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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Shocking |
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John
20:19- First
Sunday after Easter April
11, 2010 These
words of Christ are shocking. I
think Christ meant them to be. He
was speaking to the eleven disciples, those who, in this passage, are
becoming the Apostles, meaning, "the sent ones." These men were not priests or religious leaders, according to
the Old Testament regulations. They
were not educated in the theological schools.
They had no recognised "credentials" to qualify them to
teach religion, let alone forgive sins. They were businessmen, laymen, men
of the world, not men of the altar. Yet,
unlike many people down through history, the Apostles had no trouble
understanding the meaning of Christ's words.
People have misunderstood Christ's words to mean He was giving the
Apostles, and especially Peter, authority in
themselves to forgive or not to forgive sins. This would be to give sinful and fallible men the authority
to admit others to Heaven and consign others to hell.
I think we can all see the problems that would naturally result
from giving men such authority. The
Apostles had no such misunderstanding.
They understood Christ's words against the background of the
Temple, the sacrifices, and the ceremonial laws through which the Old
Testament priests were authorised to declare
a person ritually "clean" and able to partake of the religious
life of the people of Israel. The
priests had no authority to forgive sins; only to declare
that those who truly confessed the faith were forgiven by
God, and that those who submitted to the law and ceremonies were
allowed to take part in the life of the covenant people of God. The
true meaning of Christ's words is stated well by Bishop Ryle in his
commentary on John's Gospel. Christ is saying, "I confer on you the
power of declaring and pronouncing authoritatively whose sins are
forgiven, and whose sins are not forgiven.
I bestow on you the office of pronouncing who are pardoned and who
are not, just as the Jewish high priest pronounced who were clean and who
were unclean in cases of leprosy" (Expository
Thoughts on the Gospels). Bishop Ryle expresses what has always been
the view of the Anglican Church, the view consistently expressed in the Book
of Common Prayer. We see
this in the words of the minister after the General Confession in Morning
and Evening Prayer; "Almighty God... hath given power and commandment
to his Ministers, to declare and
pronounce to his people, being
penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins." Ministers declare and pronounce; God forgives.
Remember that the next words in the Absolution are, "He
pardoneth and absolveth all those who truly repent, and unfeignedly
believe his holy Gospel." "He pardoneth and absolveth." "He" refers to God, not ministers.
Ministers merely declare and pronounce that God pardons and
absolves all who truly repent
and unfeignedly believe His holy
Gospel. This, of course
is from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, but the words go back to the 1552 Prayer
Book, which takes us right back to the days of the Reformation in England,
and even through the distant past of the Christian Church to the New
Testament itself. So this has
been the position of the Anglican Church since its founding.
And this is the teaching of the Bible.
What
was shocking about the words of Christ, is not what He said but to whom He
said it. He was saying to
these men, and through them, to the ministers of His Church, that the
authority and power of the priests, and Temple, and sacrificial system is
being given to them. Christ
came to this planet to accomplish three things.
First, He came to pay for our sins by giving His life on the cross. Second, He came to give us a new and different kind of life,
a life of holiness and godliness. Third,
He came to establish a new order on this earth. He came to establish a race of people who are forgiven of
their sins and restored to life as God intended us to live it from the
beginning. And He came to
bring those people, that race into a new family, a new community, a new
nation, a new Israel. As in
the Old Israel, the New Israel has a government, laws, and division of
labour, but that is incidental to the point I am trying to make today.
The point I am trying to make is that in this passage, Christ is
saying the New Order, the New Israel is here.
It is not here in its completed form.
When Christ was conceived in the womb of Mary, the Messianic age
was here. He had not taught
us about God yet. He had not
worked His miracles or gone to the cross or risen from the dead, but His
Kingdom was here, His age, His era had begun.
In the words of Christ we have read today, His new order is being
established. It will grow. It
will reach more and more people. It
will cross racial, economic, and political boundaries. It will spread
throughout the world, and one day, it will be the reigning nation and
people on the face of this earth. But
until then we need to remember that we are that nation.
The need for the old one has passed.
The Old Israel looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. Since the Messiah has come, the Old Israel's symbols,
rituals, and meanings are no longer needed.
Furthermore, the Old Israel's mission of declaring that people are
clean and forgiven has been passed to the Church.
Along with the mission, the Church has received the Old Israel's
calling and authority. The
Old Israel's authority to declare that God forgives those who confess
their sins and believe in Him in Biblical faith is now given to the
Church. That is the real
shock in these words. And
so, in the light of that authority, and as part of my calling as a
minister and Bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ, I declare and pronounce
unto you that all truly repent and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel are
forgiven all your sins, past present and future.
If you are in Christ, you are no longer under condemnation, but
your sins are removed and put as far away from you as the east is from the
west. If you are hearing my
words, and you have been allowed to realise that you have not really ever
repented of your sins, or trusted in Christ as your Lord and Saviour, I
caution and warn you that you are still in your sins and under the wrath
of God. Please do not let
this day pass without turning to God in real and biblical faith. Holy
Father, our sins are against Thee only, and only You can forgive them. Grant
to each of us true repentance and biblical faith, that we may in truth
receive eternal life through the merits and labours of Christ our Lord, in
whose Name we ask the things. Amen.
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