One Year Bible Wednesday, June 1st. What Does It Mean When Jesus says to his disciples, 'If you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven. If you do you not they are not forgiven."
Click Here to Listen to the Readings
Click Here to Read 1 Samuel 18:1-19:10
Absalom’s Defeat and Death
David sends his men, generals, and captains to fight Absalom and the other Israelites. David's three commanders dissuade him from going to battle with them saying, "You are worth more than 10,000 men!" David's only caveat to them is that they be gentle with his young son, Absalom.
The men kill 20,000 Israelites and in the fight Absalom gets hung in a tree by his head and dangles from it. When the men report it to Joab, he asks them why they did not finish the job and kill Absalom. They reply that they had heard David tell them to deal gently with Absalom, and they did not want to go against the king's wishes.
But Joab takes matters into his own hands and kills Absalom himself and his armor bearers finish the job. The bury Absalom's body there and went back home.
David Mourns Absalom’s Death
There is quite a bit of arguing about how they should tell the king the news his son is dead. Zadok's son, Ahinaaz, wants to be the bearer of good news, but Joab knows it may not go that well.They pick an Ethopian man to go and tell David. Perhaps Joab fears whoever tells David may lose their life. But Ahinaaz insists on going, so Joab finally lets him go.
When Ahinaaz gets to David, he loses courage. David asks him about his son, and he says in the commotion he had not heard what had happened to Absalom. Meanwhile, the Ethopian man becomes the bearer of the bad news.
Far from rejoicing over the victory of the Israelites and the taking of Absalom's life, David is stricken with grief and unconsolable. The text says,
"The king was overcome with emotion. He went up to the room over the gateway and burst into tears. And as he went, he cried, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son.”
Joab Rebukes the King
Meanwhile, amidst David's sobbing and grieving, Joab takes offense, as he was hoping for the victory parade when he came home with his troops. Instead all the king could do was cry. The troops were discouraged thinking they had done a bad thing.
Joab rebukes David firmly. He reasons would the king have been happy if Absalom had been saved and his army and his family had been killed. For a minute, I wondered if David was going to unleash his fury on Joab. But, in the end, he sees he is being a little "over the top" about the whole thing. He goes out to the town gate to presumably celebrate their victory with the public.
Again we see David's true nature and his tender heart. This is reflected in a lot of the psalms he wrote. He was passionate for the Lord and also his family. Though Absalom had deceived him and even tried to kill him, a his love for his child was unconditional. In fact, he says he would have rather paid the price and died rather than his son. David shows why he is a "man after own heart", and he exhibits many Christ-like qualities.
The Resurrection
It is interesting that Mary Magdalene is the first to go to the tomb. She goes so early as it is still dark out. Possibly she is afraid she might be seen.
Jesus had cast seven demons out of this Mary (Luke 8:2, Mark 16:9). Her troubled past didn’t disqualify her from being the first witness of the resurrected Jesus and His first commissioned messenger of His resurrection.- Guzik
The first thing she did was to run and tell Peter, and the disciple whom Jesus loved, who we know is John. The two disciples have a footrace to the empty tomb. John won but stayed outside, and Peter charged right into the tomb. Go figure. LOL. They saw the cloth that was around Jesus' head, and the strips of linen Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had used to bury Jesus properly.
This piece of evidence is important. Why?
1. If someone had stolen the body, they probably wouldn't not have neatly set aside the grave clothes.
2. The grave clothes were expensive, so if the body was stolen, they probably would have stolen the grave clothes too.
3. There is really no reason to justify the arrangement of the grave clothes in an orderly fashion. The only logical conclusion was that something supernatural had happened.
The neat, orderly arrangement of the linen cloths showed that a human hand, at least not in any way that was immediately apparent, did not remove the burial wrappings of Jesus. All this demonstrated that something absolutely unique had happened in that now-empty tomb. (Guzik)
“The whole point of the description is that the grave-clothes did not look as if they had been put off or taken off; they were lying there in their regular folds as if the body of Jesus had simply evaporated out of them.” (Barclay)
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
Apparently after telling Peter about the empty tomb, Mary went back to the tomb. She was still in grief and crying. She bent in to look into the tomb and suddenly two angels appeared and asked her why she was crying. She said that they had taken Jesus, and she did not know where he was. She had subscribed to the "someone had stolen Jesus' body" theory.
Mary is then the first person to experience the Risen Lord Jesus. At first when she sees Jesus, she thought he was the gardener. Being in a state of deep grief, I'm sure she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. Then Jesus called her by name, as He said "Mary". And apparently He said it in way that made Mary instantly realize it was her Lord. She exclaimed "Rabboni", which means teacher. Once again Mary ran and told the others what had just happened to her.
Mary is a great example of an evangelist. When she experienced the risen Lord, she ran right away to tell as many as possible so they too could have the same joy she had!
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
Jesus then appeared to the disciples through supernatural means, or as he slipped past the locked door. When he showed them his hands and side, they were overjoyed. We can assume they came to faith. At that moment Jesus breathed on the disciples, and they received the Holy Spirit. He also says something very interesting that has been debated in the church for years,
"If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” verse 23
Protestants would believe that as disciples of Christ, we have the authority to pronounce the forgiveness of sins. The bible even says, "Confess your sins to one another that you may be healed."
The Catholic church gives more authority to the church to specifically pronounce the forgiveness of sin. This happens in the mass where the priest offers forgiveness through the sacrament of Holy Communion. If a priest were to were not allow someone to receive communion based on their sinfulness or being out of fellowship with the Catholic church, I would assume it is based on this text because I don't see it anywhere else in scripture.
When you look at the overall teaching of the gospels, I think one can see that Jesus' death on the cross has offered us the free gift forgiveness for our sins once and for all. Though we need to hear the gospel preached on Sunday and experience the promise of forgiveness through the sacraments, I don't believe it is dependent on any man. We need to reminded of what Jesus has done for us, so we can continue to live in the power of the resurrection dying to sin and be raised to new life every day.
David Guzik says it well,
This lays down the duty of the church to proclaim forgiveness to the repentant believer, and the duty of the church to warn the unbeliever that they are in danger of forfeiting the mercy of God. We don’t create the forgiveness or deny it; we announce it according to God’s word and the wisdom of the Spirit. (Guzik)
Click Here to Read Psalm 119:153-176
Click Here to Read Proverbs 16:14-15
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