Forgiveness and the Example of St. Peter

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A great many articles of the Christian Faith are difficult to understand. We confess many of these things simply to be mysteries – concepts beyond the scope and privy of the human mind. One could make great lists of all the mysteries beyond reason, but let us consider briefly a few.

The two natures of Christ is a great and mysterious subject within the hallowed halls of theology. In one person coexists 100% God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and 100% Man, born of the Virgin Mary. The two are not mixed into some third peculiar substance, but neither are they completely untouched by each other, as though merely two boards glued to each other. How did God become Man? How does the divine nature relate to the human nature? These are questions which have sprouted some of the most despicable heresies in history, but to which there is no real answer – only confession of the reality revealed in Scripture.

Likewise, consider the sacramental union of the Body and Blood of Christ with the bread and wine you see on the altar. What do you see, touch, and taste? Mere bread and wine. Earthly elements with a definite source and composition, with a finite quantity. And yet what do you receive? The true, real, physical Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Are the bread and wine transformed or obliterated? Or is this merely a complicated figure of speech, a representation of a heavenly reality? Neither. This is simply a mystery, beyond your understanding, simply given to be received in faith and confessed with your lips.

Perhaps the most obscure, the most divisive, the most offensive of all the mysteries of the Christian Faith is the Holy Trinity. Who is God? How is God one God in Three Persons? How do we confess this while neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance? “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” we confess with the children of Israel. And yet you are baptized into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. How can this be? Stop trying to figure it out. It is beyond the ken of people greatly smarter than you or I. Only believe and confess.

However great and wonderful these mysteries are, it has been said that perhaps the most difficult article of the Christian Faith to believe is the forgiveness of sins. We confess in the Creed: “I believe the forgiveness of sins”, and yet how difficult it is to actually take to heart and hold fast to this blessed proclamation.

Nothing is harder to believe than to forgiveness of sins, because this is where the enterprise of theology enters into your experience. Without the forgiveness of sins, the Two Natures, the unio sacramentalis, the Trinity, and any other doctrine becomes meaningless. For it is with the forgiveness of sins that this great and awesome God penetrates your heart and mind and flesh. There are a lot of parts to the Christian experience which are external and compartmentalized, but the forgiveness of sins is invasive and inevitable. You cannot be a Christian without having been pervaded and transformed by the forgiveness of sins that comes from and through Jesus Christ.

For this reason, God provides the example of St. Peter, that you might learn the depth and riches of His forgiving grace and mercy. St. Peter made the great confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” He was present on the mount of Transfiguration. He had sworn never to forsake or deny our Lord. And yet, he did precisely that which he had forsworn, just as Jesus had predicted. All fell away and deserted Jesus, even Peter.

St. John records in detail the stages of Peter's denial of our Lord, that you may see how great his sin. For there is no greater sin than this – to deny the Lord Jesus before men. This is the one unforgivable sin – not doubt, but apostasy. The unforgivable sin is unbelief, because the unbelieving heart does not look for or hold firmly to the forgiveness of sins. And where there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness.

The example of St. Peter's denial is recorded that you may see how deep the depth of sin which lies in the heart of you and of all men. But this example is also recorded that you may see the richness of God's abundant grace and forgiveness. For consider the difference in outcomes between St. Peter and Judas Iscariot.

Both committed great and grievous sins. Both were deserving of death and damnation. But that only came to Judas. Why? Because Judas looked to the Law to calm his guilty conscience, and he found there nothing but more condemnation and shame. Therefore, he went and hanged himself, and his despair overtook him and brought him to hell.

On the other hand, Peter confessed his sin and went away weeping in contrition. He witnessed the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He received the blessed word of absolution from the mouth of our Lord. And St. Peter was restored, reconciled to God through the blood of the cross.

This is the reason the account of St. Peter's denial is so painstakingly recorded – that you may learn from him how to receive the forgiveness of your sins. For your sins are very great and many, and you surely deserve only death and condemnation. But God has sent His Son to die for you, that you might receive not your own just deserts, but the undeserved and unreserved grace, mercy, and forgiveness which Christ has won on the cross for you. He did not die for His own sake, for God had no need to die. He died for your sake, to forgive all your sins.

We see in the gospel of John that our Lord Christ Himself was present to heal and restore St. Peter to Himself. As they sat on the banks of the Sea, Jesus spoke to Peter the words of absolution, freeing him from sin and guilt. There He was present for the forgiveness of sins.

He is now yet present for you for the forgiveness of your sins. However, Jesus is not sitting among you in the flesh, eating supper with you at the table. He has given His holy Church, that you may know where to look for the forgiveness of your sins. When you come to this place, when you hear the man called to this altar, when you receive the gifts given here, you know that your sins are forgiven.

Likewise, Jesus has instituted the Office of the Holy Ministry for this very purpose. He has given us the gift of pastors, the called ministers of God and stewards of His mysteries. He has called ordinary, sinful, wretched men of flesh and blood to serve you with His gifts. In His great and superabundant mercy, God has given to you pastors, that through these men He might deliver to you not just a little grace, not just in one way, but over and over and over again, in several ways, through various means. He gives His grace through the waters of Baptism, through the healing word and touch of Absolution, through the life-giving food of the Holy Supper, and through the mutual consolation and conversation of the Christian community.

This is where you find forgiveness. You may not understand it, but you must believe it. Your life depends upon it. Confess it, and believe it. In this one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, through the weak and feeble means of earthly things, God gives you His forgiveness, life, and salvation. When your conscience is pricked, when you are tormented with guilt and doubt and pain, look to your holy mother, the Church. For here God has promised to be, not with wrath and death, but with the forgiveness of sins. But outside the church there is no salvation.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.