¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you".
²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
²¹ Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
²³ Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

• John did not mention by what means Jesus came into the room, but simply stated the fact that he was present among the disciples to indicate the spiritual qualities of the resurrected body of Jesus.
• The greeting that Jesus said to his disciples: "Peace be with you" means more than: "May you be saved from trouble." It means "May God give you every good thing." Also peace is considered a divine gift promised in the Old Testament for the coming days of deliverance.
• He showed them his hands and his side. This is the only explicit evidence from the Gospel that Jesus was nailed rather than tied to the cross.
• He breathed on them. This indicates the giving of new life, just as in the Book of Genesis, God created man by breathing life into him.
• The last sentence lays down the duty of the Church to convey forgiveness to those repent from their hearts and to warn the impenitent that they are forfeiting the mercy of God. This is also considered as the origin of the sacrament of penance and baptism.

The resurrected Christ confers upon his disciples, hence the Church , the mission to continue his work of bringing God's salvation to all mankind. In order to carry on the task that he had accomplished, Jesus empowered the Church with his Holy Spirit who would be the living force and guidance in propagating God's message.

1. Visualize ourselves as the disciples in the Upper room, in a state of fearfulness and doubt about what had happened. How do we feel when Jesus appear to us?
2. Relive the moment when Jesus breathed his Holy Spirit on the disciples and instructed them to go out and proclaim his Good News. How do we make his love known in our world today?

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A synthesis by the Vietnamese Christian Life (Dong Hanh) Community