Easter 2, Morning after thoughts

Good Morning!

One of the things that we didn't really hit from Jn 20 yesterday was the giving of the Spirit.

vs 22-23: When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "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."

This is a very interesting passage that, as you can imagine, has received a lot of comment over the years. Some people see John's version of "Pentecost" here. After all, the Book of Acts may appear like its own stand-alone document in our Bible, but that isn't the case. It is really Vol. 2 of Luke's Gospel. So it is argued that John the evangelist had no access to the story of Pentecost (and it is likewise assumed that he, the writer, wasn't one of the ones present that day).....yet he wanted somehow to get the story of the giving of the Holy Spirit out there, so this is how he did it.

Um.....yeah. Well, I suppose that's one way of looking at it. Lutheran theology sees this episode as a very specific and necessary part of the life of the church--not just that church of that day, but rather The Church of all days. This is where Jesus authorized human representatives to do God "things."
Before I went to seminary we had some delightful neighbors who lived across the street from us; good people; Christian people. They went to the Baptist church. But one sunday they showed up at our church. I don't recall the circumstances. But some time afterward I was talking to my neighbor and I asked him what he thought of it. He said it was fine, & that he had actually been there before, but that his ONLY problem was the way it started with "confession & forgiveness." It really kinda bothered him that, "The Pastor said *he* forgave our sins.....when in reality, only *God* can forgive sins."
It's interesting to note that these were the same charges leveled against Jesus in Luke 5 when he heals the paralytic. The Pharisees grumble that only God can forgive sins. One counter to bringing Luke 5 into the discussion is that Jesus is "God in the flesh" (certainly true) and hence he's right & the Pharisees are wrong. But that still leaves John 20 unaccounted for.

In the end, most of the non-sacramental faith traditions ignore the implications of John 20. It is truer to say that only God has the *power* or *authority* to forgive sins, but that God is not stingy. In His grace He has given this gift out--first to His own blessed Son during his earthly ministry, and then through His Son to the Apostles, the first Church, and the Church of all time. The grace of God comes among us through ordinary 'means,' such as bread & wine, water, and the human voice.

Cheers!

TM