Jesus Forgives Sins
The Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity
(VIDEO)
Earlier this year, I had the high privilege of assisting a beloved bishop (whose name I will withhold) at the altar for a high mass in Dallas. The choir sang magnificently, and the liturgy was executed with beautiful solemnity yet sincerely and joyfully. After the faithful had come to the rail and had received the blessed sacrament, I followed the Bishop back to the altar, where he began consuming the leftover hosts, as a priest normally does. Noticing his empty water glass, he pointed to a second water glass. This particular parish had two water glasses on the altar instead of one like our altar here.
Being an obedient acolyte, I handed him the glass. He took a large drink and then suddenly froze. His eyes were wide open, and his face began to fall as if he had just swallowed poison. In a forced, raspy, hushed voice, he blurted out, "What did you give me?" I said, "water." "That's not water!" Panic shot into my heart. "I think I just drank rubbing alcohol," he said, "What's happening?" I didn't know what to do. We're standing at the high altar, silently trying to finish resetting the altar, the Bishop is sweating, the color draining out of his face. I'm thinking: "Lord, I've killed the Bishop!"
He's served faithfully as a bishop for 30 years, written books, and is admired and loved by so many—and I've just killed him! We finish resetting, and I'm watching him closely as he begins to sing the "Gloria," preparing for him to fall over at the altar. Yet, he got through the service, and immediately, I ran to find the parish rector to tell him that, for some reason, one of the water glasses on the altar was filled with rubbing alcohol and that I had given it to the Bishop, who drank more than half of it. With a puzzled look, he said, "We don't have rubbing alcohol on the altar. That was a glass of pure grain alcohol." Which was a practice they began during COVID to sanitize the priest's fingers.
Well, I didn't kill the Bishop; I just got him drunk. Yet, at that moment, when I thought I had just poisoned a faithful servant of the Lord, I remember thinking: "God is never going to forgive me for this one!" And though Bishop was so gracious and understanding- even laughing it off- I felt ashamed and guilty for several weeks.
Experiencing guilt and shame over something one's done wrong isn't an exclusively Christian experience. Guilt, shame, and remorse arising when people do wrong things isn't an exclusively Christian experience but part of the human condition, whether one believes in Jesus or not. That's because people, created in God's image and likeness, have an innate moral conscience and a sense of right and wrong. St. Paul speaks to this embedded morality in Romans chapter two, how the Gentiles obey the Law yet do not possess it or have an awareness of it (Rom 2:12-16).
In this modern, godless, and secular age, people can't escape a tenacious sense of guilt. Although people might not believe in Jesus or acknowledge his Law, they have a conscience. When people sin, they feel bad, guilty, and ashamed. In diagnosing modern society, Fredrich Nietzsche identified guilt as "the most important problem in the development of civilization." He continued that it seems that "the price we pay for our advance in civilization is a loss of happiness through the heightening of the sense of guilt." I think the songwriter and musician Beck captures the malaise of modern guild in the lyrics from the title track of his 2008 album called Modern Guilt:
I feel uptight when I walk in the city / I feel so cold when I'm at home
Feels like everything's starting to hit me /I lost my bearings ten minutes ago
Modern guilt, I'm stranded with nothing / Modern guilt, I'm under lock and key
Misapprehension / Turning into convention
Don't know what I've done, but I feel ashamed
Modern guilt is all in our hands / Modern guilt won't get me to bed
Say what you will / Smoke your last cigarette
Don't know what I've done, but I feel afraid
If, as Nietzsche proclaimed, "God is dead," then where or to whom can one turn to for forgiveness of sins? Although a society, a culture, can kill and do away with the God of Scripture in the name of liberation and human flourishing, sin persists. Man as a moral being (though he or she refuses to accept the existence of an external and divine moral law) is prone by nature to make bad choices and do the wrong thing, falling short of God's glory. This is why people search far and wide for forgiveness for trespasses and sins.
They want their consciences wiped clean. They want to throw off the unbearable burden of sin and walk in the light of day. What they truly want (whether they know it or not) is to confess their sins to something or someone who can not only forgive them but absolve them of sin and restore them in love, saying, "It's okay. You're forgiven. You are loved. Arise, and go your way." But what forgiveness is there without God?
