“Peace be with you,” He said to His terrified friends. “Peace be with you,” and there was peace. The apostles were frightened for their lives, afraid that what was done to Jesus would be done to His followers. They had heard about the empty tomb and were confused; had He been raised? Some women had seen Him, but why had He not shown Himself to His closest friends?
Then, in the dark of evening, the Light of the World (John 8:12) shone again. “The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” There was peace, “for he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh…” (Ephesians 2:14). This moment must have awakened their memory of something He had said at the Last Supper: “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid,” (John 14:26-27). Here, in the Upper Room, these words are fulfilled: Jesus gives them the Holy Spirit, and they remember the peace He promised them.
Indeed He does not give His peace as the world gives it: “…he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit…’” As in the beginning God breathed life into the clay and brought a man into being (Genesis 2:7); here, in the wake of His own death and the death of their hope and peace, Jesus breathes new life—the very life of God—into the dust of His Bride, the Church. It is almost as a lover’s sigh, rather than a full breath, something close, intimate, a silent word of love that stirs the heart to greater love than it possessed before. It is more than merely a breathe, but it is the Holy Spirit, the very Love of God: when Jesus breathes upon them He is breathing upon them that same love, for “God is love…” (1 John 4:16). In this gift they have peace, because “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out here because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love,” (1 John 4:18). The apostles no longer feared the Jews, nor the Romans, nor would they fear God’s own retribution: remember their abandonment of Jesus in the Garden, and Peter’s own threefold denial! But Jesus had appeared, mocking Death, and giving peace: all is reconciled. Thus He says “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” For Jesus is not merely the peace that brings consolation to the frightened heart, but in Him all division between God and Man is put to death; sin dies in the love of God, breathed out upon the apostles, breathed out again in those words of every priest in the confessional: “God the Father of Mercies, through the death and resurrection of His Son, has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins…”
The world offers us peace at a price; Jesus offers us peace freely, for He has already paid the price. We need merely go to Him, breathe out our confession, spit out our sins, and He breathes new life and peace into our hearts and souls. “A clean heart create for me, God; renew within me a steadfast spirit… Restore to me the gladness of your salvation; uphold me with a willing spirit,” (Psalm 51:12, 14). Yes! For on this day, the great Feast of Pentecost, the love of God—His Holy Spirit—has been breathed upon the whole world, to give new life to those who will expel from their souls the smoke of sin to breathe in the sweet airs of Heaven!