Sermon for the nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
As sacramentalists,
we are often asked,
"where is that sacrament in the Bible?"
Many of our brothers and sisters
say that there are only two sacraments,
namely, Baptism and the Eucharist.
Martin Luther thinks
that there are three:
he believes that
Confession is a Sacrament, too.
Of course,
we believe that there are seven
at least.
In being present
and hallowing the wedding at Cana
with His first Miracle,
Our Lord gives us marriage as a sacrament.
In breathing on His Disciples
He gives us the Holy Ghost
to confirm them for the task
of spreading the Gospel.
In being anointed for His death
and rising again
He sanctifies the oil of unction
with which we are prepared
for our own death
and resurrection.
In giving His authority to His disciples
over unclean spirits,
in commanding them to baptise,
in commanding them to say the Mass,
in giving them authority to remit sins,
and in offering Himself as victim
He institutes and sanctifies Holy Orders
and gives the Church the priests and bishops
that it needs to give His grace to all those who thirst for it.
And what of confession?
Where do we see Our Lord
actually administer the forgiveness of sins
as a sacrament?
[PAUSE]
Well, you've just heard it!
"Take up thy bed and go unto thine own house."
That doesn't sound like
what the priest says to us
when we make our confession,
does it?
Look at the context.
The paralysed man
comes to Christ on his bed,
paralysed and fearful
carried by the love of his friends.
But Our Lord knows Him,
He knows this man needs assurance.
This man needs to know that
whatever he has done wrong,
however he has sinned
so that he has had to suffer this palsy
as a punishment,
he can be forgiven
and whatever has caused this palsy
can be lifted.
And so Our Lord gives that assurance,
But see how the scribes sneer!
"How dare this man blaspheme!
"Only God can forgive!"
You see their doubt that
Our Lord's absolution of sins
is real.
You see how they
cannot see
the grace of God at work.
And so,
Our Lord shows them.
[PAUSE]
"Take up thy bed!"
We see the fact that
if the man's palsy is removed
at a word
from Our Lord,
then his sins must also
be removed at a word.
Sin is not just a legal wrong,
it is a sickness,
and Our Lord has come
to be our physician
as well as our advocate in Heaven.
Here, in this room,
surrounded by friend and foe
Scribe and Disciple
Sinful and Holy
a man's sins are really absolved
just as his paralysis is really removed.
This is the sacrament of Confession
demonstrated by Our Lord
and bestowed upon His disciples
as the authority to remit or retain sins.
[PAUSE]
We will always be challenged by those
who do not believe that
there are seven sacraments.
But they are there, and in the Gospel, too.
Most chiefly,
they are there for us to use
and be strengthened and healed,
because that's exactly why
Our Lord gave them for us.
The sacrament of Confession
is real
and it is for our healing and wholeness.
It is there for us
to be released from the paralysis of guilt
and freed to serve Our Lord
in happiness and joy.
[PAUSE]
There are those who say,
"you don't need Confession."
Are you going to take that lying down?
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