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PARDON AND PEACE COME IN JESUS’ NAME.
Cong: He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the name + of Jesus.
Does God hold you accountable for your sins, or does God freely pardon you for your sins? It is not as simple a question as it would seem, and a bad answer will yield bad results. Really bad results. On the one hand, if you say that God freely pardons your sins, then you can use that as an excuse to pursue whatever immoral or wicked behaviors you want. You will insist that your sins are of no account because God forgives anyway. On the other hand, if God does not pardon freely and you are accountable for your sins, you will fall into despair. If God does not freely pardon, then you must do something to prove your worthiness for forgiveness.
I suppose for the most part, you are never
bothered by these questions. You can go
through most of your life without thinking about it. But if you are on your sick bed and your
thoughts turn to dying, this question will plague you. If you don’t have a good answer, it will rob
you of comfort and shake your faith to its core.
The question seems simple enough to answer:
Either God holds you accountable for your sins or God freely pardons them. But is actually a both/and answer. You are accountable for your sins. Your guilt is real. Sometimes you feel that guilt; other times
you don’t. But we are all guilty; for we
have all violated God’s Law—if not in deeds, then definitely in our thoughts. And God does freely pardon you for your
sins. That’s because Jesus Christ has
made himself accountable for your sins.
God does not just drop the charges for no reason. That would mean he doesn’t take violations
against his own Law seriously. But he does,
which is why Jesus was put to death according to divine justice and under God’s
curse. Jesus took responsibility for your
sins. Having made himself accountable
for you, he suffered and died for you. That
is how God dealt with your sins so that he can freely pardon you.
When Jesus appeared to the apostles on that
first Easter night, the disciples were coping with their own guilt for having
failed Jesus. They felt accountable,
because they were. When it actually
would have cost something to stand with Jesus, they fled. Jesus suddenly appeared in the room with
them. Their reaction was both surprise
and concern. What would Jesus say to
them? Would he pile on even greater
guilt? If he did, they couldn’t argue about
it. But Jesus relieved their fears. He said to them, “Peace be with you” (John
20:19). Pardon and peace came in Jesus’
name. He was not angry with them, and he
did not bear a grudge. He had willingly
suffered and died to take away their guilt, and he showed them the wounds which
purchased their salvation. They had no
need to fear Jesus or his judgment. He
proclaimed pardon and peace to the penitent and bolstered the faith of the fearful.
Sadly, Thomas was not with the other apostles
that evening. No matter how much the
disciples told Thomas about Jesus’ resurrection and appearance, Thomas would
not believe it. He had to see it for himself. Jesus condescended to Thomas’ demands. He did not owe it to him, but Jesus appeared
to him in mercy anyway. “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger
here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe’” (John
20:26-27). Again,
Jesus expressed no regret, not even for suffering on behalf of a skeptic. When Thomas saw Jesus, he finally did rejoice
in Jesus’ resurrection. Like the others,
Thomas received pardon and peace in Jesus’ name.
Now, Jesus does not appear to us to convince
us he is risen. We have no invitations
to inspect his wounds. It was never
Jesus’ intention to stay on earth where people could come to see him. If he had, you would probably never get
anywhere near him. At best, it would be
a once-in-a-lifetime moment to meet him, and it would last maybe a minute because
so many others who would want some of his time.
The pardon and peace which Jesus delivers would not be limited to one
place where Jesus was. It would be
delivered through others wherever people gather in Jesus’ name.
Therefore, Jesus commissioned these
apostles to go with the same authority he had.
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace
be with you. As the Father has sent
me, even so I am sending you.’ And 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 withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld’” (John
20:21-23). The
apostles, of course, did not remain on the earth forever. Therefore, Jesus established the apostolic
ministry to assure that at all times and in all places people would hear pardon
and peace in his name.
This is the way the Lord always
works. When he wants to deal with
people, he hides himself in earthly things.
He appeared to Moses in a burning bush.