Looking for help, an anonymous, self-defined agnostic posted this in a Reddit thread: "It's been seven years since I did this very messed-up thing. To this day, I still have vivid flashbacks of that moment. What do I do? I'm trying my best to do better, but I don't know how to move forward. Maybe there isn't any moving forward. Any advice is appreciated."
The comments included a long list of remedies: forgive yourself and carry on; find a counselor who will accept you despite what you've done and not judge you; eliminate negative self-talk; and another suggested practicing mindfulness.
These commentators (whoever they are) were genuinely trying to help this poor soul. But let's be honest; no amount of secular counseling or modern psychology can absolve a guilty conscience. You can travel to the ends of the earth or bury yourself in your career, but these won't let you escape the gnawing pain of shame.
One may attempt to self-anesthetize abusing alcohol and medications. Or redirect the discomfort of conscience by punishing one's body in various creative ways. These might temporarily alleviate the pain, but without Divine forgiveness, you will not be cured.
In this country, we are fortunate to have a wide range of physicians available to us who can mend broken bones and stitch up wounds. Skilled and highly trained doctors work tirelessly, treating all kinds of life-threatening diseases. However, none of them can erase a guilt-ridden conscience, nor can they surgically remove your shame. There is only one Physician with the authority, desire, and ability to heal our greatest infirmities: Jesus Christ.
My friends, Jesus is the Great Physician because he has the power to not only mend our ailing bodies but, more importantly, to forgive our sins and heal us from death. Only God can forgive sins. Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins." But as the saying goes, "Talk is cheap," which is why Jesus challenged the people, asking, "Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?" Well, any right-minded person would answer, "Your sins be forgiven," for, how can anyone disprove an unseen reality?
"But, that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (he saith to the sick of the palsy), I say to thee: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. And he arose and departed to his house."
By this miracle, our Lord confirmed the inward reality of forgiveness by an outward and visible sign of restoration: "Arise and walk." Though an unseen reality, the forgiveness of sins is demonstrated in a changed life. Joy is once again restored. An inward self-focus begins to look outward, serving and loving others. Forgiveness brings about real-life change. How many times have you seen the radical change in a person brought about by repentance and forgiveness?
Jeremy Taylor, the 17th-century Anglican Divine, writes, "Of all things in the world, [forgiveness & repentance] makes the greatest change: it changes things in heaven and earth; for it changes the whole man from sin to grace, from vicious habits to holy customs, from unchaste bodies to angelical souls, from swine to philosophers, from drunkenness to sober counsels. "Jesus says, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." When guilt and shame crush and paralyze the soul, we must take the medicine the Good doctor prescribes: "My child, repent, acknowledge your sins, and I will gladly forgive you."
My friends, "Arise and walk" are the gracious words spoken to every absolved sinner who humbles themselves at Christ's feet and confesses their sins. By confession, we throw off the old man, who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and it is the forgiving mercies of God by which we are "renewed in the spirit... and put on the new man." Confess your sins, be free of shame and guilt, and walk in the light of your salvation, because “God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." I’ll close with a prayer attributed to St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan:
A Prayer of St. Ambrose
Thee alone I follow Lord Jesus, Who heals my wounds. For what shall separate me from the love of God, which is in Thee? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine? I am held fast as though by nails and fettered by the bonds of charity. Remove from me, O Lord Jesus, with Thy potent sword, the corruption of my sins. Secure me in the bonds of Thy love; cut away what is corrupt in me. Come quickly and make an end of my many, my hidden and secret afflictions. Open the wound lest the evil humor spread. With Thy new washing, cleanse in me all that is stained. Hear me, you earthly men, who in your sins bring forth drunken thoughts. I have found a Physician. He dwells in heaven and distributes His healing on earth. He alone can heal my pains Who Himself has none. He alone, Who knows what is hidden, can take away the grief of my heart, the fear of my soul: Jesus Christ. Christ is grace, Christ is life, Christ is resurrection. Amen.
