“TE ABSOLVO”
Saint John 20: 19-23
Lent Midweek Mass 5: 2 April Anno Domini 2020
Father Jay Watson SSP
The fifth, and second to the last, part of The Catechism has arrived. It is PURE Gospel. It is the third Sacrament. This is that part of the Catechism that Protestantized Lutherans either omit, ignore, or hyper-focus on only that part which reads: “The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His Church on earth to forgive…” So, they say, it’s the Congregation’s power and it’s the congregation that will be setting the agenda, taking names, and kicking down doors (parsonage doors).
No. This Sacrament is entrusted to the Priest, the Pastor, The Bishop of the parish by Jesus Himself. Christians forgive fellow Christians every day for the entirety of their lives. Husbands forgive wives and vice versa; parents forgive children and vice versa; you all pray (and thus do) “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
But that is not what Jesus was talking about here (as Luther correctly notes): “The Lord Jesus breathed on His Disciples and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven’” [Jn. 20.22-23]. This is God’s establishing the Holy Office of The Ministry to precisely make Holy Baptism continuous, daily, and always active. You were Baptized once, but to say, as you should, as you must, “I am Baptized,” means to daily confess and be absolved. People do not come to their Confessor, their Pastor, daily—that is understandable both in the 21st century as well as the 16th, 5th, or even in the age of the Apostles. But the tragic thing is that people do not come to hear the voice of Jesus’ personal forgiveness of their sins…at all, maybe never in their entire lives. I suppose the original “good intentions” of the page 15 introduction meant well, but I fear that it has taken away the precious Gospel in its most beautiful and glorious distribution. Ah well, people do what people do. One cannot and must not make a Law out of the Gospel.
But, you did make public testimony, you swore, as an 8th grader: “I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His Divine command, in particular when they…absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.”
Christians who do truly desire the sweet release of guilty consciences and the healing balm of forgiveness will seek out individual (private) absolution when and where the Holy Ghost constrains them. But we must never pit the Sacraments against one another. We must never say “this much forgiveness and attention is all I want Jesus—it is enough!” No. Jesus is not just “enough” He is constant everything.
Look into your new catechisms—the 1986 or 2017 versions—and see that an actual ‘order’ of Private Confession is printed. Ask yourself why? Here at Augsburg, we use the one included in the newest hymnal (LSB). And it is used.
Some day the pandemic will subside and pastors may well use Bible Class or other instruction hours to further teach, as Luther did, the joys and salutary effects of private confession. We pray that day comes soon.
Remember, Holy Baptism was your birth, your new and forever re-birth into Christ. It was not so much the shock-paddles which start up a heart that has stopped beating (although, yes, it is like that, sort of) but also a blood transfusion, a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation…kind of. No, it’s a literal and actual re-birth from the dead. That’s what your Holy Baptism is. But it’s not over and it’s never done. It’s not an electrical current but a God current of ever-life that flows from the Holy + Font, i.e. Jesus, through Confession and ABSOLUTION (always free and total ABSOLUTION—Forgiveness). Your life in Christ from the 8th day (or whenever you were Washed) to the eternal 8th day. Jesus forgives 7 times 70—that’s symbolic for “always and forever.”
The Holy Mass, Sunday, and tonight, starts with The Trinitarian Invocation. That’s also your Baptism—your salvation. The preparatory service immediately goes into the corporate, or group, confession and absolution. That is a good thing, a God thing, a Jesus “present” thing. It is pure Gospel for you to hear and believe those words: “Upon this your confession, I by virtue of my Office as a called and ordained servant of The Word, announce the Grace of God unto all of you. And, 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 Ghost.”
Once this pandemic/virus emergency ends I will again be here every Thursday evening between 5:00 and 6:15 pm to hear Private Confession—FOR THE SAKE OF INDIVIDUAL ABSOLUTION—Jesus speaking directly and solely into your ears.
So, as to the viability and free use of This wonderful Sacrament, this 5th Chief Part of The Small Catechism…?
Time will tell.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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