The Office of the Keys - 2nd Sunday of Easter - John 20:19-31

Dr. Cary Larson explores the "Office of the Keys," examining how Jesus empowered his disciples to forgive sins through the Holy Spirit. Reflecting on Thomas’s journey from disbelief to a bold confession of faith, true forgiveness and restoration are gifts offered to all who repent through Christ’s enduring grace.

Information about The American Association of Lutheran Churches (TAALC) can be found at www.taalc.org

Transcript

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In the cascading layers of noise in our ever-changing world, discovering a space for reflection and inspiration is increasingly rare. Welcome then to Faith Comes by Hearing, a unique podcast series that cuts through the clamor, carrying the timeless messages of the gospel into our lives with renewed relevance. Join Dr. Carrie Larson, the presiding pastor of the American Association of Lutheran Churches, as he ventures into the challenges of everyday life and the deep need to hear the truth that we are saved by grace, through faith, through Christ Jesus alone. Each episode is an invitation not just to listen, but to truly hear and embrace the good news of Christ Jesus for you and for all.

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So I returned to the Gospel of John, the twentieth chapter, beginning at the 21st verse. Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, 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 anyone, they are forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld. The gospel of our Lord praise to you, O Christ. Jesus is saying here what we would call in the church the office of the keys. What this is, is the assignment by the living Christ to his church, first to the disciples, and then to the whole church on earth, the authority and power to forgive or to retain sins. Now this isn't anything really new. Jesus is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew to say this to Peter I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now it's common in old church art to depict Saint Peter holding a rather large set of keys as symbols of this responsibility. Some traditions hold that this responsibility rests only on Peter's shoulders and then passed upon his successors. But when we look at the Gospel of John, Jesus is saying this to all the disciples there on that first Easter evening. He is saying to his whole church that the church has the responsibility of the office of the keys. You, dear church, hold the keys of the kingdom. You have the Holy Spirit, and by that same Spirit you are to forgive the sins of those who repent and retain the sins of those who do not. The church delegates and transfers the public exercising of this responsibility to called servants of the Word, namely pastors. We have this in the Acts of the Apostles, the 20th chapter, the first letter to the Corinthians, the fourth chapter, the second letter to the Corinthians, the second chapter, and the letter to the Church of Ephesus, Ephesians chapter 4. So on the behalf of all of you, I stand here Sunday after Sunday, usually over there by that altar, and I do exactly what he has given us all authority to do: to forgive you all your sins. Make no mistake. Make no mistake. This is not my forgiveness. It is only God's forgiveness. I have no power to say to you, your sins are forgiven, except by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not my voice, it is not my words, or anything that I can do to forgive your sins. It is Jesus who forgives. Jesus by his word of his mouth. Jesus by the salvation. He alone gives by the shedding of his blood on Calvary's cross. But it is also affirmed, avowed, and declared to be trustworthy and true by the seal of his glorious resurrection. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is recorded as saying to his disciples, He who hears you hears me. And so it is with any called pastor, when that pastor says, I forgive you all your sins, when you hear these words, it is as if the risen Jesus Christ uses that voice to be his voice. In other words, we all hear Jesus Christ proclaim forgiveness. Now there is an old saying, outside the church there is no salvation, and that is true because outside the church there is no forgiveness. Now, how can I say that? Because the risen from the dead Jesus Christ gives his forgiveness only through the church and through vocation of pastor, whom he has called to stand in his place and exercise the authority that he alone gives. All right, let's return to Thomas. If we read carefully, Thomas has a much bigger problem than doubt, as he is often labeled. It wasn't doubting Thomas, but to be accurate, he was unbelieving Thomas, as he is recorded saying here in the Gospel of John, unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, now get this, I will never believe. Thomas is in dire need of forgiveness. He has not believed the witness of his friends who saw with their own eyes the resurrected Jesus. And because he did not see Jesus with his own eyes, he refused to believe not only the words of his friends, but the very words of Jesus himself, who a number of times told him and the rest of the disciples that he would die and rise again. Now, in the good and gracious will of Jesus Christ, and of course his perfect timing, he appears to the disciples again, as John records, and this time Thomas is with them. The first thing that Jesus does is issue his peace. And then he turns and offers Thomas forgiveness and absolution. Now, if you go back to that gospel of John, it's true, you will not hear Jesus say, I forgive you. But the invitation to touch him and to turn from unbelief to belief is his forgiveness. To which Thomas faithfully exclaims, My Lord and my God, by the power of his presence and the power of his words, Jesus forgives Thomas and restores Thomas's faith whole. But the Eastern message is much more than the account of the restoration of Thomas's faith through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. My friends, is there a message for you? Just like Thomas, we stand before a living God desiring and needing God's forgiveness. The apostle John, who not only witnessed the resurrected Jesus Christ and the restoration of Thomas' faith, says to you, and these are words that are very common, they're common here at least. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he that is God, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confessing your sins with a repentant heart and the presence of God, whether here or wherever you are with God's word, God's word tells you your sins are truly forgiven. But God's word also says that faith comes by hearing, hearing through the word of Christ. And so we desire a pastor to speak Christ's own words because we need to hear the gospel preached to us. We need to hear the gospel to believe. When that forgiveness is spoken, we are forgiven without any doubt because Jesus Christ has said to his church, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. When Jesus Christ forgives you, he restores and renews your faith. His redeeming blood cleanses you of all unbelief and doubts. And from unbelief and doubts comes those things that the Bible calls sin. When Christ Jesus forgives you, he brings you back into his body, the church, and pours out upon you the blessings of grace, eternal life, and salvation. We know that happens. We know that happens based on what Jesus Himself says. Every time we confess our sins before worship and we hear his forgiveness issued forth from the mouth of a pastor. Christ Jesus died on the cross to forgive all our sins. And since he is the head of the body of the church, and since he is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, he possesses the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which he has given to each and every one of us. He has given us the keys, and by his power and through his servants, we might be brought back into the true faith, renewed and restored with Thomas and with all the apostles, every time we hear the proclamation of sins forgiven in his stead and by his command. As forgiven saints, together with Thomas and with all of Christ Jesus' disciples of past and present, we bow our hearts and heads before the risen Jesus Christ, and we say, just as we will say on that last day, my Lord and my God. Amen. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.