Pentecost
Sunday: Mass of the Day, Year A – May 24, 2026
Acts
2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7; 12-13; John 20:19-23
Theme: New Life in a New Creation and Oneness in the Spirit with God and One Another
A. A Brief Exegetical Analysis of John 20:19-23
- Historical and Literary Contexts
Our Gospel passage is taken from the section on Jesus’ Resurrection
(chap. 20). It presents Jesus’ appearance to his disciples as a testament to
his Resurrection, marking the end of his earthly life and the beginning of the
Church age. The stories of the Empty Tomb (20:1-10) and Jesus’ appearance to
Mary of Magdala (20:11-18) precede our passage, while the accounts of Jesus’
second appearance to his disciples (20:24-29) and the first conclusion of the
Book (20:30-31) follow it.
This Gospel narrative can be divided into two parts. The first part
(vv. 19-20) describes Jesus’s appearance to his disciples, while the second
part (vv. 21-23) details Jesus sending his disciples on a mission.
- Detailed Analysis
Vv. 19-20. Jesus appears to the ten disciples, minus Thomas, who is
absent, and Judas, who had already died. “On the evening of that first day of
the week” refers to the evening of the Sabbath (Sunday for Christians), the day
of Jesus’ Resurrection. The ten disciples were in a locked room, presumably in
Jerusalem, out of fear of the Jews. They believe that at this moment, those who
crucified their Master, Jesus, are also planning to crucify them. Amid this
confusion and anxiety, Jesus appears and stands in their midst. Jesus’s resurrected
body enters the locked room without opening the doors. Jesus’s first word
is “Peace be with you,” as he realizes how frightened they are. This peace is
different from the ordinary peace the Jews use to greet each other. It echoes
Jn 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world
gives do I give it to you.” (NABRE). Jesus fills the hearts and minds of his
disciples with the peace of the resurrection, which revitalizes their hope,
courage, confidence, and faith in him. Then, Jesus shows them his hands and
sides as evidence that he is alive. Luke speaks of “hands and feet” based on Ps
22:17 (see Lk 24:39-40). The fearful disciples now rejoice because the living
Lord is among them.
Vv. 21-23. Jesus
commissions his disciples by extending to them the same mission he received
from God the Father. In their mission, they will be assisted by the Holy
Spirit, which Jesus grants to them by breathing on them. Jesus’ breath recalls
the story of creation in the book of Genesis when God created Adam. The sacred
author of this Book reports that Adam was not a living being until God breathed
the breath of life into his nostrils (see Gn 2:7). Then, through sin, Adam lost
this “spiritual life.” Therefore, using his breath to give the Holy Spirit to
his disciples suggests that Jesus has re-created them. He empowers them with
the authority to forgive or return people’s sins so that those whose sins are
forgiven regain the “breath of life” they lost through their sins.
- Synthesis
Jesus appears to his disciples on the evening of the day he was
resurrected, entering the Upper Room without opening the locked doors. Knowing
their fears well, he starts by wishing them peace before showing them the marks
on his hands and side as proof that he is alive. They rejoice at the sight of
him. Then he commissions them with the same mission God gave him. The Holy
Spirit, which they receive through Jesus’ breath, will assist them on their
mission. Jesus’ breathing on the disciples evokes God’s breathing on Adam in
the creation story. Thus, Jesus’ breath re-creates the disciples and empowers
them to forgive or retain people’s sins, so that those forgiven may regain the
“spiritual life” they lost through sin and be re-created.
B. Pastoral Implications
- Liturgical Context
Today, we commemorate the Solemnity of Pentecost, which marks the end
of the Easter season. In last Sunday’s liturgy, the Ascension of the Lord, we
learned that Jesus’ Ascension did not signify a farewell, the conclusion of
everything, or the moment we needed to claim our reward, as the disciples
mistakenly believed. Instead, the Ascension of our Lord signifies a time to
work. Our mission is to help our fellow humans become his disciples. Before he
was lifted up to heaven, Jesus enjoined us not to depart from our “Jerusalem”
but to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, who would strengthen us to carry
out his mission (Acts 1:4). That is why today, we are gathered here in this
Church, our local “Jerusalem,” to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. The message
that the Scripture readings of this Pentecost Sunday teach us is that in
Pentecost, we begin breathing the breath of the Resurrection as we start a new
life in a new creation. Sin causes us to lose this new life in a new creation.
To restore it, we are encouraged to use the sacrament of Confession our Risen
Lord has instituted in today’s Gospel. New life in a new creation means we are
called to avoid division among us and live in oneness with God and our brothers
and sisters (First and Second Readings).
- What the Church Teaches Us Today
The first part of our Gospel
(vv. 19-20) teaches us three lessons. (1) Jesus’ disciples locked themselves in
the Upper Room out of extreme fear, believing that the Jews who crucified their
Master, Jesus, were also seeking to execute them. Today, many of us struggle
with fears and anxieties about unemployment, health issues, natural disasters,
paying bills, raising our children, and other concerns. These fears and
anxieties compel us to “lock ourselves in our minds,” meaning we refuse to open
ourselves to God’s grace. Amid this confusion, Jesus appears and stands before
his disciples and us. Jesus’s resurrected body enters the locked Upper
Room and our “locked minds and hearts” without opening the “doors.”
