💫WEB · John 20:21
What does John 20:21 mean?
"Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”"
— John 20:21 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.
When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.
Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”
When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!
If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.
Explanation
In John 20:21, Jesus speaks these words to his disciples on the evening of his resurrection. He has just appeared to them in a locked room, and the verse tells us he says this "again" because he had already greeted them with "Peace be to you" just a moment earlier, when he first appeared and showed them his wounded hands and side. Now he repeats the greeting and adds a commission: just as the Father sent him into the world, he is sending them.
The context matters greatly here. John's Gospel was written, by the apostle John's own testimony later in this same chapter, so that readers "may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God" and have life in his name. This scene takes place on Easter Sunday itself. The disciples are hiding behind locked doors "for fear of the Jews," shaken by Jesus's crucifixion and uncertain about what his resurrection means for them. Into that fear and confusion, the risen Jesus appears bodily, offers peace, shows his wounds as proof of his identity, and then hands them a mission. The Gospel goes on to say he breathes on them and speaks of the Holy Spirit, tying this commissioning to the empowering presence of God.
Theologically, this verse establishes a direct link between Jesus's own mission from the Father and the mission he now gives to his followers. Jesus was sent by the Father to reveal God, to speak truth, to heal, to love sacrificially, and ultimately to lay down his life. By saying "as the Father has sent me, even so I send you," Jesus places his disciples into that same pattern
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