them. The command comes after the crucial promise and gift: ‘Receive the holy spirit.’ The holy spirit! Jesus has said so much already about this spirit, his own spirit, the spirit which is the father’s special gift to his people. Now the time has come. The point of receiving the holy spirit, it’s clear, is not to give the disciples new ‘spiritual experiences’, though to be sure they will have plenty. Nor is it to set them apart from ordinary people, a sort of holier-than-thou club—though to be sure