Catalysts For Grace

John 20:19-23

Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. (John 20:22-23)

JUDGES AND INQUISITORS throughout the ages have often gotten a peculiar sense of pleasure in their power to proclaim guilt or innocence, particularly in their capacity to condemn. Perhaps that should not surprise us; in a world full of wrongs, there ought to be something satisfying in correcting them. Of course, the effort to rid the world of evil can easily lead to its own kind of evil—literal or figurative witch hunts that turn a misguided quest for justice into a pattern of injustice. The power to condemn is awfully dangerous in the hands of people who seem to enjoy it.

As people called to be priests (1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6), we are given a similar power. Being unmerciful shouldn’t appeal to anyone with a compassionate heart, but what really ought to excite us is the first half of Jesus’ statement. As soon as he breathed the Holy Spirit into his disciples, he told them they had the privilege of declaring the forgiveness of sins. He phrased it in a way that suggests a more active role than merely declaring what the Father has already done. He implied that their forgiveness actually meant something in heavenly realms, that the decision to forgive or not to forgive lies to some degree in human hands in partnership with the Spirit they had just received. As much as we might want to defer to God alone for matters of grace and mercy, he includes us in the process. We are ministers of his pardon.

Enjoy that gift and use it liberally. With a heart of compassion and eyes of faith, learn to see the weight of guilt and shame pressing down on every human heart, even those that wear it in offensive ways. Pray forgiveness upon those who are ready to receive it and even those who aren’t. See your compassion and your words as catalysts for God’s work in their lives. Use your priestly privileges to connect unforgiven offenders with the mercy of their God.

{Jesus, surely you would not trust your followers to implement divine forgiveness unless you trusted the work of your Spirit in them even more. Fill me with spiritual wisdom and mercy that matches yours. Turn my attitudes and my mouth into expressions of your boundless grace. Amen.