Manna

Absolution Above and Beyond Sunday Morning

This is Part 3 of a series I’m doing on what Sunday means for the Church of Jesus.

Part 1 – The Land without a Sunday 

Part 2 – Why Sunday? Why Easter? Why Easter Sunday

            The Gospel of John records something remarkably important happening on Easter Sunday.  That very evening Jesus institutes the Office of the Ministry (John 20:19-23).  “‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And 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 withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.’”

            He takes the Disciples (a word meaning “students”) and ordains them Apostles (meaning “sent ones”).  Sent to do what?  To preach the Gospel (Mark 16:15, Luke 24:46-49), to baptize and teach (Matthew 28:19), and to absolve repentant sinners (John 20:19-23). 

            We now repeat these verses at every ordination and installation of a pastor.  They are the chief texts establishing the Office he is being put into- Christ’s Office of the Holy Ministry.  We do this so that he and everyone who hears him should believe it to be true when he says, “in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Corporate and/or Personal

            Forgiving sinners is a very personal task for the pastor, no matter what format we use.  You may be most familiar with the “Corporate Confession & Absolution” that starts a Sunday morning service. We all confess the same confession. We all hear the same absolution.  This is good and valid.  Faith either believes and receives it, or disbelieves and walks away sadly very empty and afraid of one’s sin.  This “corporate confession & absolution” is similar to the Gospel being preached.  Hearing the Gospel, one must apply to himself, “The Pastor just said Jesus died for everyone.  ‘Everyone’ includes me! Jesus died for me!”  For those who believe it is sufficient and personal and joyfully uplifting.

            For those who are in doubt, they are in need of more care and more personal attention.  Their doubts may be due to the severity of their sins or some harassing thoughts stirred up by the devil, “The Pastor doesn’t mean you. If he really knew what you’ve done he wouldn’t say that!”  In any case the solution is a more personal form of this absolution:  “Individual Confession & Absolution” (page 292-3 in Lutheran Service Book).

            Privately with your pastor a Christian may personally and individually go into as much detail as necessary laying out the sins that terrify the conscience, the guilt, the shame, the fear- all of it.  The pastor has sworn in his ordination vow never to reveal anything confessed to him and his marching orders are already given by Jesus in the verses above- “forgive that man, absolve this woman, heal this child with my word of life.”

            If you’ve never taken the chance to do this, spend some time thinking about it and perhaps you’ll want to make an appointment.  As you think about it, look at John 20:19-31 as an example of how personally Jesus seeks out Thomas.  Thomas has Thomas’ sins.  Peter has Peter’s sins.  John has John’s own sins.  They are not all the same.  Thomas spoke words of unbelief that were very specific, about the hands and side of Jesus.  Jesus seeks the lost sinner personally and invites him to inspect. He calls Thomas to faith personally.  And most of all He speaks the word of Peace to the sinful man Thomas.

            Now place you and your household there. Parents have Parent sins. Children have children sins. Pastors have pastor sins.  Teachers have teacher sins. Students have student sins. Governing authorities have their sins and citizens have their sins.  You have your sins.  I have my sins, my own errors, my own most grievous faults.  And they are personal- most definitely! That’s what we don’t like about Individual Confession & Absolution.  It’s TOO personal.  We all want a personable pastor. We want a good relationship with him, even a personal relationship… “Confession of my own personal, unique, and embarrassing sins? That’s too personal!”  But it’s what you need.  Christ commands us pastors to hear and to absolve, for your sake not His or ours. It’s for you.

            We pastors know how scary it can be the first time- we went through that ourselves once. We also know the great relief it brings.  Even cathartically you start to feel better just putting those deep, buried sins into words that come out of your mouth.  Then- how much more real and personally uplifting when the man, the pastor, who hears those words says, “I bear the Word of your Lord Christ. You are forgiven. Go in peace!”  

Therapists, counselors, and doctors will even encourage or require that type of cathartic honesty.  As we all know they cannot treat their patients if they don’t have the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  In the case of confessing sin- Jesus Christ the Great Physician already knows all your sins.  The confessing of them is for your benefit, that you may personally receive forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself. 

The elephant in the room at this point is our limitations with Live Streaming.  In the same way as we cannot offer the Lord’s Supper over the Internet, nor baptize over the Internet, the Confession & Absolution, even the Corporate format, really cannot be done without the personal, incarnational, sacramental touch- pastors looking you in the eye as they pronounce the public absolution, or laying their hands on your head in the individual setting and saying your very name.[1] 

Sent in the Flesh

The most important words that the Catechism left on the cutting room floor are “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you (John 20:21).”  While the Catechism doesn’t include them, Jesus did say them and the Lutheran reformers sure did get their mileage out of these blessed words.  Truly they are very important words for all ministers to take to heart.  We are to operate as men sent by Christ to serve in the same manner as Christ who was sent by His Father.  We are to preach His Gospel, show the mercy He showed, forgive with His forgiveness.  A good messenger doesn’t make it about himself, but about the message he brings and the sender of it (see also, Luke 10:16). 

            In our day and age where everything seems to be going digital and virtual, John 20:21 is perhaps as important as ever.  Before His incarnation Jesus was the eternal WORD (John 1) who did come to His people by the prophets even though His people did not receive or believe that Word.  Then to carry out the work of redemption God came in the flesh.  “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  That’s the Incarnation, and the Ministry of the Incarnate Christ ought to be incarnational too. You need a flesh and blood pastor, your own shepherd, your very own minister who brings the Word and Sacraments of Christ to you, personally.

            Nowadays you can get lots of disembodied words through your computer screen, radio, TV, you name it.  These can be good or bad, edifying or faith-destroying.  One thing they definitely are not is incarnate-in the flesh- there for you.  Your pastor is, at least he should be.  If he sees himself as sent in the same way of Christ the Word made Flesh then he’ll be there for you, always willing to meet, to get his hands dirty with your sin, and some day to bury you with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

Wrap-up and Looking Ahead

            So what are we to do right now when we cannot meet for public worship and Corporate Confession & Absolution?  Set up a time to meet with us for the personal form, Individual Confession and Absolution.  Having private space set aside, we can keep good distance. The order in the hymnal does not take very long and the brief moment we enter your space for the absolution is not long enough to transmit anything if we were asymptomatic (ten minutes of conversation is the social-distancing guideline). 

            Looking ahead to the next few Bible studies we’re going to use Individual Confession & Absolution as a launching point to examine Confession and Forgiveness in your own household as well as a number of things that are done in the Church which belong in the home…you’ll definitely want to come back for those insights!