Sins Forgiven
21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (John 20:21-23)
After Jesus' resurrection, he appeared to the disciples in the locked room where they were hiding. He bid peace to his startled, but overjoyed, followers and then he breathed new life on them and reminded them to forgive. When Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, that prayer - the Lord's prayer - included the request that God forgive us as we forgive others. That forgiving others is necessary for receiving forgiveness is what Jesus broke in to their self-induced confinement to implore and encourage them to do - after giving them the power of his Spirit. In order to effectively minister to the very people who sought to kill Jesus and them, they would have to forgive. In order to tell the good news of Jesus' resurrection to a hurting, often unbelieving, people,
they would have to forgive.
Jesus also sends us to tell a dying world the good news of Jesus' resurrection and the forgiveness that it brings, and that means we also must forgive. Jesus showed us how to handle the sins of others when (as recounted in John 8) the Pharisees presented a woman to him who was about to be stoned for adultery, and they asked Jesus what should be done. Jesus answered that the one who was without sin should cast the first stone. No one threw a stone, and Jesus told the woman that he also did not condemn her. We, as sinners ourselves, have no right or authority to call out or condemn the sins of another. We must give to others the grace that we have been given. The first disciples had only to look at the way Jesus had forgiven them - that despite their own betrayal, their own turning away, their own unbelief, Jesus still came to them, comforted them, and called them. They were, therefore,
to go and do likewise - and so are we.
1 How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD ordained his blessing, life forevermore. (Psalm 133)
