Dear Members of Neighbors in Christ,
Jesus said to his disciples, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (John 20:23). This, too, is what the resurrection is good for. The disciples themselves needed forgiveness in a big way for having betrayed their lord and master. Fearful, they were caught up in the past of their misdeeds. Fearful, they were freed from the power of that fear by the peace of the resurrected Jesus. Freed from the past, they were directed to the future: "As the Father has sent me, so I have sent you."
And so are we are directed to the future: "Forgive us our trespasses. God, as you forgave the disciples when you appeared to them, so that we might have the courage to forgive others." Truly, the power of Christ’s resurrection makes all things new.
But our verse also says that if we bind others to their sins, they will remain bound to those sins. What can this mean? Perhaps it means that there are times when we are called to hold people to account for their misdeeds. We know that to offer others cheap grace is not really to offer them any grace at all. That is one way to understand this. I think it is one correct way to understand the verse.
There is, however, another way. This other way is not completely at odds with the first way, but it is different from it. I first heard of this other way from the senior pastor of the Church where I interned in Minneapolis. Sheldon simply pointed out to the congregation an obvious fact: If we fail to let others know that we forgive their sins against us, then those sins may remain with them to vex them for the rest of their lives. To fail to forgive the wrong doing of another may leave him or her under judgment. Even though many people use the expression, "You should forgive yourself, for this or that wrong doing," that, for sure, is much easier said than done. It is much easier--I think at times it may only be possible--to receive forgiveness from those whom we have wronged. It may only be possible for those who have wronged others to receive forgiveness from those others.
What is the resurrection of Jesus Christ good for? My brothers and sisters in Christ, this season of Easter we will be shown the many ways the Christ comes into our lives and into our world to bring death from life. May the Holy Spirit, breathed on us at our baptism, open our hearts to be open to this new life.
Pastor Leonard Hummel
