Eastertide

April 15, 2023

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 20:10-23

If someone has wronged me, as a Christ-follower, I have a responsibility to forgive the action and to deal with the residual feelings and attitudes that I must clear from my own slate, so I not only forgive but let it go. I also fully grasp that Jesus charged us to continue his work in developing the Kingdom of God on this earth with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. A large part of Jesus’s work was forgiving others. John 9:39: Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’

The above scripture, however, makes me uncomfortable. Somewhere along the way, I learned that only God could ultimately forgive sin. I think that stems from my understanding that God assigned Jesus Christ the role of judge. Forgiveness is the follow-up to judgment, and I do not feel qualified to judge anyone or, as the scriptures describe it, to know the heart of another. It also makes me uncomfortable because I see many people, leaders even, judging other people’s lives and creating laws to control their lives to meet their interpretation of what is right and what is just. Often such judgments seem to be drawn from cultural norms rather than the commandment of God to love one another and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Reading the scripture more intensely, we are not necessarily called to judge others; we are to open our own and others’ eyes so that all can see their shortcomings and self-correct, receiving forgiveness from the Holy Spirit. Walking the second mile* with others is a greater challenge than creating our own system of justice, which we can apply and rather self-righteously check off as one more task to raise our brownie points with God.  I do not think that is what God is calling us to do.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we develop our own definitions of what is right and just. Give us the courage to open our own eyes to your righteousness and work together to build a better world ruled by love.  Amen.

*See Matthew 5:41

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.