John 20:19-29
Only in John’s gospel do we find the story of Thomas (the Twin). The lesson is so rich in doctrinal material regarding the forgiveness of sins that I was tempted to follow the great tradition of John Calvin and explain the Reformed understanding of this passage as well as its parallel in Matthew where Christ gives the keys of the kingdom to the church with the power of binding and loosing. Of course, if we’re going to be truly traditional and truly Reformed in terms of our history as Presbyterians and the practice of the Reformed Church in Calvin’s Geneva, my remarks would need to be at least 2 hours in length! Oh, for the good old days, eh? I hope none of you have a roast in the oven!
On a more serious note, there probably is good reason to take a look at the difference between the Roman Catholic and the Reformed Protestant doctrines of forgiving and retaining sins (John’s lingo) or binding and loosing things in heaven or on earth (Matthew’s lingo) if only because it’s an important distinction between our two communities. In a nutshell, the difference is this: Roman Catholics are taught that Peter was given the keys to the kingdom. Protestants are taught that the church was given the keys to the kingdom. Roman Catholics are taught that Peter is the rock upon which Christ will build his church. Protestants are taught that the confession of Christ made by Peter, and the words and works of Christ that led to this confession, is the rock upon which the church is buiT/NE
To put this argument in its historical context would be to say that the Reformers taught that it’s the commission of Christ to all believers to preach the gospel of the forgiveness of sins (every believer a priest), while the Council of Trent (a response of the Roman Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformers) held that the power of forgiving sins was reserved for priests and the Sacrament of Penance – priests who were believed to be part of an unbroken chain of apostolic succession reaching from Peter to the present day by the laying on of hands.
I am going to describe this difference in a third way, just so you have a shot at grasping it as Presbyterians, before moving on to something else. The Protestant church believes that Peter’s confession of Christ was the act of the whole church, not just Peter. In other words, Peter was doing what the whole church would eventually do (confess Christ as the Son of God) – and it is this confession that is the foundation of everything else built upon it as regards the church, and not Peter. In the same way, when the resurrected Christ breathes upon the disciples and “sends them out as the Father once sent him out (in the power of the Holy Spirit)” this act was not limited to only those eyewitnesses of Christ known as apostles – rather, it was a commission for everyone who would come to the confession soon to be made by Thomas, which was, “My Lord and My God.” In other words, Peter is a type – an archetype, or model – of the faithful, confessing church. In the same way Thomas is a type – an archetype, or model – of the faithful, confessing church.
Now that I’ve taken this bit of time to present the history of interpretation and argument surrounding the differences between Roman Catholic and Protestant understandings, let me say this. This story isn’t about any of that. Really! Matthew and John didn’t give a wit about the interpretations that were going to be applied to these passages by the politics of religion except in this one regard – they wanted people to understand that Jesus is the Christ, Son of God (Matthew) and that it’s appropriate to address this Messiah as “My Lord and My God” (John). That’s what they cared about because that’s what people would either believe or disbelieve, what they would either confess or not confess, and apart from this belief and confession, no one could enter into the new creation of God in Christ.
You see, that’s what’s really happening in our text from John. Jesus appears as the risen Lord, “My Lord and My God,” to inaugurate a new creation. In the same way that the “LORD God” of Genesis1 “formed Adamah from the dust of the ground, and breathed into Adamah’s nostrils the breath (or spirit) of life in order that Adamah (male and female) became living beings,” Jesus breathes upon the disciples “a holy spirit.” This is the same spirit that Christ received from the Father, and is now proceeding from the Son to the church, which is created anew as the body of Christ – the active presence of Christ in the earth to actively pursue the ministry of Christ in preaching the gospel of the forgiveness of sins.
John’s entire gospel draws a distinction between those who hear Jesus and believe him to be the Son of God (the I AM of Israel) and those who hear Jesus and don’t believe. For John, the Word of God (which is God) is preached (by the words and deeds of Jesus in the flesh and now, by the body of Christ in the church) and this preaching (by word and by deed) causes the hearers to judge themselves against the Word preached. Some, hearing, come to the light and receive forgiveness; others, hearing, turn away and are hardened in their sins.
In some mysterious sense, you see, while Christ held the keys of the kingdom then, he put them into the hands of his hearers, to use or not – to enter the doorway to light and life or not – for, as John’s gospel says, Christ did not come to condemn the world, but to save it, and those who hear and believe him are saved, while those who will not hear and believe are not condemned by Christ, because they are already condemned by their deeds – because they prefer darkness to light.2 In the same way, the church, as the body of Christ, holds the keys to the kingdom. We do not, however, judge the world. Rather, we are to preach the gospel of the forgiveness of sins and those who hear and believe are saved, while those who hear and do not believe remain in the condemnation of their sins – those who hear and believe are given the gift of a Holy Spirit, and partake of a new creation, while those who hear and do not believe remain subjects of sin and death.
So you see, we do not hold the keys of the kingdom in order to decide who to forgive or who not to forgive, as though we were God’s gatekeepers, deciding who will enter and who will not. Instead, we hold the keys of the kingdom in the Word of God that has been entrusted to us. We hold forth the keys of the kingdom in the preaching of the gospel of the forgiveness of sins. We offer the keys of the kingdom to anyone who will hear in the hope that they, too will believe the message we have been given. It is for them to take up the keys to come in, or to reject the message, and remain on the outside, looking in.
I wish more folk in the church would understand that. I wish more folk in the church would understand that we, as the body of Christ, forgive, period. We forgive even those who betray and crucify us, period. Vengeance belongs to God, the Scripture says – that’s where Christ left it, and that’s where the body of Christ must leave it. “How many times should we forgive someone who transgresses against us?” is the question Peter asks of Christ. “Seventy times seven” is the response Christ gives to Peter.
Forgive, and keep forgiving, because you hold the keys to the kingdom and unless they are allowed to see Christ in you, they will have no opportunity to hear and believe the resurrected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior – they will have no opportunity to come to the place where they may take the words of Thomas upon their lips, saying, “My Lord and My God.”
Oh, come on! What about the people who betray me, Jesus? What about the people who want to crucify me, Jesus? Well, what about them, Christian? How should you respond to them, Christian? Will you respond to them in the power of your own spirit, condemning both them and you to the bondage of sin and death? Or will you respond to them in the power of a Holy Spirit that offers newness of life – a Holy Spirit that even offers newness of life to the guilty who are perishing beside us as we die upon our own cross? Even more, a Holy Spirit that still holds out the possibility of newness of life even to those who have nailed us to the cross, even to those who mock us while we perish. What about it, Christian? Darn! Holding the keys of the kingdom isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s dangerous. Yeah, it will cost you your pride, it will cost you your family, it will cost you your household, it will cost you everything. At least, it’s supposed to. So, why doesn’t it? It doesn’t because there’s a little Thomas in all of us. We want proof. We want assurances. We want to see something tangible, by God, and if we don’t we’re going to hang on to what we’ve got for dear life. I don’t care what you say, I’m not budging from what I’ve got until I see it for myself. Did you know, the name Thomas, means “Twin.” In each of us, we have the power to follow our own spirit, or to follow Christ’s Spirit. If we follow our own, we get to keep everything that’s important to us. But if we follow Christ’s, everything that’s important stands before us, and we say, “My Lord and My God!”
- Genesis 2:7 NRSV paraphrased for inclusivity
- John 3:17-21 NRSV (paraphrased)