After the resurrection, Jesus said to the Apostles,
“As the Father has sent me,
so I send you…
Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”
With the completion of his work, everything was – and is – in place for the next evolutionary platform of humankind… everything is in its place for our becoming fully and truly human… everything is in its place for our intentionally becoming instruments of love. We are “sent” as instruments of love. As the Father sent the Son to be wholly and fully an instrument of love on this earth, so too are we being sent to be instruments of love. Opening ourselves, giving ourselves, to this instrumentality, we depend upon the Father to give us the love – the Holy Spirit. Being sent without the Holy Spirit – without love – would be sending an empty vessel. And now – here is the true shock – the essential work of a “sent” instrument of love, one that has received that love – the ongoing flow of love from the Father – is to forgive sins. Having answered “Yes” to the will of the Father – to that for which we are sent – and with the Father’s love – the Holy Spirit – flowing into and through us, we are becoming instruments in the forgiving of sins… in loving one another as Christ loves us!
If we retain sins, they remain in our hearts. For the truth is, if we do not forgive – if we retain – we are no longer saying “Yes” to our instrumentality, “Yes” to that for which we are being sent… love cannot be flowing into and through us. Yes, “sins you retain are retained.” The sins – our own as well as those of others – become retained in us. We harbor unforgiveness in our hearts – unforgiveness which turns to stone surrounding our hearts -, standing in the way of our fully, and without attachment, answering “Yes” to the Father… ongoingly answering “Yes” to being sent.
The beauty in the forgiving of sins is this: while we are carrying out the work of the Father, whose intent it is that all human beings on this earth become living instruments of his love, while we are forgiving sins, we are becoming fully and truly human – we are fully becoming the intended.
Reading or hearing this passage from a process perspective, we image being sent by Christ – each receptive heart being sent by Christ – and given the grace of love of the Holy Spirit. Our receptivity opens us to the Spirit. And what are we being sent for? Forgiving sins – forgiving the sins of our fellow human beings, forgiving those who trespass against us. Reflecting from a process perspective, the passage becomes words about our hearts, our souls… enlightening us about the Father’s work. Can it be that when Christ fulfilled his work, and humanity moved to a new potential platform in the intended process of becoming fully and truly human, that the Father no longer forgives sins directly, but always through us? From a process perspective, what comes to the fore is the forgiving. Fully participating in forgiving, we experience becoming fully and truly human!
Being forgiven – through the working of love flowing through the receptive soul of one who is being forgiving – builds hope within another… hope leading to the realization that they too are being sent – being sent to forgive… ongoingly, unconditionally forgive those who trespass against them. For I see now, the truth in “They know not what they do”… they do not realize that they too are being “sent” – being sent to become instruments of love… not hearing the call, they “know not what they do”… not hearing the call, we know not what we do.
Reflecting yet further on Christ’s last words, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you… Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained,” we see that these words give us the way to “Love one another as I have loved you,” which turns out to be the intended way to “Love God.”
To be an instrument of love
is to be an instrument of forgiveness.
Sandra Maslow Smith
Philosopher of Potential
