Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus: Disciples without Thomas

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.’”-John 20:19-23 (ESV).

In Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, He was in a recognizable body, but He was not limited by impediments such as space and locked doors. It was a solid body, for He asked his disciples to touch him and he even ate some fish with them (Luke 24:41-43). Jesus was not limited in His post-resurrection movements by what we term the laws of nature. Here in this appearance to His disciples is what has been termed by scholars the Johanine commission or the Great Commission as Luke would give it in Acts 1:8. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Despite the fact that Peter had denied Christ three times and the disciples had failed Him, He still was sending them forth to preach the gospel. And to enable this bold action from the disciples, He breathed on them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. This was a foretaste of the infilling of the Holy Spirit a bit later as recorded by Luke in Acts 2:1-4.

A difficult and often misunderstood verse is John 20:23: “If you forgive the sins of anyk they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” An eminent Greek scholar, Dr. Julius R. Mantey sees the literal translation of the verse from Greek to read: “Whosoever sins you remit (forgive) shall have already been forgiven them, and whosoever sins you retain (do not forgive) shall have already not been forgiven them.” (Warren W. Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, New Testament, 2007, p. 314). An understanding of the past-perfect tense of verb forms makes these verses understandable. A free rendering might read: Since the sins of believers have already been forgiven, you are to forgive them, too; and if their sins have not been forgiven, then you do not have to recognize them as forgiven. The disciples did not forgive; they preached the necessity for forgiveness and persons made their own acknowledgement of sins, confessing them. Therefore, because of confession and repentance, sinners’ sins were forgiven.

The post-resurrection appearances of the Lord to His disciples was an impetus they sorely needed to propel them into their calling. Jesus had spoken to them so often about their work while He was still with them before his crucifixion and resurrection. But their confusion and temporary discouragement had scattered and disoriented them from their mission. He was appearing to them to remind them of their commission and to propel them forward into the work they were intended to do. Now they believe in the risen Lord. Now they are ready to go forward with His calling. Because they got redirected, the gospel came to us and others! Thanks be to God!