Holy Absolution: One Lord, Three Words, No Penance

By Rev. George F. Borghardt

Jesus came to forgive you. He lived your life. He died your death. He rose again for your forgiveness. He sent His men to deliver that forgiveness. He sent your pastor to say to you, “I forgive you all your sins.”

All that Jesus did, all that He said, all the miracles that He gave to sinners was so that He could forgive their sins. He baptized. He taught. He breathed forgiveness. He fed them His Body to eat and His Blood to drink for the forgiveness of their sins. When He breathed His last, He died for your forgiveness. And on the Third Day, the One who was crucified for your sins was raised for your justification, your forgiveness, before the Father.

Three of the Gospels report that when Jesus was at Capernaum, believers brought to Him a paralytic lying on a mat (Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26). Everyone who was there knew what was wrong with the man. He was paralyzed. He couldn’t walk. He couldn’t get around. He was confined. He was imprisoned on his mat. He needed to be able to walk.

Jesus passed by and saw the faith of the people who brought the man to Him and said, “Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.” As if that would fix everything! As if forgiveness of sins would make it all better. It’s okay you are still on that mat. It’s okay that you can’t move. Don’t fret about it! Cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you!

The Pharisees recoiled. How dare Jesus act this way! How dare He think that He could forgive sins! Only God can forgive sins! Only God can take sins away!

To which Jesus retorts, “Why do you speak evil in your hearts? Which is easier for me to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Rise, take your mat, and go home?’” No one said anything. How could they? The answer was obvious! It’s easier to just speak some churchy words and act like everything was better than to actually heal the man chained to his mat.

“So that you will know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin: rise, take your mat and go home.’” The man got up. Did he walk home? Did he run home? Did he skip home? He could do anything now! He was free! He was free from his mat, free from the pain, and most importantly he was free from his sins! That’s why Jesus healed him! Jesus healed this man solely so that you would believe that He could forgive your sins.

We look to God for other things: for healing, for a job, for a good grade on a test, for our car to start when we are alone in a parking lot at midnight. We look to Him when we need the hurricane to miss us, when we need the lights to come back on after the tornado, when we need a date to the dance, when we need Him to help us escape the consequences of that sin. We need and we need and we need from God all sorts of important things.

But He knows what is most important: forgiveness of sins. You need it more than healing. You need it more than the grades that you think are most important. You need it because your car won’t start. You need it even if the hurricane misses you or if your lights come back on after the tornado. You need forgiveness for the doubts that you have about whether anyone will go with you to the dance. You need God’s forgiveness for your sins and your attempts to dodge its consequences. You need forgiveness for your trying to save yourself by your good deeds for others and for your unkind despising of those around you. You need and need and need from God forgiveness before and after anything else.

This is why the Lord sent you your pastor! The Lord breathed on your pastor through the laying on of hands and said to him, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any they are retained” (John 20:22-23). That’s your pastor’s job! The same Lord who did all that He did to win forgiveness for you on the cross sent your pastor to deliver that forgiveness to you.

“Only God can forgive sins,” your doubts echo those of the Pharisees. He sent your pastor to speak His forgiveness, to deliver to you forgiveness. God established Holy Absolution so you would have peace with Him and those around you. He gave you your pastor so that when he speaks to you those three words, “I forgive you,” you would know without doubt, as the Small Catechism says, these words are just as “valid and certain as if Christ our dear Lord spoke them to you Himself.” Tell your doubts to take it up with Jesus!

While everyone needs to confess their sins to God, confessing your sins to your pastor isn’t required. Holy Absolution has no laws, no rules, and no penance. It’s a gift for your comfort. After all, everything that Jesus did and said was so that you would be forgiven. Holy Absolution is the “very voice of the Gospel “! (Ap. XI, 15) It’s the Lord applying the Law to you (confession) and the Lord pouring into you the Gospel (absolution). It’s free without penance. It’s private between you and God. It’s social and restores communion.

No penance! Your pastor isn’t going to send you home requiring some prayers or some other form of penance. You know that won’t make up for what you have done. God does, too, which is why He sent your pastor to you: to tell you that you are forgiven for free.

Your pastor also is not going to tell anyone what you have done. He won’t even say that he’s seen you. You can come to him one time or many times and he will have forgiveness for you, won by the Son of God’s death for you on the cross, delivered to you in the Word.

Forgiveness is why Jesus came! He came to forgive your sins. He came to save you. He came to bring you eternal life. He came to justify you by grace through faith. Jesus came to say to you through your pastor, “I forgive you.”

Rev. George F. Borghardt is the pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bossier City, Louisiana and serves as the President of Higher Things. He focused on Absolution for his breakout sessions during the 2019 conference season.