St. John the Evangelist and St. Luke, the author of Acts of Apostles, are 50 days apart chronologically but they are in total agreement theologically regarding the gift of the Spirit.
The Gospel according to St. John has Jesus Christ return from the grave on Easter Sunday evening completely filled with the Holy Spirit. This resurrected Jesus could pass through locked doors at will; he was somewhat familiar but also rather mysterious; clearly some dramatic change had occurred in the Apostles’ old friend and mentor. This newly risen Christ confers his hard-earned gift of the Spirit on the 10 gathered disciples and then challenges them to share in his ministry of reconciliation. “Whose sin you shall forgive they are forgiven them; whose sins you hold back, they are held back.” Catholics may easily understand the beginning of the sacrament of penance to be found in these words. And, indeed, they would not be wrong. But Catholics and all Christians must see in this commissioning by Christ a synopsis of the whole Gospel message. Every Christian activity has the goal of reconciliation as its objective.
Man had been on the outs with God, with his neighbor, and even with himself since Eden. The death and resurrection of Jesus had healed this triple breach. Now it was the task of the believing community to spread the work of reconciliation worldwide. The Spirit was Christ’s new gift and sharing this Spirit would be their new ministry. St. John has this marvelous outpouring of the Spirit occur on Easter evening – a full seven weeks before St. Luke’s more popular Pentecost event would take place.
Now reflect on St. Luke’s words to the Apostles as he was about to ascend into heaven: “And he said to them, ‘Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’” Like the beloved disciple, St. Luke summarizes the whole Gospel message in terms of reconciliation. Their message to the world is to be one of “repentance” and “forgiveness.” The old enmity between God and man and among men and within the human heart was to be healed, forgiven, reconciled. The greeting of peace and reconciliation through the Spirit that St. John had placed on the lips of the risen Christ is equally found in the reassuring phrases which St. Luke has Jesus utter. Both Gospel accounts frame the ministry of the apostles in words that denote peace, reconciliation, forgiveness and repentance through the Spirit. The reconciliation that Christ effected on the cross and its consequent dispersal throughout the world reveal the heart of the Gospel message in the minds both of St. John and St. Luke.
What St. John and St. Luke write about in theological and sacramental terms, Jesus had cogently taught and graphically displayed during his public life. The parable of the merciful father and the prodigal son has become an iconic expression of the ministry of reconciliation entrusted by God to his Church. Jesus’ own final words, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” illustrate consummate mercy for dastardly wickedness. And today’s Gospel passage of the publicly sinful woman being touched by the compassion of Christ and displaying her gratitude for being reconciled to God by washing Jesus’ feet with ointment is another celebrated manifestation of the Master’s work of healing that the church would assume and continue. Scripture scholars have pondered whether the woman was forgiven because she loved much or did the woman love much because she had been forgiven. Which had precedence? Did Christ respond to her? Or did she respond to Christ? Is gratitude a response to forgiveness or is gratitude the occasion for forgiveness? Such a debate actually narrows the ministry of reconciliation severely. The breadth of God’s mercy leads to Christ and emanates from Christ.
Christ was, and is, the embodiment of forgiveness. The woman perceived the reconciliation present in Christ long before she heard the words, “Your sins are forgiven.” Just being in the presence of Christ was reassurance enough. The same should be said about Christ’s church. The aura of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation should pervade the church so much that every sinner should feel comfortable sitting in her company.
