Wednesday, April 4, 2018 

“Then he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (John 20:22) 

                I read a news story, just last week, about a young mother who was suffering from empty nose syndrome. She had undergone some sort of nasal surgery which did more damage than good. The definition of empty nose syndrome is that it is a rare clinical syndrome in which people who have clear nasal passages experience a range of symptoms, most commonly feelings of nasal obstruction, nasal dryness and crusting, and a sensation of being unable to breathe. This woman said that it always feels that she can’t get a full breath and, at times, she feels suffocated or smothered. Experts are divided on what ENS really is, its causes and how it should be treated.

                In light of Jesus’ Resurrection, we sometimes have a spiritual version of empty nose syndrome.

                The disciples are huddled in a locked-up house, more frightened by the Resurrection and its consequences than joyful and empowered. Perhaps, they were still stuck in the events of the Crucifixion. They seemed worried that they would be the next ones arrested, tried and maybe meet the same fate as Jesus. They are confused, perplexed, anxious, mystified, and didn’t know what to do next.

                The Risen Lord enters into this stuffy, stale-aired situation and breathes upon them and offers them his Holy Spirit. They just need to breathe the Spirit in.

                As the opening of John’s Gospel has connotations of Genesis, “In the beginning”, so does this verse. God made Adam “from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being.” (Genesis2: 7) Here is new life shaped into the very likeness of God, in his image.   With that life comes a full garden of possibilities, hopes, joys, satisfaction, well-being and fulfillment.  Literally - what more could a man or woman ask for?

                “When you give them your breath, life is created, and you renew the face of the earth.” (Psalm 104: 30)

                In effect, the Resurrection is the renewal of God’s gift of new life with all its potential, possibilities and responsibilities as well. If we are feeling smothered by our worries and our fears of what is happening around us, here is the gift that will set us free if we actually breathe the Spirit in. If we are confused, anxious and don’t know what to do here is the gift of life that throws open the shutters, allows clean air to sweep through the open windows, and blows away the dust and cobwebs, scatters the clutter, and invites us to breathe deeply, inhale the fresh air by which Jesus breathes life into the room.

I suppose that I am mixing my metaphors but “wind” “breath” and “spirit” are all the same noun in Greek. “You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God." (John 3:8, The Message Bible)

But I confess it puzzles me why God’s people act as if they have empty nose syndrome, spiritually speaking. What a gift we have been given, a source of new life, new hope, new joy but too often it seems we are suffocating ourselves with closemindedness, stubborn reluctance to change, and stifling creativity with musty traditions and dogmatic pronouncements, and draining the living energy right out of the Resurrection Hope.  This gift is more than just a promise for the someday life of a New Reality, but it is the immediate blessing for you and me in the here and now.

Breathe, Jesus is telling us. Breathe in his Spirit. Breath in his Life. Breath in his Power. Breathe in his Love.

“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath!”  (Psalm 104:33) 

Dale