(2) Jesus’ first words to his frightened disciples and to each of us
are, “Peace be with you.” Jesus knows how we experience fears and anxieties.
That is why he first fills our hearts and minds with peace. This is the peace
of the resurrection, which restores our hope, courage, confidence, and faith in
him that we lost because of fears and anxieties.
(3) Then, Jesus shows his hands and sides to his disciples and to us
as evidence that he is alive. At Mass, we listen to, see, and touch Jesus in
the Scriptures and the Eucharist. Our Lord is truly risen; he is alive. There
is no reason to be sad or afraid. Let us rejoice as the disciples did when they
saw the Lord.
We also learn three lessons from the second part of our Gospel (vv.
21-23). (1) Jesus commissions his disciples and each of us today. “As the
Father has sent me, so I send you.” This phrase means that Jesus extended the
same mission he received from his Father God to his disciples and each of us.
God sent Jesus to establish the kingdom of God on earth. Jesus accomplished his
mission. He sent his disciples, and today, he sends us to implement this
kingdom of God wherever we live. The disciples did their part. Now, it is our
time. The Church calls each of us (clerics and lay members) to implement God’s
kingdom by proclaiming the Word of God and living out our Christian faith in
our families, Churches, neighborhoods, and societies.
(2) Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to his disciples and us by breathing
on us. “Breathing” recalls the story of creation in the book of Genesis. When
God created Adam, Adam was not a living being until God breathed the breath of
life into his nostrils (see Gn 2:7). Therefore, by using his breath to give the
Holy Spirit to his disciples and to us, Jesus recreates us. Although the
disciples followed Jesus for three years and were well-trained to carry out the
mission of the Church, they needed the Holy Spirit to become a new creation and
to inaugurate a new age for the Church. Likewise, although we have experienced
the presence of the Resurrected Lord during this Easter season, we also need
the Holy Spirit to begin a new life in a new creation. With Adam, we lost the
Spirit God blew into us at the first creation, and now, with Jesus’ breathing
on us today, we are re-created, and the Spirit of God in us is restored. From
now on, we are breathing the breath of Resurrection. Please let us feel it; the
Spirit of the Risen Jesus is in us! This is what Pentecost is about. It is the
celebration of the New Life in a New Creation that we start with the Holy
Spirit. Therefore, let us leave our “locked Upper Room” and go out without fear
to begin consolidating the kingdom of God by implementing the Word of God and
living out our Christian faith openly everywhere we go.
(3) Jesus institutes the Sacrament of Penance (also called Confession
or the sacrament of Reconciliation) and empowers his disciples and their
successors, the ordained ministers, to forgive and retain people’s sins. Whose
sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.
Here, Jesus confers the faculty to forgive and retain people’s sins to his
Church through the ordained ministers. We know that sin damages our
relationships with God and our brothers and sisters and makes us lose the
breath of resurrection with which Jesus has re-created us. To breathe the
breath of resurrection again and restore our oneness with God and our fellow
humans, our Holy Mother Church encourages us to use this wonderful Sacrament of
Penance frequently. We seek three things in the sacrament of confession:
forgiveness of our sins, reconciliation with God and our fellow humans whom we
have offended, and the healing of the spiritual, emotional, or psychological
wounds that sin causes (for the details of these three things, see my homily
for the 2nd Sunday of Easter & Divine Mercy Sunday, April 12, 2026).
As the sacrament of Confession restores our oneness with God and our
brothers and sisters, we are called to maintain and embody this unity with God
and our fellow humans. This is what Luke teaches us in our first reading. In
his Pentecost account, he states that the disciples were filled with the Holy
Spirit and began speaking in tongues as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Many people from diverse cultures and languages witnessed that first Christian
Pentecost. They were astounded because each could hear the disciples speaking
in their native language. The Holy Spirit we receive today is the Spirit not of
division but of unity. It empowers us to communicate and understand the
Christian language of love, justice, peace, compassion, and forgiveness. God created
us to be “one” with him and “one” with each other. However, given the realities
of our world today, we can see how we are losing this gift of “oneness.” People
are divided, families are separated, and even Church members lack the unity of
spirit that we should have, as is evident in the community of Corinth, which
our second reading discusses.
In our second reading, Saint Paul addressed a division that arose in
his community in Corinth. A charismatic group emerged among the Corinthians,
leading the people to speak in tongues (glossolalia). This gave rise to
dissension, as those who had the gift of speaking in tongues viewed others
without this gift as second-class Christians. Paul was called to resolve the
situation. He does not condemn the charismatic movement; rather, he recognizes
the Spirit's presence in this glossolalia. However, he emphasizes that the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit must unify the community rather than divide it.
Using the analogy of the human body, which is one despite having many parts,
Saint Paul teaches us that we all possess different talents and gifts of the
Holy Spirit. We do not share the same skin color, culture, language, or
opinions; we have different jobs and incomes. These differences should
strengthen our families, Church community, and societies, rather than tear them
apart. We were all baptized into one body in one Spirit. We are one in the
Spirit; we are one in the Lord.
As we celebrate our new life in a new creation
and our oneness in the Spirit with God and our fellow humans, let us pray for
all families and communities still divided, that their unity with God and their
brothers and sisters may one day be restored. Amen.
Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD
Pastor of Holy Family Church in Jackson, MS &
SVD-USS Biblical Apostolate Coordinator
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