TEXT: The Holy Gospel According to St. John 20: 19-23

The Feast of Pentecost has its roots in the Law that was given by Moses on Mt. Sinai.  The Gospel John speaks of the Law (Torah) as having been given by Moses, but, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ!

It was John the Baptizer who was a prophet under the Law of Moses who spoke with the power of Moses and Elijah in the context of chapter 1 of the Gospel of St. John who would say of Jesus --  

16 And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace.
17  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18  No one has ever seen God; the only Son,  who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

Jesus was greater than Moses.  Jesus fulfilled the Torah, the Prophets, the Psalms and Writings of the Old Testament.  Praise the Lord for this!  (Luke 24).  Now, Jesus brings us into his presence and sends us forth with the disciples!

But, let us explore what is coming.  It is Pentecost!  It is the Jewish feast day of Shavuos.  Shavuos is the commemoration, the celebration, of the receipt of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.

Do you remember what happen on that day, the day of the first Pentecost?  There was rebellion in the camp and 3000 people died at the hands of the Levites!  There was judgment under the Law (Torah).  The Law was shattered!  Yet, the Torah endured.

Shavuos endured.  If you are a Jew, other holidays have unique symbols associated with them -- from Matzah on Passover, to the Sukkah, Lulav and Esrog on Sukkos. Rosh HaShanah (the new year) has a command to hear the Shofar, and Yom Kippur (Day of atonement), to fast. The various external symbols help to focus attention, and enhance the excitement and happiness under the Torah.  Yet, on Shavuos (Pentecost), there are no 'externals' -- only the Torah.

Shavuos is called in Hebrew -- "Chag Ha'Atzeres" -- usually translated "festival of the gathering."
Jesus was gathering his disciples before Shavuos (Pentecost) in order to send them forth in a new way, into the Way of the Way, the Truth and the Life.

And, there was to be a great difference between this Pentecost and the first one when Moses gave the Israelites the Torah.  This new Shavuos was to be one where 3000 people found new life in Jesus Christ through faith and baptism!  3000 would be added to the Church that Pentecost, not killed!
How timely are God’s ways!
Let us hear the Gospel verses one by one.

19  On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

In Jesus for us there is great peace.  Great peace have they that love thy Law, and, nothing shall offend them.  If we love Jesus, who is the fulfilment of the Torah given on Sinai, we shall have no fear, because perfect Love casts out all fear!
How perfectly Jesus loved us, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him."  (John 3:16, 17)
Pentecost, now through Jesus, invites us to have peace in God and with God!  Why is this so?
Let us read more.

20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

MY beloved, that are beloved of God, Jesus showed them, and us, his hands and his feet.  Jesus shows us his Sacred Heart.  That is why he says to us -- "Peace be with you."
St. Francis could say, "Pax et bonum," because Jesus said there is real peace with God because of those wounds and that pierced side of his.
At Mass,  we hear the words -- The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  Yes, and we respond with the same message -- And also with you.  This is the reason we are able to say this and know it to be true!  It is because Jesus really did provide for us the Peace with God and the Peace of God!  Jesus is, if you please, the Peace of God for you and me.
There is more.

21  Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."

Yes, God is doing a new thing.  God is doing something new through you and me, as we have learned from Holy Mother Church through the Apostles!
God is gathering in order to send us anew in a new way, the Way of the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No longer do we have just the Torah, the Law which is very good.  Now, we have great power in the Holy Spirit that God will give to us (the baptized) who call upon the name of the Lord in the Holy Trinity.
Now, it is God who gives grace upon grace to the Apostles, to Mary and those to be gathered in that upper room on the Day of Pentecost, Shavuos.

22  And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

Take note that he says this "Peace be with you," thrice, but the third time Jesus gives with the Father the Spirit who produces the peace of God in us and through us , as "peace" is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.  God is the God of peace.  Jesus is our Peace!  The Father means Peace for us, in us, through us, for all the world to see the Love of God that they might have peace too and become peace makers!
Jesus says -- Peace be with you.

23  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Thank God the Apostles became peace makers and their successors are ministers of Peace unlike the Levites who fell upon the idolaters of old and cut them to pieces in the shadow of Mount Sinai.
Many priests have thought themselves to be like the Levites in order to kill the one confessing sins in the confessional with heavy penances without any mercy before they absolved in their role of ministry of reconciliation.
But, Jesus calls the confessor to become a reconciler of peace, because God reconciles sinners unto himself and calls upon all of us, priests, deacons, religious, layperson -- all, to become reconcilers of sinner with God.
Does not Maria, our Mother who was there on Pentecost, tell us constantly to pray and seek peace in all things through a right relationship with Jesus, her Son?
The answer is obviously -- yes.
Now, is the time to make this Pentecost the one when we discover that we too are all Peace makers.  We find peace with God through Jesus Christ who gathers us to be sent with a commission to become Peace with Jesus to our neighbors, and, eventually to all the world.
Let us be so like Jesus that the world and all might say of us these Christians are like another Christ, so much do they act like the One they love and serve because they love him so much.  Let us be like our Mother, Mary, who in humility and love served as the spouse of the Holy Spirit.



Deus et Sanctissima.