Breathing in John 20:22

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I seem to have suffered a major [Mod edit: memory lapse]. What is the signficance of Jesus breathing on the Apostles in John 20:22?

Feel free to write answers as well as leaving link to the Catholic Answers Website.
 
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junostarlighter:
I seem to have suffered a major brain fart. What is the signficance of Jesus breathing on the Apostles in John 20:22?

Feel free to write answers as well as leaving link to the Catholic Answers Website.
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We really don’t need language like that in the thread.
 
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thistle:
We really don’t need language like that in the thread.
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I agree. I don’t feel like answering this person because I find the language disgusting :rolleyes:
 
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shannin:
I agree. I don’t feel like answering this person because I find the language disgusting :rolleyes:
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brain-fart? like a temporarily memory lapse? like i can’t remember off the top of my head?

i’m sorry if that offended anyone. i didn’t think it was so offensive. but now i know and now i won’t ever say it again. can someone please answer my question about John 20:22 though please? i’d really like to know.
 
"And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit.”

Since “spirit” means, originally, “breath”, then it seems that Jesus is giving his followers a concrete example of what the holy Spirit is: breath, life, energy. Cf. God breathing life into mud, creating Adam.
 
The entire verse says “Jesus breathed on them and said ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” To me that means that the act of breathing on them imparted the Holy Spirit to them. Did he have to breathe on them to accomplish that? Probably not, but then he didn’t need the spit and mud to heal the blind man either. It was symbolic (IMHO).
 
When God breathed on Adam, He gave him life - an eternal life, which of course Adam ended up rejecting.

The whole Gospel of John has the Genesis theme woven throughout it ( 1:1 - “In the Beginning…”, The Seven Days leading up to the Wedding in Cana, etc.). Now Jesus is breathing on the Apostles, maybe given them eternal life? In any event, its certainly significant for he follows it up with giving them the power to forgive sins (which only God is able to forgive sins), as we read earlier in John.

Notworthy
 
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