God’s Secret Weapon
John 20:19-23
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
John 20:22-23 The Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples 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.”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… In war times, it is important that you have a few surprises in store for your enemy. If they don’t see you coming, or don’t expect a certain approach, you have the upper hand. It is referred to as having a “secret weapon.”
A secret weapon is exactly that – secret. It is something widely unknown until it is employed; and its effect has everything to do with its secretiveness. Perhaps the “secret weapon” in the war on Iraq many years ago could have been those bunker-busting bombs, or the “drone” aircraft which went into enemy territory unmanned and largely undetected. In any event, the results were stunning.
In our text this morning we have the narrative which describes what might be called “God’s Secret Weapon.” And even though it was not a secret to our Lord’s disciples, it is a secret to many Lutheran Christians. But more on that in a bit. Let us examine the text.
It is Easter evening. The disciples of our Lord were gathered – dare I say huddled – together in fear behind closed and locked doors. Three days earlier they saw their Lord Jesus crucified and buried. Since Jesus was their leader, they themselves would naturally think that those who killed Jesus would now be coming after them. They had every reason to be afraid for their own lives. Fear had locked the disciples in – fear of their own life, and fear about their sins of deserting Jesus in His hour of greatest need. They were afraid to go out; they were afraid to be seen; they were hiding out behind closed and locked doors.
This is an accurate description of what sin does to a person. Sin brings fear. Sin brings shame. These are the first lessons we learn from Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve sinned and then tried, in fear, to hide from God. What a dumb idea to think that they could hide from the omnipresent God! But that is a product of sin too.
Sin can lock us up in our own house. Sin can even prevent us from coming to the Divine Service to receive the Gospel and God’s good gifts while the devil accuses us of being unworthy even to show up here where we most need to be.
Enter Jesus. He simply appears. He does not knock. He does not ask to be invited into the house. He appears behind closed and locked doors and hearts. And He says, “Peace be with you.” And it is so! For Christ Himself – the peace that passes all understanding – is with the disciples: peace-in-the-flesh is with them. The spoken Word has delivered what it has said.
“Now when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.” Jesus not only appears and speaks – delivers – His peace to these frightened and locked-in men, He shows them the very wounds by which that peace was accomplished. Even though Jesus had now risen from the dead and was in a glorified state, His hands and His side still bore the marks of His death – a death which was necessary in order to obtain forgiveness of sins for all mankind.
When the disciples saw the wounds and heard the word of peace from their Master’s lips, “they were glad…” Of course they were glad! By the greeting, “Peace be with you” they had just been exonerated from the lips of the One who had every right to condemn them for their cowardly actions and their lack of faith. They had just heard words of comfort and certainty from the One who chose to come into their presence and from whom they fully expected retribution, condemnation, and death.
And while the disciples were still basking in their gladness of heart at Jesus’ appearance, “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you. As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “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.”
Again, Jesus delivered His peace to the disciples, for He knew they needed all the peace they could get. And then He gave them a job to do; He gave them their orders; He laid out for them what they, in essence, the first New Testament pastors, were to do. He said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” We know from Holy Scripture that Jesus was sent by His Father to suffer, die, and rise again, thereby winning forgiveness of sins for all people through His body crucified and blood shed for us on the cross. Simply put, Jesus was sent by God to give away His life. And in these words Jesus sends His disciples – these first of the New Testament pastors – to do the same thing, to give away the life of Jesus.
And how is that done? “The Lord Jesus breathed on [His disciples] and said, ‘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.’” Jesus gave both His authority and His command that sins be forgiven and retained. Jesus gave to His disciples the keys to lock and unlock heaven by virtue of their forgiving and retaining sins in His place, by His authority, and by His command.
Of course, we Lutherans understand this passage best in the words of the Small Catechism in answer to the question, “What is the Office of the Keys? The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.” And the next question is, “Where is this written?” to which the answer is given in the words of today’s text from John 20:22-23.
Not only that, but in the Catechism – based clearly on Scripture – we are also told precisely how those sins are to be forgiven and retained. For the question, “What do you believe according to these words” (meaning the words of John 20:22-23), is answered this way: “I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His” – Christ’s – “divine command” [and in that we see and hear Christ’s command to His disciples in our text], “in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation” [“…if you retain the sins of any they are retained…”] “and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better” [“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven”], “this is just as valid and certain even in heaven as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.”
