The Assurance of Forgiveness
For about ten years now St. Timothy Lutheran Church has been using the expression "Sharing the Joy!" together with the rising sun behind the empty cross. This symbol is an allusion to the resurrection of Christ after His crucifixion. The reason for our emphasis is that there is no greater joy than the knowledge that we have been forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God through the atoning death, life, and resurrection of Jesus.
Recently the Pope of the Roman Catholic church decided to extend forgiveness to women guilty of the sin of abortion. "I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to concede to all priests for the Jubilee Year the discretion to absolve of the sin of abortion those who have procured it and who, with contrite heart, seek forgiveness," he said. The sad fact, though, is that the pope here obscures the mercy of God -really takes the place of God- by presuming that it is somehow up to him, the Pope, to decide where and when sin can be forgiven.
Elective abortion is a serious sin, taking the life of an innocent person; so we at St. Timothy clearly speak out against it in order to at least slow down the killing. But greater than the sin is the mercy of God Who forgives us ALL our sins. When Jesus died on the Cross, He said, "It is finished!" He didn't go on to say "except for really bad sins like abortion, homosexuality, etc." As Paul wrote, "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:19 (NIV84)) And John wrote, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9 (NIV84))
We are happy to share the joy that for all who call upon Christ in repentance there is forgiveness, pope or no pope. Our forgiveness depends not upon what a man says, but on the fact that Jesus took our sins to the cross and there made satisfaction for them all, leaving us truly forgiven. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." (Isaiah 1:18)