but neither is understood as essence; rather it is the power encountered in the breath and the wind, whose whence and whither remains mysterious… (online)
קֹדֶשׁ qôdesh, ko'-desh; a sacred place or thing; rarely abstract, sanctity:—consecrated (thing), dedicated (thing), hallowed (thing), holiness, (× most) holy (× day, portion, thing), saint, sanctuary. (online)
So, the sacred breath, force, quality, essence. In this sense, I can buy into Jenson's notion of the Holy Spirit as the Love between God the Father and God the Son. TW+
Art pinched online; apologies that I could not identify the artist and period.
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