Where Jesus "Blew It"- The Incarnation and the Body of Christ

The title to this article may be an exercise in semantic misunderstandings. Before you judge me too harshly please consider:

"In the evening of the same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, 'Peace be with you,' and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, and he said to them again, Peace be with you.

'As the Father sent me so I am sending you.'

After saying this he BREATHED on them and said:

'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone sins, they are retained.'

So, Jesus blew it. He blew His Holy Spirit onto the Disciples. Why? He had already said He was sending the Comforter and, indeed, the Holy Spirit did come later at Pentecost. So, why did he blow it here prior to that? See what He said prior to blowing it, "As the Father sent me so send I you." To understand why He blew it, we must understand how and why the Father sent him. In this way we will understand how and why he sent the Disciples.

The Purpose

'Look, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29

As Christ showed up for his baptism, an event that would launch his physical ministry on earth, John states as the purpose for Christ being sent, to "take away the sins of the world." Sin is what separates humanity from God and Christ was to take it away. Christ told the Disciples that just as God sent him so now He sends them...to take away the sins of the world.

The Preparation

There was an event of ratification at the launching of Christ's ministry.

'I saw the Spirit come down ON him like a dove from heaven and rest on him.' John 1:32-33

Christ blew ON the Disciples in John 20. Of course, the breath is the actual Spirit. As he breathed ON them, something demonstrably happened to them. Just as when the Spirit came ON Christ at his baptism, something demonstrably happened to Him. In another account of Christ's baptism Matthew recalls the voice of God,

'This is my son, the beloved: my favor rests ON him.' Matt. 3:16

"In Jewish literature a voice from heaven is a means of showing the God-given authority of a teacher.' (Page 1613 30-N note-New Jerusalem Bible) So, "as the Father has sent me, so I send you" established the Disciples in their role and mission with the provision of the Spirit resting on them. In this instance and in that room, it is the voice of Christ as fully God who bestows authority on the Disciples.

The failure to understand the incarnation of Christ and the results of that incarnation on the Body of Christ causes some to miss what happened in that room in John 20. Now Christ brings the Disciples into his dual identity. The Disciples are natural flesh yet, now they are provided with the super-natural nature of Christ. In this way His incarnation remains effective on earth as He goes back to the Father. In this way the Disciples, as a group, become Christ on earth or the "Body of Christ." The Disciples are to take away the sins of the world through the presence of the Spirit ON them as they proclaim this good news. They have become The Church and that Church is the place where the sins of men are taken away.

The Personification

"If you forgive anyone' s sins they are forgiven, If you retain anyone's sins they are retained." Yes, men are given the authority to forgive sins, but not just in their humanity is this done. Rather, man can do this because in his humanity, he has taken on the Spirit nature of Christ and become His Body. Humans make up the body of Christ. Christ decided it so. We are flesh and yet move within the supernatural. The gulf between Heaven and earth is suspended and we, as His Body, live in both just as he did-Fully God and fully man. Now, lest you misunderstand, we are not "Gods" as some assert. Christ was fully God yet was referred to as the Son of God. We are Sons of God also, joint heirs with Christ. The sons of God are gathered as ONE, as the Body of Christ, not as individuals as the Evangelical Protestant Ethos asserts. Herein lies the promise of power as we move and live in and through the Corporate Body He established. It is the Body of Christ that is given the attributes of Christ. It is the Church. Apostle Paul illustrates this union relating it to a husband and wife, "

"...and that is the way Christ treats the Church, because we are parts of his Body. This is why man leaves his father and his mother and becomes attached to his wife, and the two BECOME ONE FLESH. This mystery has great significance, but I am applying it to Christ and the Church."

So in the southern colloquial, "you" are not the Church, "you all" are the Church and that Church is united in flesh and Spirit. That means there is a tangible and there is a spiritual. The spiritual is seen when Christ blows it in John 20, but so is the tangible, because the result of Him blowing it is the creation of an authoritative, spirit empowered, physical entity. The physical part of the Church is the reason the Disciples had to replace Judas. "...Let another take his episcopacy." The Disciples were 12 in number. Do you recall seeing that number elsewhere? There were also 12 tribes of Israel. So the Trinity was in the midst of the Old Covenant and now in the midst of the New Covenant. It is within the those covenants that we "live and move and and have our being." It is in that physical structure that the Church exists and individuals are kept in the faith through the governance of their souls. The Old Covenant had Priests and the New Covenant has Priests, those who guard the souls of God's people and hold men accountable to God's standard of righteousness. So, from early on the Church has strived to maintain the "faith of the Apostles" because they were the authoritative initiators and presenters of all that Christ taught. If you will look at the revelation of John you will see the names of the original 12 etched with the original 12 tribes in the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem.

The Perpetuation

Ah, but did Christ really blow it, or was he short winded? He really should have thought further ahead, blown it a little harder. If only he had know that the Disciples were to die martyr's deaths. Such a tragedy. The Purpose was great, the Preparation was powerful, and the Personification was unprecedented but, after just a few hopeful years, the Disciples were dead and gone and the Church was dissolved. THE END...or was it...

"So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it." (Matthew 16:18)

So much energy has been spent discussing the words "Peter" and "rock" that we often overlook the most relevant word in this scripture-COMMUNITY. The word here is qahal (hebrew) or ekklesia (greek) which means "an assembly called together." Each and every time this word is used it has as it's meaning an actual physical group with specific characteristics. It is never an ethereal, undefined, ungathered, disconnected group of people whose only connection on earth is an intangible spiritual philosophy or belief. This community is the community of the end times and is to "have its beginning here on earth in the form of an organized society whose leader he now appoints." (page 1637 16g note New Jerusalem Bible)

So the Disciples spread out taking the gospel into all the world. The Community established local communities all in harmony and communion with one another. After a while there was a local community in Jerusalem where it all started, then Antioch, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Rome. These were the five sees of the community or the five original Churches established by the Disciples. Now, if Jesus hadn't really blown it, it all would have stopped as each Disciple died off. But what happened? The Church continued in continuity and unity and does so to this day. It is called the Orthodox Church whose Bishops still guard our souls and still preserve the Faith of our Fathers. All because Jesus blew it.