Acts 5:27-32
Psalm 118:14-29
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31
In the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Easter we encounter the passage:
"If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (John 20:23)
The first reading of this passage leaves one with the impression that Jesus is giving the disciples (and the Church) the power to either forgive sins, or to retain them and not forgive them. It seems to make sense – either you forgive sins, or you do not.
But something about this approach goes against what I understand to be Christ's underlying theology of the forgiveness of sins. It troubled me that, on the one hand, Christ spent much of his ministry healing people and forgiving sins – even dying on the cross for the redemption of sins – and then giving the option to "retain sins" right at the end of the Gospels. What's up with that?
I reflected on this for quite some time, and eventually realized that what may have happened here is that Christ was offering his disciples, and his Church, more than one way to heal someone's "sins." Perhaps at this point Jesus felt that his disciples were ready to understand the healing of relationships at a higher level.
Jesus forgave sins, and taught us how to forgive them. He even included this all-important act in the Lord's Prayer – "Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us." And how often should we do this? Not just 7 times, but 70 times 7, he instructs.
But he was also suggesting to us in this passage that our sins, and the sins of others, can be handled in another way – by "retaining" them.
Our western mind is quick to assume that "retaining" means to "hold against" in the sense that we do not forgive the person whose sins are retained. But if we explore the original Greek word used here, κρατητε, we can see a slightly different sense of the word is possible: to hold, or to hold fast, almost an embracing.
Paul describes this well in his first letter to the Corinthians when he uses the analogy of the body to explain how the family of Christ works. "For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts - all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one single body - so it is with Christ." (I Corinthians 12:12)
We are baptized into one body in a single Spirit, he goes on to explain, and are all given the same Spirit to drink. The key point is then laid out in verse 26: "If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain." This is a unitive way of looking at life, an inclusive way, a way that Jesus tried to emphasize so many times in his parables and teachings. It is counter to our individualistic way of living life, a way that Jesus often criticized.
If one of us is hurt, then we all share to some degree and in some way in that pain. Sharing in the hurt and pain diminishes the effects of that hurt or pain, because it's spread out and received by the rest of the body. It is 'retained', or held fast, by the entire body, and not just one of its members. It is shared, and as a result, it can be remedied more effectively.
Jesus' appearance to the disciples included the marks of his crucifixion: pierced hands and feet, and a spear mark in his side. These are marks of his sharing in the problems and shortcomings of the human race. By absorbing these, by taking them on as part of his body, he diminished them for all of us. This is vicarious assumption of our shortcomings as a whole. Jesus appeared with these marks to remind his disciples that as a family, we all share in human shortcomings. We are not to segregate or separate those who are "sinners" from those who are not, because as a body, we are all what each one of us is.
Jesus was reminding us that there are two ways to deal with sin – to forgive or to retain. To forgive is to simply release from blame; to no longer carry the anger or need for remembrance, and to open the way for renewed relationships. To retain a sin is to bring it in, to know it, to understand it, and to dissolve it in the Light of God's love. We help those in trouble to understand the impact and consequences of a wayward thought, word, or deed. We use friends, and counselors, and therapists, and pastors, and guides; we join together to absorb the pain and sorrow of the trouble, and then place it at the feet of Jesus.
Forgiving or retaining doesn't necessarily mean that there are no restitutions or amends offered. It simply opens new collective avenues for dealing with our troubles in this world. We listen, we help where we can, we pray, we stay aware and alert, we forgive, we understand, we remember that when one of us hurts we all hurt. We remember that we are all imperfect, and yet we are all One. Therein is our strength. We are the Body of Christ.
Reflection Questions
1. Does this perspective on dealing with sins help you forgive others?
2. Does this perspective on dealing with sins help you forgive yourself?
3. What might still be keeping you from forgiving someone else or yourself?
4. Read through the scripture lessons for this Sunday again, and spend some time journaling your thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment