JOHN’S RESURRECTION #1 “PEACE BE WITH YOU” (John 20:19-23) - ADDITIONAL NOTES
READING SCRIPTURE THROUGH THE CRUCIFIED AND FORGIVING CHRIST
Objective
To understand the resurrection does not continue the cycle of violence that killed Jesus. Instead, the Risen Christ returns as a forgiving victim, creating a new community freed from fear, and is sent out into the world as agents of forgiveness and peace.
Text: John 20:19-23
Opening Reflection: Reflective study for group if desired
You have done something that has hurt someone you care deeply about. Perhaps you upset them, betrayed them, or broke their trust. Now the relationship feels strained, and the thought of seeing them fills you with dread. As you walk to the shops to buy some milk, you suddenly notice this person approaching you on the same side of the road, heading straight towards you.
What emotions begin to stir within you?
Text : John 20:19–23
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
19 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.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
Through The Eyes Of The Crucified
Our text reveals resurrection not as divine revenge, but as the unveiling of a forgiving presence. The risen Christ returns to the very community that abandoned him — and he comes without retaliation. This is central. As René Girard observed, human societies often stabilize themselves through accusation, exclusion, and scapegoating. Violence creates temporary unity by locating blame in a victim. The cross exposes this mechanism and provides the way out. Jesus enters and occupies the space of the rejected victim — abandoned, condemned, executed by both religious and political systems. But resurrection is God’s vindication of the victim without revenge against the perpetrators. In fact, it is one big vindication of the entire life and message of Jesus, and the Father's big stamp of approval saying, “Yes! This is what divine life looks like, and if you want to know who I am, look at Jesus.” In many human stories, the return of the wounded victim means revenge. Violence creates more violence. Humiliation produces retaliation. But the risen Jesus does not mirror the violence of the world back onto the disciples. Instead, he interrupts the cycle entirely and opens up an alternative way of being human.
New Creation in the Text
In the sending of the disciples, vv 21 & 22 say Jesus ‘...breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This directly echoes Genesis 2:7, where God breathes life into Adam. This is one of many indications that the Resurrection appearance is about the birth of the New Creation—a new humanity born from the new Adam, who is Christ. The theme of Creation suffuses the entire gospel. Remember the opening words of the Gospel itself: “In the Beginning was the Word”; this takes the reader right back to the creation narrative in Genesis.
Chapter 20 itself is saturated in New Creation language; here are some of those allusions.
New Creation motifs:
Chp 20 vs 1 : "Now on the first day of the week = Resurrection is the first day of New Creation
Mary met Jesus in a garden = Think garden of Eden
Mary represents Eve, Jesus represents Adam/God (he is mistaken as the gardener)
Our text starst on the end of the first day of New Creation
Breathing of the spirit cf Gen 2:7
There are more references, can you spot them?
What's important is that the giving of the Spirit is in the context of forgiveness. Forgiveness here is not institutional control (as it has often been interpreted) but participation in God’s interruption of accusation itself. The disciples are sent out not with weapons, but entrusted with a new human possibility:
Communities no longer organised around blame
Relationships no longer governed by retaliation
Life no longer structured by fear of exclusion
The peace of Christ is therefore not private serenity. It is the emergence of a new reconciled humanity. Gathering not to make new victims, but to gather around and from the forgiving victim. Jumping forward in the text, Thomas is invited to place his hand on Jesus' side/wounds. From whose side was Eve created in Genesis? Adam! In other words, new humanity is created from the crucified and enlivened by the spirit of forgiveness.
Resurrection as a Category
It's important to understand that the category of Resurrection is not just a happy ending to a sad and unexpected story. It is the inbreaking of a new reality in the present. In fact, it is the future breaking into the now! At the time of Jesus, some Jews did believe in the resurrection, but it was something that would happen at the end of the age, when all God's people would be raised from the dead. Then would be the in-breaking of God's new creation. So it was rather a paradigm shift that God would raise His son in the middle of human history. That is why the resurrection is an eschatological event (that concerning the last things). Jesus’s first words are crucially important: “Peace be with you.” Jesus is bringing Peace/Shalom from the future into the present, and the proclamation of peace is the ultimate and final word! Everything will be fine in the end!
Example: Credit Card
If you’ve ever used a credit card, you are essentially borrowing money from the future to purchase something in the present (you still need to pay off the money you’ve borrowed, but not until the future).
Resources for Further Study
Books
Books
The Scapegoat - René Girard
Jesus and the Drama of Salvation - Raymond Schwager
Jesus Risen in our Midst - Sandra M Schneiders
The Joy of Being Wrong - James Alison
Media
Lamb up! Video series by Michael Hardin