ODB: “I’m . . . Uh . . . Sorry”
August 11, 2013
READ: Psalm 51:1-17
Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. —Psalm 51:1-2
The news is quick to report all the details of famous people’s wrongdoings and their subsequent confessions. Perhaps it’s an athlete who was arrested for driving while drunk. Or it could be a politician caught in an indiscretion. Only God knows the heart, but when we hear a stuttered “I’m . . . uh . . . sorry,” we may wonder if they are truly repentant or just sorry they got caught.
When we read the confession of the famous King David we see what looks like genuine contriteness. In his public discussion of his sins in Psalm 51, this disgraced monarch—who had an embarrassing record of flagrant sins which he had kept hidden (2 Sam. 12:1-13; Ps. 32:3-5)—pleads for mercy.
He recognized that his sin was an affront to God—not just to people—and that God alone can judge him (Ps. 51:1-6). He realized that he must be cleansed by God (vv.7-10), and he celebrated his restoration through service and worship (vv.11-17).
All of us sin and fall short of God’s glory. When we feel the heavy burden of sin weighing us down, we have the blessing of confession and forgiveness (1 John 1:9) to lift us up. Isn’t it just like our great God to turn even our sins into an opportunity to grow in His grace and power and love!
— Dave Branon
and the courage to confess my sins before You
and others. Thank You for Your promise to be
faithful to forgive my sins and to cleanse me.
Confession is agreeing with God about our sin.
Source: Our Daily Bread
St Mark gave us the key to “confession and forgiveness” in his Gospel Chapter 2 (verses 1 to 11).
In that scene, they brought somebody who was sick in a palsy in bed. He could not get up on his own, overburdened by his illness.
When Jesus had seen their faith, He saith to the sick of the palsy: “Son, thy sins are forgiven thee”
And there were some of the scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts: “Why doth this man speak thus? he blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins, but God only?”
It’s true that Only God can forgive sins. And yet, Our Lord said, “that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins”.
He is the son of man, as well as the Son of God.
He is God and man, both. Two natures, one Divine Person.
He can forgive sins (He just did to the man above), because He is God Himself, the Logos, God becoming Man (incarnate).
If we accept this, then one argument is this:
If He has the power to forgive sins, and He already ascended to Heaven. Should He not, thought of communicating this Power to his Apostles, down the centuries and until today?
Well, He did also.
St John in his gospel Chapter 20, he relates, just after Our Lord rose from the Dead. Jesus said to His apostles: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When He had said this, He breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
In other words, Our Lord, just after His resurrection, He gave the Power to forgive Sins to His Apostles. They are actually, the Bishops (episkopos in Greek). They then communicate this Power to the Priest during Ordination, following Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, we ought to find where are those who receive the Power to Forgive Sins from Our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we go to them, and only to them. Otherwise, if we go to someone else, this is not what Our Lord wanted.
We go to those who were sent: “As the Father has sent Me, so I sent you.” Who are sent? the Successors of the Apostles, Bishops, Priests of His Church. They received the mandate.