A Full Restoration

Gospel: John 20: 19-23

Easter to Pentecost represents the entire renewal of the world and the undoing of the archetypal sins of Genesis.  The sin of Adam and Eve represent sin as an offense against God.  The sin of Cain reflects the fact that sin harms other people.  The sin of Babel represents structural sin, while the story of Noah notes the cosmic dimensions that harm all of creation.  In the death and resurrection of Jesus and in the coming of the Spirit all these aspects of sin are overcome.

We saw earlier Jesus' crucifixion and burial scene in John: a tree, two streams, a man, a woman, and a garden.  The original innocence of Eden has been restored and made possible to us.  The sin of Adam is overcome.  At Pentecost we are restored to one another, we can understand one another again, and all of creation is made new by the wind of the Spirit that came across the earth that day, just as it had after the flood, just as it had at creation itself.  

But all of this is not magic.  It represents the fact that in and through the person of Jesus it is possible for us to live in such a way that we overcome and avoid these four aspects of sin.  By imitating the way of Jesus, by being open to the Spirit in our lives we can be renewed, as can all of creation.  The risen Jesus and the Spirit overcome our fears, break through our locked doors, and inspire us to be the mercy and love of God on earth as the Lord Jesus had been, proclaiming peace as he did.