Forgiveness: A Meditation on John 20, for the first Sunday after Easter

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, 

when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, 

came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. 

Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the LORD.

Then said Jesus to them again, 

Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, 

Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; 

and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

When reflecting on the Gospel according to St. John, it can be helpful to remember that John wrote his eye-witness account of the life, death, resurrection, and teachings of Jesus later than his fellow Apostles.  In fact, John lived considerably longer than his apostolic peers, and was the only one not to die in brutal martyrdom (history and tradition tell us, however, it wasn't for the lack of effort on the Roman's part, who tried to boil him alive in oil, and when he didn't die, freaked out and exiled him to Patmos... from whence he later returned with his vision of the Apocalypse we call the Book of Revelation, and lived out the rest of his life as the bishop of Ephesus).  Remembering this we can see St. John filling in the parts of the story his friends hadn't told, and clarifying parts of Jesus' teaching which had become distorted or confused.  Today's reading from chapter 20 is one of these, where John helps us understand an often misunderstood text in Matthew's Gospel regarding the Keys of Jesus' Kingdom, particularly regarding the forgiveness of sins.

In Matthew 16, Jesus asked His disciples long before His passion and resurrection, who they and the people thought He was.  Eventually St. Peter answered on behalf of the disciples that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Jesus told Peter that this good confession came to him through the Holy Spirit, and that this good confession would be the rock upon which Jesus would build His eternal and unassailable Church (this is how the early Church Fathers such as St. John Chrysostom also understood this text).  Then Jesus told Peter that He would give to him the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, so that any sins he would forgive on earth would be forgiven in heaven, and any sins which he would not forgive on earth would not be forgiven in heaven.  Just as St. Peter had responded to Jesus' questioning on behalf of all the disciples in the grammatical singular, so too did Jesus respond to Peter in the grammatical singular on behalf of the rest of the disciples.

While our Roman friends like to make hay out of the grammatically singular exchange between Jesus and Peter in Matthew 16 (and then hypothesize an unbroken and perpetual chain of Peters ruling as singular kings over the Church of Christ from his throne in Rome, only themselves holding these Keys of forgiveness, and delegating them out by caprice to the rest of the bishops and pastors of the world who submit to him,) St. John deflated this controversy in his Gospel centuries before Rome's errors began splitting the Church east and west.  What was promised singularly to Peter as a future action in Matthew 16 (I will give you the Keys...) Jesus actually fulfilled in the plural when He breathed out His Holy Spirit on His disciples in John 20, making them Apostles by sending them out just as the Father had sent Him:  to forgive the sins of the repentant faithful, and to declare the lack of forgiveness to those who refused to repent and believe.  This commission John recorded in his Gospel's 20th chapter fulfilled Jesus' promise which Matthew recorded in the 16th chapter of his Gospel, and perfectly complements Matthew's post-resurrection Great Commission recorded in chapter 28-- to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything Jesus had previously taught His disciples.  There is no more fundamental teaching of Jesus than the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation given freely by His grace for the sake of His Cross, which He suffered on behalf of all humanity, and which can be received only through faith and repentance in His Name.  Such a great message of salvation needed emissaries to carry it out to the world, which Jesus provided by ordaining His Apostles to that good work of His Word and Spirit, empowering them to freely deliver what He alone had procured for the world through His Cross.

And so it has continued down through the centuries, even to our day.  Today, the Church of Christ continues to ordain and send emissaries of Christ into all the world, baptizing, teaching, and forgiving all who will repent and believe the Gospel of Jesus-- making disciples of all nations, without any regard to culture, nationality, race, gender, class, wealth, or tradition.  Today, there are those who are sent to freely give what only Jesus has won for us all, carried by His Word and Spirit into the world so that they might breath His life-giving Word and Spirit to the lost, the rejected, the downtrodden, the wounded, and the abused.  Today, around myriad altars and pulpits of various decoration and tradition, the faithful gather to hear the proclamation of Christ's Word that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, and to have breathed upon them the Holy Spirit which empowers them to rise up and live in this grace, by faith in Christ alone.  Today, the Keys of the Kingdom of God are sent out into the world through flawed human vassals, that the gates of heaven and eternal life might be flung wide open for you and for me.  Today, we can hear the Everlasting Gospel, that our sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, and that death and hell have no more hold over us.  Today we are called by Jesus through His Word preached and His Sacraments administered according to His institution, His command, and His promise.  Today, Jesus' Word and Spirit beckons to you, that you might turn from the ways of evil and death, to receive His forgiveness, life, and salvation.  

Hear Him today. Be forgiven.  Repent, believe, and live.  Amen.