2nd Sunday of Easter.
April 18, 2004
John 20:19-23.

The Commission to Forgive Sins.

  We have just celebrated Jesus’ resurrection, the highlight of the Christian Faith and of the Church year. It might seem that everything from here on will be less important. Yet, the resurrection wasn’t the end of the story so to speak. Rather it was the event that set in motion a whole new work of God: the Church. By dying and rising from the dead, Jesus gave birth to his Church. And now, Jesus continues his work of reconciling the world to God, not through his visible presence on earth, but through his new Body called the Church. So it is that each of the four Gospels, having briefly described the resurrection, ends with Jesus commissioning his disciples.

  In Matthew the commission is to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

  In Mark, the commission is to Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

  In Luke, the commission is to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins . . . in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

  In John, the commission is this: “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.”

  When we remember that Baptism is for the forgiveness of sins, we realize that each of those commissions say pretty much the same thing, namely, the church is to announce the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name. But perhaps John is clearest and most radical in focus: Christ has commissioned the church to forgive sins!

  When you are commissioned, someone gives you the authority and maybe the actual tools or power to do a certain task. I might, for example, give my son some money and send him to the store to buy something. That’s a simple commission, for I gave him the authority and tools to do a certain job. But we usually think of something more official when we think of commissions, like military officers. The government commissions officers in the armed forces by giving men and women the authority and power to perform certain military duties on behalf of the country. That's what it means to be commissioned. Just so, Jesus has commissioned his Church by giving it the authority to forgive and retain sins.

  Now the government doesn't commission just anyone for military service. It choses men and women who have necessary qualities, things like leadership ability and some technical knowledge. These people are prepared for service before being commissioned. In the same way, before Jesus commissions the disciples and sends them out to forgive sins, he prepares them. Twice he says, Peace be with you!

  Peace be with you! This is more than a greeting; it's a blessing! Jesus is saying, that by virtue of his resurrection, we have peace with God. He has completely forgiven and accepted us. His anger because of what Adam did and because of all the things we have done since, is over. He no longer counts our sin against us, so we no longer have to make excuses for our evil behaviour. Jesus brought us back together. Think of it this way: Jesus’ death satisfied God—our sin is punished, and his resurrection satisfied us—our fear of the punishment of death is over. Since both sides are satisfied, the fight is over.

  I think you would agree that peace is Good News! In fact Paul calls the Gospel the Gospel of peace (Eph 6:15). This is what the world must know. So Jesus commissions his followers to take this Gospel of peace to the rest of the world.

  But they must know that God is leading the way and that his power is with them. So Jesus says, As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. Just as God sent Moses, Isaiah and other prophets, so he sent Jesus' disciples and those after them. This commission was not from some human council or government. This commission is from God Almighty! They have his authority.

  Again so that the disciples may know that they have God's authority and power, Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” His act of breathing on the disciples probably sounds a little undesirable to us. We wouldn't really like having someone exhale on us! In Hebrew, breath and spirit are the same word. So at creation, the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Later, when Ezekiel saw the vision of the valley of dry bones which was lifeless Israel, God said to him, Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet-- a vast army. (Ezekiel 37:9-10. NIV). Jesus' breathing on the disciples was the same thing, a creative act of God. He was creating the Church, his army of new, sinless people by putting his spirit in them. This is the act that gave the disciples and the church power, something that is clear after the Day of Pentecost! It's the same Spirit we received when we were Baptised and that now works in and through us.

  Having given them authority and power, he next tells them what they are to do. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. The Gospel is that we have peace with God because we have been forgiven. Therefore people who are sorry for their sin and fear God’s anger must hear that their sins are forgiven. On the other hand, those who refuse to repent must know that their sins are not forgiven lest they deceive themselves into thinking that they have peace with God some other way. Outside of faith in Christ, there is neither forgiveness, nor salvation, nor peace with God.

  What surprises people and even offends some, is that mere men and women have the authority to forgive sin. Just as the Jews rejected Jesus' authority to forgive sin, so today many reject the Church's authority to forgive sin. What a pity! Here we have the chance to be at peace with God, and we reject it because we don't like the packaging! It's like covering a beautiful gift with plain, brown paper so it can be mailed. The packaging doesn't make or change the gift; but it does allow us to receive it!

  Within the Lutheran Church, we call this commission to forgive sins, the Office of the Keys. It's so important that Luther included it as one of the six parts of the Small Catechism, the basics of the Christian Faith. He says, quoting our Gospel lesson, that,

The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.

  And,

...that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.

  It is this last thought that is so important. Since Christ has given the authority to forgive and retain sins to his Church, then when we pronounce the forgiveness of sins to anyone who repents of his or her sin, he or she is forgiven by God. We know this best in our rite of Confession and Absolution that we practice at the beginning or our worship services. As Luther said, when the pastor says your sins are forgiven, it is so! He's not speaking his word at that point, but God's word according to God's command so that you can be absolutely sure that your sin is forgiven and that you have peace with God.

  But the Church's commission goes farther than our Sunday morning confession. Paul admonishes us, Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Colossians 3:13. NIV). Within the people of God we are commanded to forgive one another, for that is God's will. We are also commanded to tell a brother or sister who refuses to repent that his or her sin is not forgiven, for that too is God's word and will. We are commanded to do this because forgiveness is a reality, peace with God is a reality. But we, forgetful people, subject to emotions like anger and guilt, need constantly to be reminded of these invisible realities. We must live in accord with what we know to be true.

  Finally, the rest of the world needs to hear of this peace with God because of the forgiveness of sin. So we God's people must be ever mindful of the fact that forgiveness is the central issue between us and God, and that we have been commissioned to tell them. I'm not telling you to stand on a street corner and make the sign of the cross and pronounce absolution as people walk by. I'm saying that this knowledge and commission must be our guiding principle in all we think, say and do. If, for example, I were a politician right now, dealing with the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, I would need to find a way for them to forgive each other and both be reconciled to God. That is the only way to end the conflict! They must know that God forgives and accepts them because of Christ, and that they must do the same to each other. And that is true for any conflict we have, whether with a neighbour, a brother or sister, or a fellow church member.

  You see, then, that our commission is important. We must be the light of the world and focus people on the real issue, the need to be forgiven and reconciled to God. You and I have been sent by the risen Christ; you and I have been given the authority to speak for him; you and I have received the Holy Spirit; so go now and do what you have been commissioned to do: forgive and retain sin.