John 20:23
2nd Sunday of Easter
John 20:23 is an extremely important verse of the Bible: “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.” Jesus spoke these words on Easter Sunday, when he appeared in the evening to the apostles as a group for the first time.
It is his first action item with regard to the new Church that is being established upon these men. Uppermost in Jesus’ mind is the Divine Mercy, the forgiveness of sins. This was the reason for the Incarnation, it was the purpose of his life and death: to take upon himself the punishment of our sins, and pay the price of our Redemption in his Blood. Now he urgently wishes that grace to be disseminated to the world: “As the Father has sent me, I also send you” (Jn 20:21).
Even though Jesus has saved the world and paid the price of all sin through his sacrificial death, this does not mean that salvation is automatic. Salvation must be applied to each life, forgiveness must be applied to each sin. Baptism, which washes away sins, is necessary for salvation. And after Baptism, other sins must be forgiven through the authority of the Church.
This verse is important because it explains why we need the Catholic Church, and why all other denominations are inadequate. We need our sins “adjudicated” by those Jesus has authorized to forgive sins in his name.
After authorizing the apostles, at the Last Supper, as priests of the new covenant, to celebrate the Eucharist: “Do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:19, 1 Cor 11:25); Jesus’ next priority is the forgiveness of sins: “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them” (Jn 20:23). Despite all the protestations of Protestants that we should confess our sins directly to God and not men, Jesus unequivocally gives men his divine power to forgive sins. Jesus expects us to be forgiven of our sins through this apostolic authority. These words were intentional, deliberate, and the “first order of business” after the Resurrection.
The authority entrusted to the apostles is a juridical authority. They are able to forgive or retain. This is what it means to “adjudicate.” A decision is determined. Indeed, the apostles are expected to forgive sins liberally, and never deny forgiveness to a petitioner, as is the wish of the Supreme Judge in whose Name they act. But an adjudication is still needed in order to determine that the conditions are met, which are quite simple: the sin must be presented, the guilt must be confessed, and contrition expressed: “I accuse myself of the following sin, and I am sorry for having offended Thee my God…”
Just as a municipal judge has full authority to “dismiss” a traffic ticket, and that judicial act completely erases the offense; so the lpriest has full authority to “absolve” a sin, and that juridical act completely removes the crime. On Judgment Day, when the soul comes before the Supreme Judge in heaven, that sin will not exist. Jesus gave this authority to his apostles so that we might “Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him,” i.e. now in this life, before we have to come before the final Judgment (cf. Mt 5:25-26).
Thus it is that Jesus has established an earthly tribunal in the Church by which we might be able to bring our sins, and receive the forgiveness of God. Jesus is not doing it this way to make salvation more difficult for us, but rather to make it supremely easy for us to prepare for our final accounting.
We can argue and debate as much as we like regarding our preferences for how we think personal sins should be forgiven (“just confess your sins to God in your heart”), all of that must submit in the end to what we read in John 20:23, and what Jesus explicitly established.
A sin is an offense against God. No man can forgive a sin, or claim to be able to forgive sin. And yet, Catholic bishops and priest have done exactly this, since the earliest centuries of the Church’s founding. Through the Apostolic Succession of bishops, which takes place by the “Laying on of Hands” (2 Tm 1:6), the authority which Jesus first gave to the original apostles, has been legitimately passed down to the present day. Outside the priests and bishops of the Catholic Church,[1] no one has this authority.
For this reason alone, every other denomination falls short of being the Church which Jesus established, lacking one of the most important provisions of Jesus for his Church.[2] For this reason, every Christian, regardless of denomination, needs to re-explore why they are not Catholic, and take steps toward the fullness which Christ established. Unlike some of the other debates (Eucharist, Papacy), in which Jesus’ explicit language is claimed to be symbolic, there is no ability to claim he is only speaking symbolically in John 20:23, or that he did not mean exactly what he said, or that it is only some minor, secondary issue. If we should only confess our sins directly to God in our hearts, why did Jesus enact this authority on Easter Sunday?
Let us listen carefully and study every word and action of Jesus. Let us see what is most important to him, and build our lives upon that. Let us continue in the Catholic Church, to put the Lord’s words into practice.
[1] And those Churches of the East which have also maintained the Apostolic Succession
[2] The most important, is of course the Eucharist. Others include the authoritative teaching office of the Magisterium, and the particular role of St. Peter and his successors (papacy).