Repentance for the Forgiveness of Sins

Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter

The Scripture readings for the third Sunday in Eastertide all seem to have a common theme; namely, repentance. Repentance is best summed up in one of the optional statements that can be used while distributing the ashes on Ash Wednesday. “Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel.” In other words, repentance requires two separate actions. First, we must turn away from our sins. Then, and only then, are we ready to turn toward God by putting our faith in the Gospel that was preached by Jesus and by the apostles after his Ascension.

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear Peter preaching to the people immediately after a poor, lame beggar had been healed. The man had approached Peter and John begging for alms. Peter responded to his request with the words: “Gold and silver I have not. What I do have, I freely give to you. Rise, take up your mat and walk.” While the people of Jerusalem had become somewhat familiar with the miracles that Jesus had wrought, this was a new experience. How could these common fishermen do the same works of the man Jesus who had been crucified?

Peter goes on to explain that the healing of the poor, lame beggar was not accomplished by him but by the name of Jesus. God had acted through him, but he was not responsible for the man’s healing. Then Peter goes on to use this opportunity to preach the message of repentance that Jesus had commissioned when he appeared to them in the upper room.

The reading from the Gospel of Saint Luke is an extension of the story of Emmaus. Jesus had appeared to two of his disheartened disciples and explained to them that the Messiah had to suffer at the hands of evil men. He used their own Scriptures to prove his point. These two disciples decided, then and there, to return to Jerusalem and to announce that they had seen the Lord themselves. While they were still explaining what had happened and how they had come to recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread, Jesus appears in the upper room.

This story from the Gospel of Saint Luke is actually the same story that we heard last week from the Gospel of St. John. Jesus greets the disciples in both instances with peace, with “shalom.” He shows them the nail prints in his hands and feet and the wound in his side from the lance of one of the soldiers. He then commissions them to go forth and to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins. Though Saint Luke changes the details of the story somewhat, it is clear that this is the same story that St. John was telling because both of them happened on the first day of the week, the day on which Jesus rose from the dead.

However, the reaction in the Gospel of Saint Luke is somewhat different than the reaction that we hear in the Gospel of St. John. While St. Thomas is unable to accept the story that he is told by his comrades in the Gospel of St. John, Saint Luke tells us that all of the disciples were startled and terrified, that they thought they were seeing a ghost, that they were troubled, and that questions had filled their hearts. Just as he had done with the two disciples who were returning home to Emmaus, Jesus now opened the Scriptures and taught his disciples that everything that had happened to him was part of God’s plan. This was a difficult idea for them to accept. All of their lives they had believed that God rewarded the just and punished the unjust. However, in the experience of Jesus, just the opposite was true. Jesus reminded them that this had been his message throughout his life; but the wondered how God could ask his Son to die the most ignominious death of crucifixion.

In the reading from the First Letter of St. John, written after all of the Gospels, we hear St. John’s explanation and answer to their question. Jesus is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world. By shedding his blood on the cross, Jesus had washed away the sins of the world. No longer would God accept the blood of goats and bullocks as sin offerings. Jesus has died once for all. No more blood need be shed for the sins of humankind.

Notice that both the Gospel reading and the reading from the First Letter of St. John bring up the issue of repentance again. We must turn away from sin and turn toward God. This is a lifelong process. All human beings find themselves straying from the commandments and in need of forgiveness. As St. John tells us, “If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.” In other words, as we stand before God guilty of sin, Jesus is our advocate – our lawyer, if you will – who tells the judge that his client is guilty but that he himself has already paid the price for that guilt.

“Turn away from sin, and believe in the Gospel.” Though these words are addressed to us only on Ash Wednesday, once every year, they should be emblazoned upon our hearts. These are the words that define a disciple of Jesus, someone who is constantly struggling to obey the commandments and believe in the words of the Gospel of repentance. In an article that I read this week, a woman asked the question, “Who made up all these rules?” I suppose that we would all like to forget who has made up the rules, who has given us the commandments. However, every time that we make the sign of the cross, we remind ourselves that it was by the cross of Jesus that we were saved and that it is his commandment that we are called to follow.