On the evening of that first day of the week, when the
disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came
and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said
this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they
saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, "Peace be with
you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he
breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone
his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
One of the most unique and offensive
parts of our worship happens at the beginning of the liturgy, when we go
through a Confession and Absolution. You
would be surprised how this raises the eyebrows of many visitors; especially of
a Baptist or Evangelical slant; for me to say, “I forgive you your sins.” “Whoa,” they say, “how can you say that YOU
forgive me my sins?” This was the same
topic that people were offended at Jesus with throughout His ministry; the way
He was throwing around forgiveness. Does
that mean we should get rid of it?
To Forgive Or Not To Forgive? That is the Question.
I. Jesus and forgiveness
Jesus was constantly forgiving people
throughout His ministry. One good
example of the offense of Jesus’ giving forgiveness is when the paralytic was
lowered through the roof of a house he was in.
Here’s the account again -
Mark 2:1‑11 Some
men came, bringing to him a paralytic, they made an opening in the roof above
Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was
lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins
are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting
there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that?
He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
These
priests and teachers of the law had been trained by God’s law on the proper
steps to forgiveness. You had to go to
the temple. You had to offer the
prescribed sacrifice at the prescribed time.
Then, and only then, could the priest convey
forgiveness to you through the offering of the animal. In their minds, according to the law, Jesus
had no business handing out forgiveness in the middle of this house by His own
personal pronouncement according to His own seeming whim and fancy. And they would have been right, except that
Jesus was speaking by the direct authority of God Himself.
The Pharisees and the Teachers of the
Law were far less generous with God’s forgiveness. When Judas tried to rid himself of his guilt
they coldly told him, “that’s your problem.” They wanted to bind people to laws and guilt
that was not even written in God’s extensive laws. Jesus said of them in Luke 11:46, “you experts in the law, woe to you, because
you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry,
and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. . . . you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves
have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.” It seemed that they liked to keep people tied
to and dependent on their system of offerings at the temple and their constant
need for interpretation as to what was right and wrong.
Jesus was far more generous with his
forgiveness. Think of the woman caught
in adultery whom they were ready to stone. Jesus said to her, “neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Think of what Jesus even said from the cross,
“Father, forgive them, for they don’t
know what they are doing!” What a
shockingly bold thing to say, especially about people who are unjustly
crucifying you!
Yet it is also somewhat shocking in
who Jesus didn’t forgive. A rich young
ruler who was intent on trying to obey God’s laws came to him. He felt like he had kept all of them since
youth. Who is to say he hadn’t honestly
tried; that he wasn’t indeed an honest and good young business man who followed
the rules? Yet how does Jesus deal with
him? He tells him to sell all he owns,
give it to the poor, and then come and follow him. The man goes away sad; and Jesus lets him;
without ever announcing forgiveness to him!
The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law who undoubtedly tried very hard to
live upright and good lives were constantly condemned by Jesus and called
children of Satan. He never had anything
good to say to them.
Jesus was forgiving the prostitutes
and tax collectors and condemning the good and upright people of society. None of this made sense to the religious
leaders. How could he acquit the guilty
and condemn the innocent of society? It
all seemed brazenly backwards. What they
didn’t understand was that Jesus was judging by a completely
different criteria than they were used to. He wasn’t going by how good of a life they
lived, but the condition of their hearts.
It all is reflected in Psalm 51, where David said in verses 16‑17,
“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I
would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of
God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not
despise.” It is also reflected in
what Jesus said to the Pharisees from Matthew’s house,“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but
the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The whole reason Jesus came was to die
for sinners and pay for their sins.
That’s what Jesus did. He paid
for ALL sins and ALL sinners - the good and the bad. On the cross Jesus provided a place for
sinners - all sinners - the good and bad of society - to run and hide. The whole purpose of the death and the
resurrection of Christ was to provide forgiveness and
to prove that forgiveness to the world.
Knowing that He would die and rise from the dead, Jesus had every right
to forgive people - no matter how sinful they were. It’s what He came to do.
The very nature of pride is that it
keeps people from hiding themselves in the cross. Think of the fiances
of
II. Forgiveness and the
disciples
Now Jesus, this offensive condemner
and forgiver, raises from the dead. So what is the 1st
thing that Jesus tells the disciples after proving His legacy? Go and carry on my legacy of offensive
forgiving and not forgiving people. Jesus said, "Peace be
with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he
breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone
his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." Think of what a profound statement this
is! Jesus is conveying to these simple
fishermen and tax collectors a commission as holy and royal as His own! This was a holy commission from God to take
the place of the priests at the temple - to carry on His office of High Priest
on earth through sinful disciples!
Up to this point the disciples were
commissioned to chase out demons, heal sick people, and tell people to repent
in light of the coming
It is no coincidence then to see the
disciples fulfilling this commission through the Acts of the Apostles. In our 1st
lesson we have Peter preaching to the crowd at Pentecost - and what is he
talking about? The fact that they killed
the author of life! He is holding them
accountable for their sins! But when
they are cut to the heart, what does he then say? He says in Acts
When Paul is in prison at
Acts 16:29‑31 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and
Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your
household.”
