Eastertide

April 23, 2022

Scripture Reading:
John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ 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.’ –John 20:19-23

Christ-followers are called to be the body of Christ in the world today. That is a breathtaking assignment, and Jesus knew that. So, Jesus breathed the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives to maintain our relationship with him. I am not sure exactly what John is trying to say about forgiving and retaining sin. Indeed, if we have the assignment to be Christ’s body that could mean doing everything Christ did. The Greek word for sin, hamartia, used here means missing the mark; hence: (a) guilt, sin, (b) a fault, failure (in an ethical sense), sinful deed * It, however, also describes the brand of sin that emphasizes its self-originated (self-empowered) nature – i.e. it is not originated or empowered by God*.  We can miss the mark every day and are wise if we recognize where we have missed the mark as quickly as possible restoring are aim with God and others. Having someone we can trust to help us address such sins is helpful.

I had to complete four hours of physical education in college. While I am a sports fan, I am not really good at any sport. The college offered one class that spent a few weeks on several different activities that were designed for those of us who needed encouragement in exercising. One segment was archery. I do not have the strongest arms and discovered very quickly that if I did not keep my arm very straight and taunt as I pulled back the bowstring when I let the arrow fly I got slapped hard by the recoiling string and rarely hit the target. It took a very patient coach to help me shoot the arrow and hit the target without bruising my arm. Walking with people striving to relate to God and perhaps serving as a coach serves others as a conduit to forgiveness of sins.

I think we must be very careful regarding our part in judging the retention of sin we deem to be an unforgivable act. We are all too human and I fear we are all capable of branding something as sin from a self-originated viewpoint. There is a lot of that going around in our world today. Jesus also said You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye. (Matthew 7:5)

Prayer: Lord, cleanse us of our desire to judge others from our perspective and guide us in helping one another follow the path originated or empowered by you. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/266.htm

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.