What God wants is a confession! He never gets it. If only Adam and Eve had asked for
forgiveness, how different history might be.
The saga continues.
Adam and Eve’s son, Cain, kills his brother, Abel. Again, God Who knows everything, asks, “What
have you done?” (Gen. 4:9) And Abel
doesn’t confess. He has the hutzpah to respond, “I don’t know, am I my
brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:10) All the way to the end of the encounter, Cain
is UNrepentant! Again, God is blamed. Cain tells God that “My punishment is greater
than I can bear!” (Gen. 4:13) Cain isn’t saying “Woe is me;” he’s telling
God that He’s not being fair. Then he
goes on to castigate God for taking away his way of making a living (Gen. 4:14)
and forcing him to be a wanderer on the earth.
Like his parents, Cain is defensive, resentful and full of
self-pity…everything but confessing. He
won’t say he’s sorry. He refuses to
acknowledge his sin and confess which is exactly what God is asking.
Throughout the Old Testament, God never wearies of
inviting the people to confess. When God makes a covenant with Moses, there are
rules and regulations. See the Book of
Leviticus, (5:5-6) and Numbers (5:5-7).
The Hebrews had to confess to their priests, and then they sacrificed as
penance. It was a ritual—read Leviticus
and Numbers. (1 Kgs. 21:27) (Neh 9:
1-2) “The Israelites … stood and
confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.”
So confession is a fact. However although the Israelites confessed,
God did not give the Levite priests the power to forgive, until Jesus, the Son
of God, in John 20: 21-23. All pardon
for sins comes from God. But Jesus left
our priests, who stand in Christ’s place when in Confession, the means to absolve.
Jesus, Himself, forgives as in the case of the woman caught in adultery (John
8:1–11) and the woman who anointed his feet (Luke 7:48). Jesus exercised this
power in His human capacity as the Messiah or Son of man, telling us, "the
Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (Matt. 9:6), which is
why the Gospel writer himself explains that God "had given such authority
to men" (Matt. 9:8).
Since He would not always be with
the Church visibly, Christ gave this power to other men so the Church, which is
the continuation of his presence throughout time (Matt. 28:20), would be able
to offer forgiveness to future generations. He gave his power to the apostles, and it was a power that could be passed on
to their successors and agents, since the apostles wouldn’t always be on earth
either, but people would still be sinning.
God had sent Jesus to forgive
sins, but after his resurrection Jesus told the apostles, "‘As the Father
has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on
them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of
any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’"
(John 20:21–23). (This is one of only two times we are told that God breathed
on man, the other being in Genesis 2:7, when he made man a living soul. It
emphasizes how important the establishment of the sacrament of penance
was.)
Please think of confession as
going to a doctor to get well.
Confession is not a courtroom.
You are not judged. There is no
jury, no judge, only you and God. The confessional
is a doctor’s office. You are going to
get spiritually well. The doctor will
give you medicine. And you need to renew
your prescription to stay spiritually healthy.
Confession is long term therapy.
It is the medicine of mercy.
Thanks be to God.
God loves us so
much that He gave us this means to stay close to Him. Unlike Adam and Eve when God asks us, (Gen
3:9) “Where are you?” We can whisper , “With
You, Lord, with You.”
