St. Charles' Episcopal Church – St. Charles, IL

The Second Sunday of Easter – Easter 2 – Year C

Sunday April 15, 2007 

Acts 5::12a, 17-22, 25-29 -- Psalm 111 -- Revelation 1:(1-8) 9-19 -- John 20:19-31

Rev. William R. Nesbit, Jr.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

" ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.'

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 retain the sins, they are retained.' "

With these words, recounted in the Fourth Gospel, and with this breath, Jesus confers authority to those in the new church he is building. It is a model of authority that is different from most of the types we are used to. Very different! And then in the repetition of this amazing encounter for just one missing apostle, we see the lengths to which God is willing to go to make the point. Just one more example of the incredible lengths to which God goes for the love of us. But what is this authority that is granted to us? It is the power to retain or to forgive sins, the most powerful force in the world. If one does not read carefully, one might be apt to get carried away. This power, though great, does have limits. Some things are expressly excluded. We do not receive the power to name sins. We do not receive the power to condemn sins or to shun sinners. We are granted the power only to retain sins, that is, merely maintain the status quo.

The real power we receive in this encounter is the power to forgive sins. Now there is real power; power as Christ sees it. For it is a power that Jesus not only confers, but also models right in the midst of the encounter. The scene opens with the disciples locked in the upper room in fear for their lives. They have abandoned their teacher in terror as the authorities captured, tortured, and killed him. When Jesus appears in their midst, even though the doors were locked, he bears the fresh wounds of his crucifixion and death. He stands before those who abandoned him to the cross, the tears in his flesh silently convicting them of their betrayal. He has every right to be, at least miffed by their weakness, of which he has been a victim. The first words out of Jesus' mouth are, "Peace be with you." There is no finger pointing or reproachful looks or standoffishness. Jesus just says, "Peace" and moves right in among them. He does not separate or shun; he does not wait for their mumbled apologies; but he engages. There is no condemnation. Jesus does not even name their sins in the act of his forgiveness.

We have not been given the right to judgement, to be judgmental, only the power to forgive. How does this awesome power come to us. Again, the writer of the Fourth Gospel helps us by repeating the process in the story. As Jesus returns for the lone apostle missing from his first visit he brings not only peace, but clarity, as he reminds them, “Do not doubt, but believe.”The power to forgive comes from belief in the crucified Christ risen from the dead. In our own experience of and encounters with the crucified and risen Christ we receive the strength needed to forgive those who sin against God and against us. And in that forgiveness we gain freedom from the power their sin has over us. At the root of it, we don't forgive them because they need or deserve it, we forgive because we need to do it; for our own spiritual health and well-being. Our Gospel this morning ends with "these are written so that you may come to believe," a further reminder of the importance the author of the Fourth Gospel placed on believing; indeed he names it as the purpose of the whole Gospel.

Today, (at the 10:45 service,) we are going to do something a little different. I hope it too will help you come to believe. Last week we renewed our baptismal vows, as part of the Great Vigil of Easter. Today we are going to take part in another sacramental rite of the church; the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. We’re not actually going to marry anyone today, but we are going to recognize a couple that twenty-five and a half years ago stood up in front of God and a gathering of friends and family and took vows to have and to hold each other from that day forward, for better for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until they were parted by death. I dare say all of those eventualities have come to pass in the last 25 years, in one way or another, except, of course, the parting by death part.

 When most of us get married we are young and foolish and have no idea of the power of the words we are speaking. Sometimes we fail to live in to the power of those words and fail to live up to the high standards we set for ourselves with them... we don’t believe. But sometimes we do, and the power of living into those words and the grace of God combine to weave the thread of two separate lives into a wedding garment of mutual joy, help and comfort that brings new life and love into the world. At the heart of the sacrament of marriage there abides two pillars, the same two pillars that Jesus gives to his disciples in our Gospel this morning. They are the power to believe and the authority to forgive. Without them a marriage is doomed to crumble. With them a marriage can withstand the test of time, flourishing even in the harshest of circumstances.

Today we will be renewing the wedding vows of Dallas and Kathy Heikkinen, not because they are in need of renewing, but to recognize the blessing their marriage has been to them and those around them and to give them the opportunity to rededicate themselves to the vows of their youth. But it is much more than that, for it is an opportunity for those of us who also are married to examine our own marriages and rededicate ourselves as well. I now invite all married persons to stand for a prayer.

Let us pray:

Eternal God, creator and preserver of all life, author of salvation, and giver of all grace: Look with favor upon the world you have made, and for which your Son gave his life, and especially upon these who have chosen to live there lives in Holy Matrimony. Give them wisdom and devotion in the ordering of their common lives, that each may be to the other a strength in need, a counselor in perplexity, a comfort in sorrow, and a companion in joy. Grant that their wills may be so knit together in your will, and their spirits in your Spirit, that they may grow in love and peace with you and one another all the days of their life. Give them grace, when they hurt each other, to recognize and acknowledge their fault, and to seek each other’s forgiveness and yours. Make their lives together a sign of Christ’s love to this sinful and broken world, that unity may overcome estrangement, forgiveness heal guilt, and joy conquer despair. Give them such fulfillment of their mutual affection that they may reach out in love and concern for others. Grant that all married persons (who have witnessed the renewal of these vows) may find their lives strengthened and their loyalties confirmed. And finally grant that the bonds of our common humanity, by which all your children are united one to another, and the living to the dead, may be so transformed by your grace, that your will may be done on earth as it is in heaven; where, O Father, with your Son and the Holy Spirit, you live and reign in perfect unity, now and for ever. Amen.

Do not doubt but believe, that through believing you may have life in his name. Again I say, Amen!