Wednesday after the nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, 11/1/00

Matthew 16: 19 "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." --NKJV

In the name of the One Who gave us the keys of heaven, amen.

Did you know that you have the power of a jailer? You have the power to lock someone in the prison of his sins, or to set him free. The words we look at today are the basis for holy Absolution. Christ Jesus gave this power to His Church in a very real way, and it puts us in charge of the prison of sin.

The death of Jesus certainly paid for the sins of the world. Because of His death and resurrection, God the Father declared the whole world righteous. But if a person practices sin, he destroys his faith in Jesus and looses his salvation. For this reason Christ gave His Church the keys to the kingdom of heaven. They are to be used to show people the seriousness of sin. Their ultimate purpose is to free the person from the power of sin so that they will be saved.

How have you been using this awesome power? Have you been using it in love? Or have you seen it as a subtle way of getting revenge? If a person comes to you and apologizes, and you feel a need to go on and on about how wrong his action was, then you are using the keys as a type of revenge. The same is true if you get pleasure out of condemning someone for his sin. That is not what the keys are meant for. A person is locked in his sin only for the purpose of saving him from eternal punishment.

If you find that you have misused the keys of the kingdom of heaven, repent of that sin. Ask your Savior's forgiveness and be certain that He does forgive you because He gave His life for you. Then, in the power of forgiveness, use the power of the keys in Christian love. Amen.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, it is so easy for us to look at someone else's sin and condemn him for it. Thank You, Lord, for not being as eager to condemn as we are. Forgive us our sins, all of our sins, and help us by the Holy Spirit to always seek repentance that leads to eternal life when dealing with each other. We ask this in the name of our Savior Jesus, amen.

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