I want to give Thomas, the Doubter, a break this morning. Instead, I want to talk about Jesus’ words to the disciples, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
The gospel story makes it very clear that the disciples were afraid. The crucifixion had them fearful that they would be next. So they have locked themselves into a room for safety. Jesus appears in their midst - in this locked room. We can imagine their surprise and concern (“Did we lock the doors?!”) And his words to them seem, initially, odd given the level of their fear. They are, after all, in hiding. They are not interested in the ministry of Jesus that they have been engaged in. They are concerned for their physical safety. Into their fear as they huddle inside the locked room, Jesus says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
We can only understand this statement if we back out and remember Jesus dying on the cross. He is reported saying, “Forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” In great agony and as he was dying, Jesus forgave his persecutors.
He forgave because his love for humanity and for God are of one piece. It is all one connected web - we are in Jesus, Jesus is in God, God loves all. His forgiveness was not settling a personal score; his forgiveness was providing a way forward for all of us - a way forward that keeps us squarely in God’s loving embrace. Despite our failings; despite how we struggle and separate ourselves from God.
“…If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Forgiveness is the cornerstone of our relationship with God.
God has generously forgiven us - we know this because of the resurrection. Yet, we continue to struggle with forgiveness. It is difficult to forgive someone who has inflicted great pain or worse on us. The feelings of love and compassion that make forgiveness possible, seem impossible when we are hurt by another.
We can imagine the disciples in that room with their fear. Forgiveness was probably not on the list of things they were contemplating. Yet here appears Jesus emphasizing the central role of forgiveness. With very simple words: If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
Retaining sins - not forgiving - is to participate in on-going brokenness. It is to behave as though the resurrected Christ is not standing in that room demonstrating how near God is, and always has been. He appears to them to show that he is whole - that despite the cruel death they witnessed, he has returned to them whole and unbroken. This is the way of a forgiving God. This is the way of forgiveness.
In the same way that Jesus forgave, he is reminding the disciples that they, too, are called to forgive. They are so called because the wholeness - the connectedness - they knew in Jesus continues even after his death on the cross. This wholeness is from and through God. And it is possible because of the love that is released in acts of forgiveness.
We all know how hard forgiveness can be. We all struggle with it. What fears are we harboring that keep us behind our locked doors? Notice that he does not tell them to forgive by sheer human will; Jesus breathes onto them the Holy Spirit. They will have the power of the Holy Spirit with them in their forgiveness work.
We, too, will have the power of the Holy Spirit with us in our forgiveness work. What do we need to remember that the Holy Spirit is with us, giving us the courage and the power of love to forgive? How are we then called to go out into the world - in great vulnerability - to continue to make Christ’s love known, to forgive with compassion, and to retain nothing but the assurance we already have in the Risen Christ: we have been forgiven; we are God’s beloved; we are free to love as Christ loves us.