Therefore, dear fellow redeemed, we believe, teach, confess, and therefore practice that Christ has given both His authority and His command that His sent pastors give away Christ’s life; and by that we mean to preach the Gospel, to Baptize as we saw again today, to distribute Christ’s own body and blood, and to deliver Holy Absolution to those who confess and repent of their sins.
There is not a pastor in Christ’s church, myself included, who is exempt from this command of Christ. I must give away the life and forgiveness of Christ, for that is exactly what Lutheran pastors are given to do. You, on the other hand, are not required but are free to receive the life and forgiveness of Christ, for it is a gift, freely and lovingly given from Christ who uses the mouth and hands of His servant, your pastor.
So what does it mean to confess one’s sins? Or, in the words of the Catechism, “What is confession?” Again, the Luther gives the best and most concise Scriptural answer. “Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting but firmly believing that by it [the absolution] our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.”
“What sins should we confess? Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even those we are not aware of, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer. But before the pastor we should confess only those sins which we know and feel in our hearts.” Notice that the Catechism is not addressing the group or “general” confession which we say at the outset of the Divine Service; that is not the context.
The Small Catechism, which is a vital part of our Lutheran Confessions, indicates clearly that this is the one-on-one private confession and specific absolution between the penitent and his or her own pastor. This is where we are encouraged to “confess only those sins which we know and feel in our hearts” – those sins that specifically trouble us, those sins that have us locked in, those sins that bring us fear, those sins that trouble our conscience to the point of despair, as well as any other sin, great or small.
And in the Office of the Holy Ministry God has provided the ears of Christ to hear your confession as well as the mouth of Christ to speak and deliver to you Christ’s forgiveness, Christ’s peace, Christ’s absolution. It is the same forgiveness of sins that we by faith receive in Holy Baptism and in the Holy Supper of our Lord. It is given by Christ through His chosen instrument, the benefits of which are received by God-given faith.
But largely this gift remains a secret, maybe not to this congregation in general, but all across Lutheranism. It is secret in the sense that so few people ever bother to inquire about it when it is offered. It is secret in the sense that so few people avail themselves of this precious Gospel-gift. And it is secret in the sense that relatively few Lutheran pastors teach and offer this gift to their sheep, although many more are beginning to do so.
For example – we all pray in the Our father, “…forgive us our trespasses…” But exactly where and when does our Lord deliver His forgiveness to you? Well, one thing is for sure, it is not something floating around in the air which simply falls on people when they pray. If that were the case then our prayer becomes a work and prayer itself becomes a means of grace – a channel through which God’s forgiveness flows. But this is wrong; prayer is not a means of grace. No, the forgiveness Jesus gives is specifically delivered and concretely applied to you only in the Gospel and in the Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Absolution, and Holy Supper.
The Lord of the Church has provided His people with everything they will ever need to live their life of faith. And in the Gospel gift of Holy Absolution the people of God have yet another sure and certain delivery of Christ’s never-ending forgiveness.
Do not let fear prohibit you from receiving Christ’s forgiveness, for in Christ’s perfect love He casts out all fear. Do not let your sins prevent you from confessing them, for there is no sin so great that Christ has not already paid for. Do not let your mind play games with you to the point that you fear confessing your sins out loud to someone other than God, for God Himself hears your confession through the ears of your pastor and He Himself speaks and delivers His forgiveness to you through the mouth of your pastor.
Do not fear that what you say in confession may be mentioned in another place, for your pastor is bound by his Office never to divulge the sins confessed to him. The pastor’s ears are a tomb; what goes into them dies with him. Do not let earthly thought talk you out of receiving God’s Gospel gifts in as many ways as it is offered, for if that happens the only one who loses is you.
Christ has lived the perfect life for you. Christ has suffered and died for you. Christ has risen, and by His resurrection and your Baptism you will rise too on the last day. His fountain of forgiveness is ever-flowing and never ending. He is here in His Supper to give away His life just as He is in His Holy Absolution for the same reason – to give away His life to all.
Oops, I guess now the secret is out!
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
