If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
7 sermons cite this verse
… These are some of the high points, the finer points from Sunday's sermon. A breath of fresh air from John chapter 20, verses 19 through 23. Dr. Haynes, a marvelous sermon. Talk to us about pieces or ideas or maybe just a concept from the cutting room floor for us to take away as we open up a fresh and a new this this text. Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you so much. I got to give a special shout out to Shimbri. She blessed us with the ministry of praise and music. As always, one of my favorite songs. And she sang that. I mean, she sang, and I'm so grateful. Several pieces from the cutting room floor that I wish I had been able to spend some time on. One, the whole concept of fear. And the fact that, you know, when you think of the disciples of Jesus, it is so real that the Holy Spirit, that the disciples who were the recipients of the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit were traumatized. …
… And the book lets us know Jesus shows up, offers them some peace, and then blows my mind. The book says that he breathed on them and told them, I'm sending you just like my daddy sent me. He breathed on them. And when he breathed on them, I love it. The text says they received the Holy Ghost. They received the Holy Spirit. It was a Pentecost preview. And all I came to say on Pentecost Sunday is I want a fresh God. I want God afresh to breathe on us. Because when God breathes on us, something happens. As a matter of fact, it's a breath. of fresh air. A breath of fresh air. I have to admit that this wasn't going to be my subject. I was getting ready to fly from L.A. here last night on the red. I got in 5 o'clock this morning, and I'm wrestling with this text, and I got everything worked out except the subject. And so Albany asked me, so what about this for a subject? …
Open your ears and hear what John says On the evening of that first day of the week When the disciples were together with the doors locked For fear of the Jewish leaders Jesus came and stood among them And said peace be with you after he said this he showed them his hands and side the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord and again Jesus said peace be with you and the father has sent me I am sending you and with that he breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven, and if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. This is the word of God. You may be seated. I want to tag this text John 20. Nobody gets it. John is telling a story it's an Easter story John explores for the next several weeks as we are a few weeks away from Pentecost Sunday the coming of the Holy Spirit on the church and John the apostle of our Lord is exploring the implications of what it means for Jesus to appear in church. …
… And yet Jesus stood among them. And in his smooth, brotherly south side way, said, peace be with you. You missed it here, that simple idea. I'm sorry, it's so simple here. I don't have much else, but the doors were locked. And God showed up. Don't you know our God will show up behind some locked doors? When you try to shut everybody else out, God will show up anyhow. They shut everyone out, fearful of others, but God was in the room. When we attempt to shut the world out, look at God. But this speaks, this speaks here of the power of community while you are struggling with your grief. They were together. This is the principle and power we need to understand when we need someone to hold us up. When walking through the valley of grief and death, the presence is the present. That God shows up behind closed doors, but they are gathered together. Just being together is sometimes the greatest blessing. I remember reading a writer talking about grief. …
… Because Jesus said so. In John chapter 21, Jesus is making those men the first priests and saying, no, you actually have my power. You have my ability to bring mercy to the world, to forgive sins. If you don't, they're retained. If you do, they're gone. That's why I'm going to say that today, your next confession is the exercise that your soul and my soul needs. that your next confession is the exercise that your soul and my soul needs. And I mean this for everyone. From the person who is convinced that they're beyond God's reach to the person who is absolutely convinced they're a genuinely, quote unquote, good person. Because that's maybe a lot of us. We're like, no, but I'm okay. Like, why would I have to go to confession? Like, I go to mass. Like, I help. Like, if you're back at your parish. Like, at Easter, I was back home for Easter and like, they knew I was there. So like, hey, get back up, you know. …
… He wasn't trying to decide whether he believed Jesus had risen from the dead. He was trying to decide whether or not he believed what the other disciples told him. And he decided he didn't. He couldn't until he saw for himself what they had seen. So his trust issue wasn't with Jesus. It was with his brothers. over the past couple of weeks, I have been asking a lot of people who know the Thomas story what they think about him. It takes a village to make a sermon. And they all said the same thing. They said they knew they were supposed to disapprove of him, but they didn't. They liked his honesty. They knew where he was coming from. They were actually kind of grateful for him because Thomas is their proof that even people who were right there had trouble believing that Jesus had risen from the dead. Like all of his brothers, Thomas had heard Jesus' best sermons, sometimes more than once. He knew how far Jesus could walk in a day and what he liked for supper. …
… Peace be with you. He shows them his hands and his side. Peace be with you, he says again, as the Father has sent me, so I send you. He breathes on them. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they will be forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they will be retained. What in the world does that jumble of phrases mean? Well, the early readers of the Gospel of John would have known every single one of them is a sign of the ordinary worship and life and mission of the church. Peace be with you. We've already spoken it to each other this morning. It's the way worship begins. He showed them his hands and his side. this is my body for you. He breathes on them the experience of baptism, receive the Holy Spirit. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. This is the life and discipline of the church. …