April 3 Rev. 1, John 20:19-31, Acts 5
I have been haunted by the words of a 75 year old man who has been a faithful church goer, but he does not have a clue about forgiveness. I spoke on forgiveness at the community Lenten service this year here, and now the readings affords another opportunity.We offered a workshop on forgiveness during Lent. All the dreams of wealth, power and celebrity fall by the wayside in the face of this heavenly vision. Power cannot dictate their experience of God, their revelation of the meaning and telos of Jesus beyond the grave. Forgiveness of sins before a tribunal is comic.The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of forgiveness.
”Rev. 1:4,John had a worship vision on a tiny Greek island just west of modern Turkey.Only about 3000 people live there on the small island now. (Sometimes I have a novel percolating about discovering a NT manuscript and its locale would be the monastery library at Patmos.) In this little island he has an expansive vision of the enormous import of Jesus. Mystics move well past the circumstance of their position and find linkage to the beyond, to catch a trace of the divine as their thoughts seek to merge with a world far beyond ours. Jesus sounds divine in this vision with its flurry of titles.The same Jesus shows his wounds, not yet scars to the disciples. they abandoned him; he doesn't leave them. He is the door, so no locked door may deter him. Yet in the vision, Jesus has a functional title of freeing us from sins. The church is the focal point where the divine and the human come together.
Forgiveness as element of spirit life--We have worked with this small section before, even though the disbelieving Thomas story usually gets the attention. The power of Christ in the disciples first off is the power of forgiveness. Why forgiveness offers life to relationships. It kills the deadening power of recrimination in a relationship. forgiveness allows us not to equate the person with hurtful behavior and see them in a broader way. So many people have a feeling thermometer but it only goes down.odd things do not raise its score. Backpacking resentments allow this in our relationships.Forgiveness breathes life into relationship.Skinner- the resurrected Christ tells his followers (all his followers) that, through the Spirit, they can set people free ("set free" or "release" is a better translation than "forgive" in 20:23) from that state of affairs. The first gift of the resurrection community is forgiveness. Why it provides new life to relationships.Forgiveness gives new life to a future and releases the hold of the past on us.
Some of us excuse not forgiving as it is difficult or not correlative with forgetting. doubt the power of forgiveness a weighty a matter as Thomas wanting some tangible proof doubting thomas-was the doubt/disbelief even wrong? Of course we keep seeking tangible proofs, Blessed are those who do not see and believe (like the ending Hab?? where even though they do not see they have confidence that they will).I continue to be impressed with the identification of wounds or scars for the disciples. It shows some continuity with the life of Jesus and its horrible end. Plastic surgery does not seem part of his resurrection body as yet.Are those wounds still healing? (see Volf)Forgiveness provides a way into the locked door of a relationship slammed shut by hurt. In itme, maybe the hurts are forgotten or locked safely away.It is the way of closing the wounds we cause and carry.Easter people learn ot forgive.
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