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 religious leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "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."
It takes freedom to forgive sin. It takes freedom in your soul and in your heart. It takes freedom in your mind and in your spirit. It takes a freedom in your body as well. The kind of forgiving and retaining that I believe Jesus is referring to is not the holier-than-thou-I-am-doing-this-for- you-to-make-you-a-better-person type of forgiveness. That is not the kind of forgiveness that Jesus practiced. Jesus forgave sins of others so that they could be empowered – often for their own healing. It was an empowerment of faith. As I consider the many times that Jesus referred to forgiving someone it was never for his own betterment or status. It was one path of healing – a healing that was presented to him as a need. This is a cyclical thing, I think – forgiveness which evokes healing which evokes empowerment which comes around again back to forgiveness.
Is there a time to retain sin? I like to think not. Maybe there is. Jesus seems to indicate by his words that there is, but he also cried out on the cross prayers of forgiveness for his persecutors. What’s interesting about that, I think, is that Jesus was crying out a prayer for his Father to forgive them – he did not say that he forgave them. He forgave lots of people – why is it that he didn’t just cry out, “I forgive you. You don’t know what you’re doing.” Did Jesus not cry out his own forgiveness because at that time it was inappropriate? He was the one being abused … oppressed.
When a person is being abused by their partner and comes to me for counseling there is no way I am going to tell them to just forgive their abuser. I’m going to tell them to get out of there. When we are marching in the Pride Parade and some fundamentalists hurl hateful and abusive words at us, I am not so much standing in forgiveness for them. Rather, I am ready to fight – non-violently fight. I will take their abuse for the greater good sometimes, but it will be for my part an act of non-violent resistance, not simply passivity. I am digressing a little, but it is to the point that there seems to be a time to retain sin as opposed to forgive. Oppression, abuse, and all their ilk are not tolerated by Jesus and neither should they be tolerated by us. Maybe receiving the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath of Christ, is also an empowering of discernment – to know when to forgive and when to retain.
Jesus said, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.” How did the Father send him – that’s my question? We have the power to forgive or retain sin. As people who have received the divine breath of the resurrection, I believe we can experience rejoicing and pass that on to others along with the forgiveness of sin. It does not mean that we tolerate oppression and all its evils. That would not at all be how I understand the Father sending Jesus.
Ultimately, even in the face of all these questions and uncertainties, the message of the resurrection is a message of joy and freedom. It is a message of empowerment and forgiveness. It is a message of holy spirit-breath. Forgiving or retaining sins is not a power trip. I think instead it is for empowering to participate in enacting freedom.
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2 comments:
The question regarding when, if ever, is it appropriate for us to retain the transgressions of others is a thought-provoking issue. Perhaps the motives, attitude, and/or comprehension level of the transgressor plays a role in this.
There are those who steal because they are starved and desperate. There are others who steal because they are covetous and impatient to have that which they could, but will not, work for. I think that it would be easier to make a case for retaining that person's transgression than it would be with regards to the person who was stealing because their body had basically gone into survival mode.
With regards to attitude, I guess we could use two cases where people who committed vehicular homicide while driving drunk as an example. Let's say that between their conviction and when they're to be sentenced, one of the murderers went out and made a serious effort to apologize to the victim's family and started speaking to student groups about the consequences of drinking and driving. The other convicted murderer does none of these things and even gets pulled over for driving drunk again. I don't think that God expects us to forgive the second murderer even if that person admits to what they've done because they still haven't even shown any proof that they are willing to turn away from doing the same thing that has already killed one innocent person.
I think the last factor I mentioned is probably the hardest to make use of. Let's say a 30 year old of average intelligence shoots and kills a random stranger and then tells the police that they did it purposely. Let's also say a ten year old child with average intelligence does the exact same thing. Should we forgive or retain the child's wrongdoing? I kind of feel like maybe we should (or, at least, could) forgive the child even if they haven't expressed any remorse because I don't believe that someone that age could really understand the full implications of their actions. With regards to the adult, well, I think it's a lot more likely that they understood just what it means to take the life of another person but chose to murder anyway. Their ability to fully comprehend what they were doing means I'm not going to be as willing to forgive them before they show remorse.
Does any of what I wrote make sense to you? It's a journey, I think. Ideally, I could forgive much more freely than I do now. It's something I need to work on, that's for sure.
I think motives, attitude, and/or comprehension level are very important factors. I also think that a victim who is expected to forgive (a marginalized person in society) is often expected to do so to keep the status quo and not threaten imperial powers. It isn't nice to not forgive. If you don't forgive, then you are taking power unto yourself. When a marginalized person in society commits a violent act then it is justified to punish them. When a person in power commits a violent act it is obviously justified somehow and the victim should realize that and even take the blame. These instances, I believe are reasons to retain sin - to not forgive.
The capitalist system keeping food from poor people because "if they were hungry enough they'd get a job" is a violent act that does not warrant forgiveness. The people who organize these actions do not warrant forgiveness. This for me speaks to your example of stealing for greed. The poor person who is going to die if they don't have food and steals from someone gets punished. Instead, they deserve forgiveness. The rich white man who amasses wealth by creating conditions in which a poor person who is starving has to steal or die is rewarded with more wealth and prestige. Here, I reserve my right (according to my holy book) to retain sin.
What do you think?
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