Forgiveness & Ascension

While they are all still talking, the air in the room changes. And Jesus is there. Standing right among them. No door opened. No footsteps. Just Jesus, alive, in the middle of the room. He looks at their stunned faces and says, "Peace be with you."

They scream. A ghost! It must be a ghost! But Jesus holds out his hands, holds out his feet. "Touch me," he says. "A ghost does not have flesh and bones like I do." Their fingers press warm skin. Real. Then he asks for food. They hand him a piece of fish, and he eats it right there in front of...

Jesus breathes out over them, slow and warm, the way wind moves over still water. "The Father sent me," he says. "Now I am sending you." They feel something rush inside them, something new and alive. "Take the Holy Spirit. If you forgive someone's sins, those sins are gone. If you do not forgive...

Lk 24:36; Jn 20:19