So I went to confession recently.

(Yes — Priests go to confession.)

I get that question a lot actually. And the answer is OF COURSE we do.

At any rate, I was there waiting my turn, and a thought occurred to me:

I thought to myself: “Man, it’s really easy to sin…it’s really easy to mess up and say and do and think stuff you know you shouldn’t…. but it’s also just as easy, if not EASIER…. to receive the Lord’s forgiveness.”

And I’m not talking about a begrudging forgiveness.

Or some kind of temporary, fragile sort of forgiveness with a reluctant cold shoulder.

No, I’m talking about a full… complete… total… joyful… forgiveness.

The kind of forgiveness we see in action in our Gospel passage today.

Jesus is hanging on the Cross between two robbers.

Two sinners.

One is very busy mocking him — “Are you not the Christ? Then save yourself and us!”

His words echo the challenge and temptation of Satan in the desert: “If you REALLY ARE the Son of God, then why don’t you just go ahead and turn those stones into loaves of bread!??!? Why don’t you jump from the top of the temple and show yourself to be divine!?!? Just go ahead and prove yourself! Earn your identity! Perform for us!!!!”

But Jesus refuses. He is so confident in his identity as the Beloved Son that he knows he doesn’t have to answer Satan or this robber dying on a cross alongside him. He doesn’t need to earn or prove his worth.

Then the other robber pipes in… the “good thief” as we call him… He interrupts his friend’s harsh words and defends Jesus:

“Have you no fear of God? We have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.”

Then he says those famous and beautiful words: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

How does Jesus, the King of the entire Universe reply?

Does he say: “Hmmmmm lemme think about it.”

Does he say: “Maybe…but let’s check your past first and see if you’ve actually earned it.”

Does he say: “Actually, you went past your sin quota and now it’s not possible anymore.”

No.

He simply says: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Here’s the truth guys: 

We have a King who is VERY EAGER to forgive. 

It’s not something we need to wonder about… it’s not something we should ever doubt.

You could never sin so badly that the King wouldn’t want you to come back.

There’s absolutely no limit to the number of times you can confess the same sin to Him.

Jesus’ love and forgiveness is not like a credit card — you literally CANNOT max out his mercy.

Jesus Christ the King of the Universe JUST wants us to confidently turn to him, and say: “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

This is what we do whenever we go to Confession.

We are actually entering into the throne room of a perfectly good… perfectly loving King who is eager to forgive.

The priest you meet there is not perfectly good, nor is he perfectly loving, and he might not even be super eager to be there… 

But Jesus is.

And we go there because of that confidence we have in the Lord, not the confidence we have in any priest. — (I have no confidence in myself or in any priest for that matter…)

But I am confident in Jesus the King.

I’m confident in his ROYAL AUTHORITY to forgive me, and make Paradise possible for me as well.

Now there’s that word “authority.” — Perhaps it makes us a little uncomfortable. Maybe we start thinking about all the ways authority has been abused in the past — The way some people in authority have bossed people around, taken advantage of them, or crushed their freedom.

But the authority of King Jesus is altogether different. 

His kingly authority restores peace, order, justice, and wholeness. His authority is gorgeous, gentle, and all-powerful.

In fact, lets break that little word “authority” down to understand more fully what it actually means. “Authority” comes from a latin root that literally means “originator.” As in — the source. The one who is doing the writing. Literally — the “author” has the true “authority” to determine how the story is going to go.

That’s Jesus.

The AUTHOR of Providence. The AUTHOR of Time and Space.

He is the AUTHOR of all creation!

As St. Paul put it in our second reading today from his letter to the Colossians:

“In him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

The Gospel of John puts the same idea into very similar words: “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” 

And so… it is right that Christ has been given all AUTHORITY.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel.

Authority to heal.

Authority to preach.

Authority to command.

And most relevant to the topic at hand:

Authority to forgive sins.

Over and over in the gospels, Jesus says to the people he encounters… the people he heals: “Go, your sins are forgiven.”

This causes great scandal among the scribes and the Pharisees. They  protest saying: “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?”

But Jesus, because He really is God. Because He really is King of the Universe… absolutely has that authority.

But here’s where things get interesting.

Because Jesus doesn’t hog this authority to himself!

He has shared it with His Church.

After the Resurrection, Jesus appears to his apostles in the Upper Room, and He breathes on them, saying: “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

What he is doing here is quite clear:

He’s giving his apostles authority… to forgive sins in his name. To apply HIS mercy to us!

Do you see what an immense gift this is?

So yea, it’s really easy to sin. But it’s somehow even easier to be forgiven — This doesn’t give us permission to sin. It actually should make us stop in our tracks and realize just how good our God really is.

Jesus Christ the King of the Universe already did everything necessary to save us. He already poured out his blood. He already died on the Cross. He already rose from the grave. And He has given His Church — through the hands of priests and bishops — the ability and authority to forgive sins.

So why hold back from Him?

Why the hesitation?

We don’t have a scary, mean king with a fickle heart.

No! — We have a merciful king with a Sacred, pierced, burning heart. We have a king that we can confidently approach, knowing that he is EAGER to forgive us all our sins.

We can say with that good thief on the Cross: “Jesus, please remember us when You come into Your Kingdom.”