Breathe on Me, Breath of God

“And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (Jn 20:22)
 
There could scarcely be a greater contrast between the accounts of Pentecost by Luke and John.  The second chapter of the book of Acts (aka the second volume of the Gospel of Luke) gives a stirring account of the coming of the Spirit in a mighty wind and tongues of flame, with an immediate public manifestation followed by lengthy speeches.  John, on the other hand, shows the risen Christ stepping silently past a locked door into a room full of frightened men.  He just stands there, shows them his wounds and breathes on them.  This intimate personal encounter is no less transformative.
 
“He showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”
 
Jesus’ first gesture is to show the disciples the wounds in his hands and his side.  These wounds speak in tongues.  What do they say?  “Peace be with you.”  “You will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy … and no one will take your joy from you” (Jn 16:20, 22).  No one will be able to take away the joy, because it will not be the kind of short-lived exhilaration which leaves one empty, exhausted and vulnerable to despair.  It is not the peace and joy which the world gives: that of tranquillizers and stimulants.  It is the peace and joy of the wounded ones, pierced through by the Father’s love and sent forth into the world to love it out of an open heart.
 
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
 
This sending is exquisitely personal.  “As the Father has sent me – into the world out of unfathomable love for it, yet without leaving me alone even for an instant – so I send you.  I do not send you away from me; I send you forth in me, and I in you, and my Father in me.  Carry my wounded hands and feet and side further, deeper into the world.  Not with grand orations in many languages, necessarily, though that may be the call of some.  There’s no need to think you have to be articulate or impressive or perform miraculous healings or go very far away from home.  My mission in the world is one of vulnerability more than of power.  So my Spirit will be pleased to find a home among the ordinary, the weak, the wounded and the fearful.”
 
“He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”
 
Just as God breathed into Adam’s nostrils to make of him a living being (cf. Gn 1:7), so Christ breathes on his disciples to communicate to them the living Spirit.  From within, they begin to sense a calming, warming sensation, a feeling of clarity and open space.  The grip of fear and agitation is loosened and it becomes possible to breathe deeply and choose freely.  Choose what?  The fruits the Spirit sows are so ordinary: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).  The Spirit breathes kindness among people who treat one another with simple reverence.
 
“Breathe on me, breath of God:
fill me with life anew,
that I may love as you have loved
and do as you would do.”
(Edwin Hatch, 1835 - 1889)