ForgivenessSample

Forgiveness – Core to the Church

In yesterday’s reflection, we saw that forgiveness is something inherent to the authority of the church. We have shied away from this, probably because of the Catholic church’s stance on the priestly and sacramental role of forgiveness and confession (both biblical themes in themselves). But reactions always lose something in translation, and we are the poorer for it.

I raised the thought the church has the power to forgive or retain people’s sins. Where God’s people have forgiven others their sins, some remarkable results have been seen throughout history.

The reason we forgive is not that we might feel better but that others will be released from the power of sin and brought into the light of the gospel – the Good News. A common theme in preaching when referring to forgiving others is the benefits that accrue to us – peace, joy, being able to sleep better, etc. But this is not the purpose of forgiveness – certainly, we are better off if we forgive - the point of forgiveness is not my or your well-being but clearing the decks for others so they can hopefully respond to Jesus Christ. Forgiving others so that I might feel enriched is a barely disguised form of selfishness. We forgive so that God may extend forgiveness. In this sense, forgiveness is a profound form of evangelism. We, the church, are God’s hands to the world, God’s invitation to His presence and power in Christ.

I also intimated in yesterday’s reflection that we can bind a person’s sin to them. This is the context of ‘binding and loosing,’ which has little to do with binding spirits and loosing God’s spirit. In Matthew 16, Jesus speaks to Peter and the disciples about the keys of the kingdom and binding and loosing. Little has been less understood and more improperly applied. The authority to bind and loose refers to extending forgiveness or withholding it. In Matt 18, we see this worked out in a case of church discipline (an unpopular thought to us) where a person who fails to respond to correction is sent from the church – their sin sticking to them. Jesus then said that whatever you bind (disallow) on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose (allow) on earth is loosed in heaven. This speaks to the real power of the church – to set people free from the power and consequence of sin in Jesus’ name – as his representative. In this sense/context, where two or three gather in Jesus’ name, whatever they agree to will be done by their Father in heaven. What an amazing privilege.