John 20:19-31 What Happens When God Breathes on You?
Joh 20:19-22 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
Then said Jesus to them again, 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:
Two Sunday's ago was Easter and we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. We talked about the women that came to the tomb to anoint Jesus and saw the angels, they hurried and told the others and Peter came running to the tomb to find it empty. We talked about the two fellows on the road to Emmaus and how they didn't recognize Jesus at first after they had spent the day with him.
Later that evening and Jesus had appeared to several people! Mary Magdalene, the other women at the tomb, Peter in Jerusalem, and the Emmaus travelers.
Now we find Jesus making his first appearance to ten of the disciples, Thomas was not present. The disciples were locked away in a room and they were no doubt, struggling with the reports of the sightings of Jesus, the now believed risen Savior.
Picture their state of mind
they are gathered or hiding in this locked room because they are still fearing the angry Jewish brethren that have crucified their Jesus and they believe that they would like to do the same thing to his followers. They have heard some reports of Jesus being alive but they have not seen him and so they are filled with doubt and confusion.
They are struggling with the question of what do we do now? We are leaderless, we have no direction, we have wasted the last three years of our lives, we have left our families and friends and we have alienated our Jewish priests and we are men without a country. We have giving everything to this man Jesus and now we have nothing.
But, that all changes in an instant!
Jesus appears! Suddenly, he is among them, not entering through the door because it was locked, but he just appears.
Mt 14:18 He said, Bring them hither to me. 19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
As a child, when it is time for him to join the children at the front of the church, would not think about twice about pretending to find Jesus in order to relieve the focus quickly narrowing down to only him. As the last child left young Hughes, he whispered, “God damn! I’m tired o’ sitting here. Let’s get up and be saved.” (Hughes, 111), which leaves Hughes kneeling before the entire church.
This statement really stood out to me because no one can stand in Jesus’ presence. This is an awesome display of the anointing. Just like Paul on the road to Damascus, John fell down in the presence of Jesus. I can only imagine what it was like to be in the presence of Jesus. This really encourages me to continue on with the good fight of faith and one day all believers will get a chance to see Him face-to-face.
Discovered in the twentieth century, The Gospel of Thomas was founded by peasants that were digging for fertilizer close to the village of Nag Hammadi, Egypt. The peasants revealed a container containing thirteen leather-bound manuscripts that were buried in the fourteenth century. The container contained fifty-two tractates that represented “heretical” writings of Gnostic Christians. Dated back to 200 A.D., there was not much known about the Gospel of Thomas besides that there were only three small fragments from Oxyrynchus. The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of literary works that contains 114 ‘opaque sayings’ of Jesus that were collected and written down by St. Didymus Jude Thomas, but nobody knows if St. Didymus Jude Thomas wrote the sayings down for sure, it is just said that he did. St. Didymus Jude Thomas was said to be Jesus’ twin brother, assumed by a few early Christians. Thomas is actually Hebrew for twin, and Didymus is Greek for twin as well. According to saying twelve, the disciples said to Jesus, “We know that you will depart from us. Who is to be our leader?” Jesus said to them, “Wherever you are, you are to go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being”(Gospel of Thomas: saying 12). As I was reading the Gospel of Thomas and read over saying twelve, I believe that Jesus is stating that his brother James is the go to guy, the leader, when they are to be departed. I also believe that saying twelve is evidence that, in the second century, someone who admired James had help write the Gospel of Thomas. Furthermore, I think that the writer of the Gospel of Thomas most likely has had access to the Gospel of John. This is because the writer references Jesus as being a light. Only John's Gosp...
After reading the passages from the Gospel of Thomas, there are many details of Jesus’ life that are missing. The excerpt does not mention anything about Jesus’ birth or where he is from. Furthermore, the death and crucifixion of Jesus is another important fact that does not seem to be touched. It is definitely an extraordinary piece of work.
...hem. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ He took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.”
News of the coming of a Messiah spread all over Galilee, including to Jesus' hometown of Nazareth, where the residents had never known Jesus as the Messiah, or as a man who could perform miracles. To the residents of Nazareth, Jesus was merely a simple carpenter. For thirty years, the people of Nazareth had referred to Jesus as "The Perfect Man," but never had witnessed a miracle or anything that would prompt them to think more highly of Jesus (Gledenhuys 167). The residents of Nazareth had heard of Jesus' miracles at Capernaum and were eager to see if this man, whom they had known since birth, was what he claimed to be. Jesus began preaching to the Nazarenes, but as he spoke the residents began to grumble and question each other: "Isn't this Joseph's son?" (New International Version Bible, Luke 4:22). They did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, because they had not seen any physical evidence; they had not witnessed a miracle. Jesus, sensing their lack of faith, says to them, "Ye will surely say unto me this proverb. Physician heal thyself" (New International Version Bible, Luke 4:23).
I know who you are—the Holy One of God?’” and again in 3:11, “whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God’”. The disciples are ignorant to fact that the man who called them to drop everything and follow him was the Messiah. Peter properly identifies Jesus in chapter 8 when Jesus asks who they believe he is, but later when Jesus goes into the details of his death Peter denies it and Jesus addresses him as Satan. This is also the point in which Jesus says, “take up your cross and follow me” meaning that they too will
Jesus had 12 disciples, disciple means follower or pupil, even long after the death of Jesus these disciples would continue teaching about Jesus. The first four books of the bible were written by the Disciple these books are called apostles they are as follows Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Jesus became famous, because he appealed to the rich and poor alike, he had few or no possessions and he traveled all over what was then considered to be the world. Jesus attracted attention from both Jewish and Roman leaders.
Jesus and His disciples had just left the Upper Room and crossed over into the Garden of Gethsemane. Here they gathered and awaited Jesus next teachings, but were interrupted by Judas Iscariot and the Temple Guard. (Jn. 18:3) They had come to arrest Jesus as was ordered earlier by Caiaphas’s. (Jn. 7:44-45) Jesus came forward and asks them “Whom do you seek?” (Jn. 18:4). Their answer was “Jesus of Nazareth”, Jesus reply was “Ego Ami” (Grk.) “I AM he”. (Jn. 18:5) Little did the guards realize just how much power and glory lay in that reply. This is the same revelation Jehovah, God, had disclosed on multiple occasions in the Old Testament. In the Bible alone there are over seven-hundred times (700) that the words ‘I Am’ are used in reference
During the year of Jesus death and resurrection, the disciples all gathered for Pentecost, which ...
As stated in John 1:12, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in
and looked up tp heaven and blessed them. He then broke the loaves and gave them to His disciples and also divided the two fish among them. The people were satisfied and then picked up the wicker baskets and drank from them. Jesus had shown compassion towards the people and had feed them, after he wanted to rest (Mark6:33-44).
After His resurrection, Jesus returned to heaven, and the disciples watched as He went up into the sky. The Bible states, “While they (the disciples) watched, He (Jesus) was packed up, and a cloud received Him out of their mess. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men (angels) stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into paradise? This same Jesus, who was studied up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner every bit you saw Him go into heaven’ (Acts 1:9-11, NKJV).
Jesus replied, "My son, I want you to know that I love you and that I would never leave you. Look again at those footprints. During your times of trouble and suffering, the footprints you saw were Mine. I was carrying you."