Kiss This

Receiving the kiss of Jesus

John 20:19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

             I want to talk to you today about something that will make some of you a little queasy.  I’m going to talk about kissing.  Eew!!  For the record, I have only read about this in books or seen it in movies, so my knowledge is a little sketchy.  I’m making most of this up.  Now, I’m not talking about a little peck on the cheek or kissing a lady’s hand, but rather a bona fide, pucker up and plant one right on the lips kind of kiss that may last several minutes.  When a kiss is that prolonged and passionate, you leave more than lipstick on the other person; you breathe your own breath into the other person, and the other person breathes their breath into you.  At the depths of every kiss, you exchange your spirit with the spirit of the other person.

             Did you know that all human history began with such a kiss?  It says in Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.”  God did more than cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Adam.  What God gave Adam was the “ruach,” literally translated from Hebrew meaning, “the breath” of God, so Adam had God’s Spirit and God’s own life in him; without it he was just a pile of dirt.  Do you remember the story of the valley of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37?  One of the most riveting stories of the Old Testament!   Ezekiel surveys a valley filled with dry, dead bones and writes, “So I prophesied as God commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.”  That ancient army had more than “esprit de corps,” they had “Esprit de Dieu,” the Spirit of God in them, and they could not be defeated.  In today’s gospel, Jesus not only breathes on the apostles, he makes it possible for them to pass on that breath, that "divine ruach," on to others.  John the apostle remembers that day well, when he writes, “Jesus breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’”  You see, when a priest raises his hand over you in absolution of your sins in confession, it’s not a human breath that forgives you, but that divine breath from Jesus, the “divine ruach.”  When our Protestant brothers and sisters complain, therefore, about Catholics and say, “Only God can forgive sins!” they are absolutely right.  It’s not my breath that forgives you; it’s God’s breath.

            Now, even though Catholic priests don’t get married, we nevertheless do our fair share of kissing.  Have you noticed how much kissing we do at the Mass??  It’s positively scandalous!  Maybe the pope feels sorry for us not having a wife to kiss so he lets us kiss all these things at Mass.  He basically says, “Here, you can kiss this.”  See if you can catch all these priestly kisses.  Before you even see the priest, as he’s vesting in the sacristy, he kisses a part of his vestment called “the stole” which hangs around his neck.  When he enters the sanctuary, both he and the deacon kiss the altar.  After the priest or deacon read the Book of the Gospels, they plant a kiss on that sacred page.  At the end of Mass, we kiss the altar again.  But do you know what my favorite part of the Mass is?  It’s the words of consecration, which I always say slowly and solemnly.  The priest is instructed at that moment to “bow slightly” as he says those words.  In the Old Mass – which some of you look like you’d remember – he actually had to bow down so far that his breath would caress the bread and wine.  Why?  At that moment the priest breathes the “divine ruach” that touches and transforms that bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus, just like that same divine breath opened Adam’s eyes for the first time, and made Ezekiel’s army “exceedingly great.”  That’s why at that moment in the Mass, the priest genuflects, the people kneel and the bells ring.

             On this Pentecost Sunday could you use a really good kiss?  Sorry, I can’t help you there.  But I can share with you the “divine ruach,” which is what we all need most.  When you feel like Adam, and every one treats you like dirt; when you fell like a pile of dry bones and your joy has evaporated; when you are paralyzed by fear like the apostles in the Upper Room, seek the breath of God, the divine kiss.  Jesus left the Spirit for us first and foremost in the sacraments, and especially in Holy Communion and in humble confession.  Those sacraments were specifically designed so that God could breathe his Spirit back into you when you feel dead.  That’s why we sang in Psalm 104, “Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth.”  When God breathes upon the earth, everything comes to life.

             Do you remember how the movie “The Princess Bride” ends?  It ends with a kiss. The narrator says, “Since the invention of the kiss, there have been five kisses that have been rated the most passionate, the most pure.  This one left them all behind.”  A kiss from Jesus Christ is far better than the kiss between Wesley and Princess Buttercup.  Why?  Because you see, only after Jesus kisses you will you be able to breathe forever.

            Praised be Jesus Christ!