John 20:19-31 (NRSV)
Read John 20:19-31 on biblegateway.com
Verse 19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Verse 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Verse 21Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Verse 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Verse 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Verse 24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. Verse 25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
Verse 26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Verse 27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Verse 28Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Verse 29Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Verse 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. Verse 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
Devotion
Donald Hall, a New England writer, tells a story about going through the effects in his grandmother’s kitchen drawer and finding a small box labeled “String Too Short to be Saved.”
How many of us have drawers filled with things that are no longer needed, yet we continue to store them? Who knows, we might need them some day!!
In “The Message,” Eugene Peterson translates verse 23: “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”
Jesus warned his disciples about holding forgiveness hostage—as if saving forgiveness for a rainy day could be used in the future to retaliate. Instead, he bestowed upon them the Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in God’s presence. Jesus sent them along in peace.
Prayer
Forgiving God, gives us the strength to relinquish those things unnecessary for peace, bestowing a spirit of reparation among us. Amen.
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