Later, toward evening on the day of the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples in the upper room, despite the fact that the doors were locked for fear of reprisals from the Jewish authorities (John 20:19). Jesus simply stood in their midst, and announced his presence by saying, “Peace be to you!” Why would that be the greeting he used for his disciples? Was it simply: ‘Shalom!’ as is used by so many Jews even today? I don’t believe so. Peace for the Jews takes in a wide variety of good will wishes. It could mean any one or all of the following: good health (Luke 8:48), freedom from evil intent and danger (Luke 11:21), from family and social discord (Luke 12:51), and even national security (Luke 14:32). However, while all these things are very desirable blessings, what Jesus had in mind entailed much more.
From the very beginning, when Adam rebelled in the Garden of Eden, mankind has been at war with God. Adam’s sin was not the everyday variety of lies (remember he lied to Eve and wasn’t cast out of the Garden for lying). Adam’s sin of rebellion had independence in view. He didn’t need God to help him to know what was good or evil. In other words, Adam didn’t want to be an image of God (Genesis 1:27). This attitude, if left unaddressed, would expel the Lord’s participation in his own creation. Adam lied to Eve, slandering God’s character, making him out to be an evil ogre (Genesis 3:1-5). The New Covenant text puts the reason for Jesus’ coming this way: “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil (vis-à-vis slanderer, meaning of the word devil) for the devil (the slanderer) has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1John 3:8; parenthesis mine). In other words, Jesus came to destroy this work of Adam’s rebellion.
This is what is meant by the Lord’s greeting: “Peace be to you!” (John 20:19). In other words, “The war is over, I have made peace for you!” (cp. Romans 1:7; 5:1; Colossians 1:19-22). It is the good news of the New Covenant (Romans 10:15). This greeting of Jesus occurs four times in the Gospel narratives, only in Luke and John and only after the resurrection (Luke 24:36; John 20:19, 21, 26).
Next, we are told that Jesus showed his disciples his hands and his feet (John 20:20). In other words, he allowed them, even invited them, to touch him by putting their fingers into his nail wounds and their hands into his side, where the Roman soldier had thrust his spear (Luke 24:39-40). It was important, if these men were to go out preaching the good news about him, that they were not only certain themselves, but that they had indisputable testimony to offer others. In other words, they had to be able to say with certainty that what they saw wasn’t a phantom or some other phenomena that had no physical reality. Thus, folks wouldn’t be permitted to legitimately deny their testimony, due to their not taking the necessary precautions that might have put their witness in another context. No, when the Gospel would be denied, it was to be done without reasonable argument.
Then, Jesus said once more: “Peace be to you!” and added: “As the Father had sent me (Jesus), so I (Jesus) send you!” (John 20:21). In other words, Jesus was given a task to do (John 4:31) and a message to bring (John 5:34; 7:16; 14:24). He was sent to destroy the works of the slanderer (Adam), and reconcile mankind to God (cp. 2Corinthians 5:18-20). Therefore, what Jesus was doing was sending his disciples to preach the Gospel of reconciliation, to tell everyone that the war is over. Peace reigns, and mankind needs to turn once again to God and walk with him in peace.
Then Jesus breathed on them, saying: “Receive the Holy Spirit!” (John 20:22), but what does this mean, and how does it contrast with Acts 2:1-4? In Genesis 2:7 the Lord breathed the breath of life into the man, and the man became a living soul! In Ezekiel 37 the Lord brought the prophet to the valley of the dry bones—the whole house of Israel (Ezekiel 37:11), and he was told to prophecy to the wind and tell the wind to breath the breath of life into these bones (Ezekiel 37:9). This (John 20:22) was the beginning of the new creation (2Corinthians 5:17), created in Christ (Ephesians 2:10).
Finally, Jesus told them: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” (John 20:23), but how does this fit the preaching of the Gospel? Well, it certainly doesn’t mean Jesus was empowering his disciples to literally forgive sin or to literally withhold forgiveness. In the context of the Synoptics such a teaching would be seen in healing someone whose infirmity had to do with a particular sin (cp. Matthew 9:2, 5-6), or it could be understood in terms of “binding and loosing” (Matthew 16:19; 18:18), where years later James speaking for the Apostles and other leaders in the church released the churches in the Diaspora of being bound by the Law of Moses (Acts 15:22-29). Thus, giving Apostolic approval of Paul’s Gospel in the Diaspora (Galatians 2:7).
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