He was with Israel in the wilderness hidden in a pillar of cloud and a pillar
of fire. When the Lord came in person,
he hid his glory under frail human flesh.
And today, when the Lord applies his salvation to you, he does it through
the waters of baptism. He gives his body
and blood under bread and wine. And he speaks
through the mouths of ministers. We don’t
embrace his salvation because these earthly things are impressive. We embrace them because Jesus attaches his
name and his promises to them. When your
sins absolved by some poor minister, that absolution is backed by this promise:
“If you forgive the
sins of any, they are forgiven them” (John 20:23). Pardon
and peace come in Jesus’ name.
The Lord also works this way so that you
do not have to place your confidence in your own thoughts. You do not have to assume or guess that God forgives
you. The Lord has given you physical
means by which his forgiveness is delivered to you. Holy Baptism is a washing with the word that
is applied to you for the forgiveness of sins.
Holy Communion is the body and blood fed to you for the forgiveness of
sins. And Holy Absolution is the vocal
declaration of forgiveness proclaimed to you in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is the
word of God and the authority of Jesus which make baptism a water of life,
which make the Lord’s Supper the medicine of immortality, and which make the absolution
divine acquittal. Pardon and peace are not
merely pondered; they are delivered in Jesus’ name.
Jesus gave authority to his Church to
preach in his name. The Church entrusts
ministers to do this on their behalf. But
the authority is not only to forgive sins.
There is an ominous authority given too.
“Jesus said
to them…, ‘If you withhold forgiveness from any, it
is withheld’” (John 20:23). Jesus gives the Church the authority to hold
people accountable for their sins. We do
not do this to make people squirm; we do this so that they will not perish.
Why would we withhold forgiveness from
sinners? We do this when people don’t want
forgiveness for their sins. Many embrace
their sins and will not repent of them.
To withhold forgiveness is to issue a solemn warning, such as St. Paul
wrote to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will
not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not
be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians
6:9-10). Those who embrace such sins do not want
forgiveness for them. They want approval
of them. Such people we warn that they
are accountable for their sins, and that God does not pardon them. If they desire no forgiveness, they are
granted no forgiveness. How can we
declare a blessing on things that God condemns?
And how could we remain silent as people remain under God’s curse and
condemnation?
“Jesus said…, ‘If
you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld’” (John 20:23). This withholding of forgiveness is not done out
of hatred or bigotry. It is done out of
love for people whom we do not want to perish.
It is done to warn them so that they would repent and so that God would
freely pardon. Those who are comfortable
with their sins need to hear that they are accountable for their sins. If they refuse to be held accountable, forgiveness
is withheld. God’s wrath remains upon
them.
But those who are terrified
over their sins need to be comforted. We
urge such sinners to flee to Jesus; for, God freely pardons sinners for Jesus’
sake. The apostles in the upper room were sinners and proved it, but they were still
believers. They believed that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God. So, when
Jesus came to these troubled disciples, he declared, “Peace be with you”
(John 20:19). And to those Corinthians,
St. Paul reminded them that some of them had embraced the wicked works which
condemn. But he went on to assure them, “But you were washed, you
were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
Pardon and peace come in Jesus’ name.
St. John concluded
this chapter with these words: “Jesus did many other signs in the
presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book” (John 20:30). I am sure the signs that Jesus performed in
the presence of his disciples were amazing.
But the Holy Spirit did not guide John to write down any of them. The Scriptures are not written down for the
sake of fascinating us, although they are fascinating. John tells us what the purpose of his writing
and every writing of Scripture is: “These are written so that you
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by
believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
Pardon and peace come in Jesus’ name. Everything God tells us finds its fulfillment in that—whether God holds us accountable for our sins so that we will repent, or God declares that he freely pardons us for Jesus’ sake. The goal of Scripture and the desire of the Lord is that we hear the word of the Lord so that we would flee from our sins and flee to Jesus. For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved by him. Thanks to Jesus, you are. You are Christ’s. Therefore, pardon and peace are yours.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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