Second Sunday of Easter
“And he breathed on them.”
This is a very interesting little verse in the gospel reading for today. The word used for breathing on the disciples is the word which is used to suggest playing the flute. So Jesus breathed on them as though he were playing the flute, much as people think about the spirit playing through people. Are we empty vessels in which the Spirit makes a noise? Well, in my case that may well be the truth, as I babble along in this sermon slot as I usually do.
But there are two other words which are closely related which gives a further insight into this word, and an insight much more valuable than my making noise like a hollow tube at the front of the church. These other words both have the meaning of “to instill” – that is a far more real meaning for this breathing out of Jesus onto the disciples. It is that which I want you to remember during the coming week, that Jesus instilled something within his disciples.
It is a rather strange thing to say about anyone, isn’t it? “Oh, he breathed on me.” That really isn’t something you would say ordinarily. I cannot see myself saying it – what about you? There is an extrapolation about this verse from the Gospel of John with which I started, suggesting that the “breathing on” must have been the kiss of peace which christians give one another.
Nevertheless, the Evangelist John tells us that that is what Jesus did in the locked room, “he breathed on them.” And outside the room, what were the Jews and the Pagans thinking about those early Christians?
One of the charges brought against the earliest christians is that they did unspeakable things behind the closed doors of their assemblies, the doors which were locked because of the fear of the Jews. One of the charges made against the earliest christians is that they were lustfully and indiscriminately consorting with one another. This must have a basis on some evidence, as everyone must think. All you have to say is, “Well, they locked the doors!” After all who would lock the doors unless they had something to hide?
I am also considering this historical fact because I have been reading an interesting book this past week about Christians and Pagans in the Roman Era. It is a collection of essays by Stephen Benko about the reputation that christians had in the first few centuries of the christian era. One of the essays by Benko has to do with “the kiss” which christians give one another whenever they meet. Well, it happens in some churches, where the kiss of peace is exchanged during the eucharist. It is a form of greeting which we can see on the continent all the time, and it is occasionally seen among the British when people know each other very well.
It is quite clear that some people like to overestimate what is going on when they glimpse something. This happens everywhere, not only in the beginning of the christian era. The kiss one may give to a close friend could be misinterpreted by someone who only sees the kiss and not the friendship, that christian love, behind it.
Let us consider this “kiss” further.
Expectations determine how we see things. Sometimes we expect the worst, just like those pagans who wrote such slanderous things about the christians, that they lustfully consorted with one another on the basis of the kiss of peace with which we christians greet one another. The pagans were surprised when they truly understood the whole picture; aren’t we all gladdened when we are wrong in our anticipation of evil? That anticipation of evil terrorises us into inaction. No longer do we embrace each other with fondness, nor do we shake each others’ hands with gentleness, nor do we exchange a kiss of peace. I confess that I do not exchange a kiss, but gladly will I embrace another or clasp hands affectionately to show that there is peace and harmony between us. After all, we are called on to do so by Jesus, for just as he breathed on the disciples and told them of their duty to forgive sins, so it is for us – we must discharge people of their guilt for sin, we must forgive others so that they can live a new life. Everyone is enjoined to forgive sins, how better than to show charity, the christian love which upholds us?
That is the thing, that there is a charity, a love, between the two who exchange that token of peace (whatever it might be, whether they clasp hands affectionately or give each other a big hug and a kiss, or in fact just look each other in the eye). The charity subsisting between the two means that there can be no sin between them, no estrangement, nothing which belittles their humanity, as lust does. And there the pagans were absolutely right. If there is any kind of lust in the kiss of peace, its true humanity would be tainted and the godly affection sullied. I want to emphasise that the chaste kiss of peace is at the heart of the christian message. How can we love one another and not give a token of that reality?
Some may denigrate the christian exchange of peace to a bestiality, as did the pagans which Benko, the historian, explains. I say to you that the chaste kiss is the essence of our being in Christ with one another. How else will we love one another, except there be some token of that reality, the reality of being human with one another here and now, expressing it unconditionally, just as Jesus did so for us through the cross. Thus we breathe on each other, don’t we, just like Jesus. We do not give ourselves to a cross for others, but we can give ourselves in innocence and wholeheartedly to one another as we greet one another in the love of Christ.
Much more could be said about the kiss of peace exchanged between christians (after all Benko’s essay was about thirty pages long). But I am not so prolix, and I would rather you thought about it during the week and at the next eucharist look deep into the eyes of the person exchanging the peace with you and from the depths of your heart say, “The peace of the Lord be always with you.”