4-23-19 - Our Super-Power

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

If you could be granted a super-power, what would it be? The ability to fly? Become invisible at will? Transform into another kind of being? Heal people just by touching them?

According to the Gospels, some of those super-powers may be ours some day, if the properties of Jesus’ resurrection body tell us anything. And some of those super-powers are already ours by faith through the gift of the Holy Spirit. But the first super-power Jesus conferred upon his disciples when he returned to them Easter night was one we might not think to ask for – the power to forgive.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

This is the first gift of the Spirit mentioned in the Gospels. It is a power that can bring freedom and peace. And, like many super-powers, it can be dangerous if abused - or neglected. The saints of God have the authority to forgive, to set free those who have caused harm to themselves or others. And the church (i.e., the saints of God) has the authority to withhold forgiveness, to keep people bound by the consequences of the harm they’ve caused. When the church forgets this authority, when it either devolves into self-righteous condemnation of others or a wishy-washy "no problem, God loves you" sentimentality that ignores the real toxicity of sin, we end up with a whole lot of stuckness clogging our wheels.

The fruits of unforgiveness are writ large in the American body politic today. Many who claim the mantle of Christ seem to have gone out of the forgiveness business altogether, preferring to label and demonize, objectify and divide. Indeed, there are few temptations more corrosive than righteous indignation – it can fuel our anger, quell our compassion and direct us inward. When whole groups stop talking to – or listening to – other large groups, we become polarized and paralyzed. And when people do this in the name of Christ, the church's mission is weakened.

We have received the Holy Spirit in baptism, in communion, in prayer, in action. Before we seek the splashier gifts of the Spirit, what if we focus on our calling to be agents of forgiveness? I read an interview with Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist spiritual teacher, on the subject of forgiveness, in which he said we have to deal with anger before we can forgive – and one way to deal with our anger is to cultivate compassion for those who are causing harm. We can ask God to show us why they have become that way, what unhealed wounds they are operating out of. And we can ask God to show us the same about ourselves.

The super-power to forgive – or not – has been given to us. Will we use it for good?

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Sunday’s readings are here.