Here
again, Paul and Silas offered the jailer; a formerly cold hearted Gentile; free
and full and instant forgiveness and salvation right there on the spot. This is what the disciples were commissioned
and commanded to do at the resurrection.
It was this message - the way in which they forgave people - that won
thousands of converts into the spiritual
III. Forgiveness and the
Christians
This ability was also then supposed to
be used by the Christian congregations throughout
This was to be constantly applied
throughout their churches. It would take
great humility, wisdom, and faith to use such a thing. Jesus warned against becoming hypocritical in
using it, for instance.
Matthew 7:3‑5 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay
no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother,
‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in
your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then
you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Don’t
be so focused on your brother’s sins while you don’t look at your own. Another problem can be when you become
overzealous with weeding out sin and condemning it. Jesus warned that in pulling up the weeds you
may pull up the wheat with them.
Throughout time they misapplied
it. The Corinthians decided to allow a
man to be an active part of their congregation who was having sexual relations
with his step mother. Paul wrote to them
in 1 Corinthians 5:2‑5, “Shouldn’t
you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the
man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in
spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if
I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am
with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man
over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved
on the day of the Lord.” The Corinthians were misapplying the keys to a man who was not
repentant of a blatant and open sin. The
same problem happened throughout the congregations in
IV. Forgiveness and
today’s Christian
If Jesus was really serious about what
He was saying to His disciples, this has lasting ramifications for who we are and what we do as a Christian church yet
today. It means that talking about and
dealing with “sin” is still relevant and central to what we do as
Christians. Forgiveness stands at the
heart and core of what we do as a Christian yet today. It’s why we baptize and take the Lord’s
Supper. This command flavors the way we
do evangelism and worship; how we determine membership in our church and who we
keep as members; how we grow as individuals and a group together. We grow by examining our own lives and each
other’s lives, by seeing our own sins, and fleeing to our own Savior. We expand by showing others their sins; and
then when they are crushed like the jailer - forgiving them their sins.
It seems like an awesome
responsibility, and it is. How can you
do this in a proper way? The same way that Jesus enabled His disciples to - through the
power of the Holy Spirit. John
says that Jesus “breathed” on this disciples the Holy
Spirit. Later on Paul said in 2 Timothy
3, “All Scripture is God‑breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The Holy Spirit works through the Word and
the sacrament. Jesus already breathed on
you in your baptism. The more we are
into God’s Word and sacrament, the more the Holy Spirit works; enabling us to
decipher between right and wrong and to clearly apply law and gospel - to
forgive or not forgive our children, friends, and neighbors.
Should it be so surprising that we
begin the worship service with a public confession and absolution then - if
Jesus commanded it? Should it surprise
you when we have to publicly reprimand a member who is not repenting of an
obvious sin? Should it be thought of as
ancient and irrelevant to talk and sing about sin and grace, law and gospel, on
a regular basis throughout worship sermons and Bible studies? Instead of trying to attract people to the
church by the beauty of the building or the people, shouldn’t we rather focus
on preaching sin and grace - focusing on the need for forgiveness? Isn’t this the first thing that Jesus
commanded His disciples to do after His resurrection from the dead? Isn’t this what Jesus reprimanded the
churches for not doing in
This command shows us that simple
words are what our future and present are based on; a status between us and God
is what our relationship revolves around.
Our church is not built on the size of our building, the number of
people we have here, the style of music that is played, or the types of
programs we have. It is not dependant on
any of these things. It is only
dependant on whether we are forgiven or not.
Whether we are forgiven is dependant on whether we are shown our sins or
not; whether we are repentant or not; whether we have faith or not; whether we
have Christ or not. This is the way
Christ commanded His disciples to go forward; it was His first command after
the resurrection. The draw was never
meant to be how great and glamorous the Christian life can be. The command was to show how gracious and
forgiving God is in Christ. We do this
through the same old Law and Gospel, Word and Sacrament.
I find it amazing how in recent years
we have seen a complete falling apart of what used to be central to all
Christian churches. All used to confess
that Jesus was the only way, truth and life.
Now you will find most churches say that there are alternate ways. You will find many say that whether we are
forgiven or not doesn’t really make a difference - it isn’t “relevant” to
today’s Christian. Today’s “seeker”
doesn’t want to hear about heaven or hell, sin or damnation. So the average churchgoer is only told how to
properly manage his finances and how to keep lasting and meaningful
relationships. A majority of churches
have gotten into a competition as to who can be the most entertaining and fun
and welcoming. In reality they are
putting makeup on corpses, when they have the ability to bring them to
life. It is sad.
Call it ancient, call it outdated,
call it irrelevant - To forgive or not forgive, that is the question. That is the offense. It is what set Jesus apart. It is what was used to expand the early
Christian church. It is the foundation
of our songs and liturgy - repentance and forgiveness. It doesn’t matter whether people want it or
not. It’s what they need. It’s what Jesus commanded the disciples to do
in carrying out and expanding the Church of the Risen Christ. To forgive and not to forgive. That is the answer. Amen.