Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As God has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
—John 20.21-23
Jesus didn’t come from the dead to prove a point.
He came to give us his spirit.
He breathes his life into us as God did to Adam.
We are re-created, new.
Old hurts and resentments have died.
We are born free of them, without fear, only love.
The power of Christ’s forgiveness lives in us.
When we forgive, it is God breathing forgiving through us.
When we fail to forgive, we cling to old sins
and we fall back into death. The Breath leaves us.
As God sent Jesus to save the world with forgiveness
God sends us for this same purpose.
When we forgive, the Breath of God lives in us.
Therefore we risk much, for we cannot die.
Beloved, breathe your forgiveness into me, each breath:
breathing forgiveness, breathing forgiveness.