The Gospel for The Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday (May 15, 2005)
John 20:19-23
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “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 of any, they are retained.” -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
Duality
Today's first reading in the lectionary cycle is from Acts, and describes the "divided tongues of fire" that descended on the apostles, providing them the ability to speak in all the languages of the Earth. Babel in reverse, if you will. This Johanine distribution of the spirit is much calmer, but equally as powerful in our imaginations. And neither precludes the other from having happened.
A Reflection
There is a strong paradox in what Jesus has told us about forgiveness. Here, in the last of His appearances, He seems to be telling his followers that they are judges, but we know that He has told everyone, before, not to judge.
When He was asked to teach them how to pray, one of the tenets given was "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
So it's difficult to comprehend, suddenly, this seeming reversal of Jesus' instruction. I can interpret it along William Barclay's line of thinking. Barclay states
"The apostles had the best of all rights to bring Jesus’s message to men, because they knew him best. If they knew that a person was really penitent, they could with absolute certainty proclaim to him the forgiveness of Christ. But equally, if they knew that there was no penitence in his heart or that he was trading on the love and the mercy of God, they could tell him that until his heart was altered there was no forgiveness for him. This sentence does not mean that the power to forgive sins was ever entrusted to any man or men; it means that the power to proclaim that forgiveness was so entrusted; along with the power to warn that forgiveness is not open to the impenitent. This sentence lays down the duty of the Church to convey forgiveness to the penitent in heart and to warn the impenitent that they are forfeiting the mercy of God." -- The Gospel of John : Volume 2. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.
So it is not humans to whom power is given, but to whom a message is given. And that is well in agreement with the Jesus who becomes the Christ. Moreover, it is as powerful a re-statement of God's grace as we are ever likely to encounter.
The Collect
Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
8:59:55 PM 
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