SermonStudio

John 20:19-23
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."

COMMENTARY
Jesus twice begins his message to the disciples with the word "Peace." He knows that the very sight of him, alive again, would be a terrifying experience unless he calmed them. He was telling them that wherever he is, there is nothing to fear.

The first thing Jesus does with the disciples, after the rejoicing and the extension of peace, is to "send" them, as he was sent from the Father. He wastes little time talking over old times. They are to be sent, but not alone, for immediately he breathes on them so that they may receive the Holy Spirit, who has the power to forgive sins. They will be sent with power. They will arrive wherever they go with the awesome power of forgiveness.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, it is not for the sake of forgiveness that most of us are interested in you, even though that is what you sent the first disciples out to do. We hardly feel the need for that much forgiveness. Those who tell us that is part of the problem sound like doomers and gloomers. We have mostly decided that guilt is not healthy, so we don't take sin on our backs anymore. We want evangelists coming to us with better promises, more interesting offers, flashier promotions than "forgiveness."

Lord, send the person to us who has a message of love. Send someone telling us about the end of our enemy "death." Send another with words about your constant presence, but don't, Lord, send someone with words about forgiveness, not if you expect a response.

Lord, the truth of the matter is that we feel pretty good about ourselves. We can easily admit to being sinful, but we do it without much shame. Our confession is mainly a matter-of-fact admission of the human situation, but most of us don't really "feel bad" about it. It's the way we are. It's the way you made us, almost.

We, your people, have a tough time putting our sin and your cross together, Jesus. We don't really believe that it was our sin that caused your death, except as "a way of speaking." We know that you died because of sin generally, but not specifically. Surely you understand that we are glad that you died for sin and sinners, but that is somehow different from our behavior, our lack of focus on you, our self-centeredness causing your death. No one on earth is in a position to judge us, Lord. We know that anyone who wants to throw stones at others lives in a glass house, too. We will accept no prophet, no pastor, no persons with lips dripping with guilt. Self-esteem is essential, Lord Jesus, and all this talk about sin and forgiveness is not conducive to mental health.

Lord, we know, even as we pray this prayer, that our defensiveness against needing forgiveness is proof positive that sin has us clenched in its grip. Although we know that this prayer is mostly a lie, we must feel this way about sin if we are to escape self-effacing, old-fashioned piety, Victorian principles, and basic hypocrisy. We know that we cannot list all of our sins. Their numbers are legion, and to confess them all would only depress us and probably bore you. Finding the good news in forgiveness is hard. Instead of dwelling on your goodness we brood morbidly upon our own situation. We dwell upon the deed, even after confessing it, but not upon your goodness, your elimination from your memory of our wrongdoing. We think that we must somehow explain to you why we did what we did, while all the time you are saying, "I know, child of God, about the why of your sin, and I'm sorry that you did it, too. Don't do it again. I don't like it and neither do you. Now, if we are going to work well together today and tomorrow, you must believe that I've forgotten all about your sin. You must let it go. You must not keep bringing it up. It distracts us both. Believe me. I've taken care of it. I don't have to forgive it twice. It's gone. Over. Done with. Peace."

Lord, say, "Peace," to us with a word of forgiveness. Say it again and again, until we hear it spoken by you with our names attached. Say, "Peace," Lord, to us, as you did to your disciples, even before they said, "I'm sorry." Come to us with open arms as you did to those who were hiding during your dying. Give us a disciple's faith to hear and accept both you and your forgiveness. Come to us, Lord Jesus, and say, "Peace." Amen.