Hearing The Word

A weekly newsletter delivering context and insight into the Sunday Gospels.

May 24, 2026

Pentecost Sunday

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."



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The Fullness of Peace: From Promise to Fulfillment in Christ

Rev. Christopher Moriconi, MA, MDiv

Saint Margaret Rectory, Narbeth Pa.

The Greek New Testament (hereafter: GNT) is already a translation of the good news Jesus proclaimed in Aramaic. The Syriac Peshitta, a later translation of the GNT in a dialect of Aramaic, renders the Gospel in a language closely related to what Jesus spoke. In John 20:19, Jesus’ greeting appears as šlāmāʾ ʿamḵun, “Peace be with you.” This phrase was a standard greeting. Yet, in the OT it carried the significance of divine assurance. For example, in Judg 6:23 when Gideon was frightened at the appearance of an angel, the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not be afraid; you shall not die.” However, in John 20:19 we are dealing neither with an ordinary greeting nor a reassurance of life. Rather, the Risen Lord Jesus declares a fact: “Peace is with you.” Why? Because through his redemptive death and resurrection he has reconciled humanity with God. He has brought peace to the world through his conquering Pasch.

Von Rad noted that seldom do we find a word such as šlāmāʾ which can be both common and rise far above its ordinary use. Never had that common word been filled with so much meaning as when Jesus declared it. All that the prophets had poured into that word was realized in the redemption wrought by Christ.

Šlāmāʾ is the supreme Easter greeting, yet it remains so elusive to us. Why? Because sin still reigns in our hearts. Yet, Christ provided a way out. He breathed on the apostles and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22–23). As soon as human resistance to God’s boundless mercy melts away, the forgiveness which brings peace enters this mortal life. Through Christ’s ministry of love, he cleanses us of all sin so that the peace of reconciliation between us and God extends to each other. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit given to the apostles and handed on through the priesthood, which we celebrate on this Pentecost Sunday.

Shalom Aleichem

~Conor Donnelly

Saint Maron's Parish + Philadelphia, Pa.

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit in a very public way. The Apostles, filled with boldness, proclaim Christ to people gathered in Jerusalem, all hearing in their own tongues. The Gospel feels almost like a flashback to seven weeks earlier. Ten of the Apostles, along with Mary and some of the women from the inner circle, are gathered in the upper room. Jesus appears to them and greets them with Shalom Aleichem, the familiar greeting of peace, echoing the prayer of Psalm 122, which invites all the faithful to go to the house of the Lord. And what a beautiful irony it is. Peace is spoken in a Psalm that celebrates all the tribes coming up to Jerusalem.

Jesus gives those gathered the breath of the Holy Spirit and again says Shalom Aleichem. This moment feels very private compared to what will follow. We are all called to our vocation in life, but we never make that journey alone. Our inner circle is there to support us. We may be afraid, and we may hesitate to believe, but we know that God loves us. That is what we see in the upper room. A loving God who never deserts us, His Son who speaks peace and breathes the Spirit, and a Spirit who brings us the grace of God.

We have used the forty days of Lent to prepare for the sacrifice of Good Friday and the joy of the Resurrection. In the Easter season, we have continued in that joy and listened to the stories of the early Church in its infancy. And today, on Pentecost, we take that inner peace and grace from the Upper Room and go out into the world strengthened and rejoicing.