There are lots of kinds of confession. There's the kind of Confession we make when we confess our sins in the Lord's Prayer before God. There's the kind of Confession where we apologize and ask forgiveness from another person because we've hurt them in some way. Then there's what we know of as “General” Confession which takes place in the Divine Service when we all confess our sins together. But the Confession that the Catechism is talking about and to which we'll give our attention tonight is that kind known as Private Confession a practice which has been in the church since it's earliest days and yet, for some reason, has fallen into disuse in the Lutheran Church. The Catechism teaches that Confession has two parts. And which part is the big deal? Is it CONFESSION and Absolution? Or is it Confession and ABSOLUTION! If we learn from the Catechism, we learn how to give the right amount attention to each of Confession's two parts: First part: we confess our sins. Second—now listen to how much bigger an explanation the second part gets—second is that we receive ABSOLUTION, that is, FORGIVENESS, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our SINS ARE FORGIVEN before God in heaven. The big deal, fellow redeemed of the Lord, is not OUR part where we tell what we have done, but the Lord's part, where He declares that we are pardoned and set free, that no punishment will come to us because of our sins, that we are not shut out of heaven because of our iniquities. In other words, the big deal is not our confessing but the Lord's absolving. Not our trying to somehow list every sin we've every done, as if anyone could do that, but rather hearing the Lord's Word that our sins are forgiven for Jesus' sake.
To understand Confession and ABSOLUTION properly we learn from Jesus' words ordaining His apostles to go into the world and to “forgive” and “retain” sins. When does He do this? St. John records these words of Jesus that He spoke to His preachers after His resurrection from the dead. So the ministry of Holy Absolution, of forgiving sins is really all about delivering to people the forgiveness of sins that is ours because Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead. Absolution, then, is a resurrection thing, a victory-over-sin-and-death thing, a your-sins-have-been-paid-for-and-taken-away-by-crucified-and-risen-Jesus thing. You see, the wages of sin is death. So Jesus, the sinless Son of God, dies because He's got our sins on Him. But He rises from the dead; death can't keep Him down! Must mean He's gotten rid of the sins. By His bloody sacrifice on the cross, Jesus has taken them away. By His resurrection from the dead, He's promised they won't come back! The sending of the apostles into the world to forgive sins means that Jesus will have His salvation and forgiveness delivered to the ends of the earth, yes, even to you.
Absolution, then, is the delivery of the goods. It's the handing out of the forgiveness that Jesus won for you on the cross. Absolution is a return to your Baptism, a calling you back to hear that your sins have been forgiven for Jesus sake, just as was given to you at your Baptism. Remember, the big deal of the two parts of Confession is not the confession, it's the absolution. Confession and absolution are not practiced in this church for the sake of burdening you, but unburdening you. Confession and absolution are not offered to search out your sins but to blot them out. Confession and absolution isn't offered to cause you misery in trying to figure out everything you've ever done wrong but to comfort you against those sins which particularly bother and grieve you. In private absolution, you have one more way the Lord has given to comfort His people against their sins. The Devil loves to whisper in your ear that because you've done this or that or thought something terrible, you can never dare to call yourself a Christian. The world whispers that if you do mess up you can just try to fix it yourself. And Old Adam just doesn't care and needs to be told that he is doomed! Against these enemies are the words of Holy Absolution. In the stead, that is, in the place of Christ, by His command and authority, your pastor has been called to speak Jesus' words. In Holy Absolution your pastor doesn't just tell you that you are forgiven, he actually, by his speaking, forgives you and it is just as if Christ Himself has said it. When you pray “forgive us our trespasses” do you know what the answer to that prayer is? The answer is that the Lord has given you a pastor who declares, “I forgive you your sins.” Then hell itself cannot say otherwise!
So if private Confession and ABSOLUTION are so great, why don't more people avail themselves of this opportunity? Why don't people take their pastor aside and demand that he do his job of delivering forgiveness to them? I think there are a couple of big objections. One is that we already receive absolution in after the General Confession of the Divine Service so why do we need to go privately? Well, private absolution gets to the sins that are really troubling us, the ones that we may include in our general confession but which still plague us and worry us and bother us. When you go to a Mardi Gras parade, beads and trinkets fly off the floats in vast quantities. Over and over riders throw their beads and toys to the crowds. But every once in a while, a rider will make eye contact with a little child and will lean over the side of the float and place His treasure right in the hand of that little one so there is no doubt that the treasure is his. That's private absolution! Not just forgiveness chucked anywhere and everywhere, but TO YOU, for your sins that hurt and harm your conscience. When you confess your sins privately before your pastor, he directs the Lord's forgiveness just to you and wipes out the record of those sins from before the Lord.
Another objection is that we don't have to confess our sins to the pastor because we can just confess to the Lord. Very true! But where will you receive absolution? Who will speak to you those words of comfort? Brothers and sisters, the Lord has ordained your pastor for just this purpose: to care for your soul and warn you away from your sins and comfort you by speaking Holy Absolution. Let's be honest. Most folks are uncomfortable coming to their pastor in private to reveal what wicked things they've done and said and thought. But that's what your pastor is here for: to absolve you of these sins! Why is it that you will go to a man or woman you may barely know but because they bear the title “Doctor” you will get naked in front of them and let them poke and prod and examine you? Or because a person has the title of C.P.A. you will divulge to them all the otherwise private details about how much money you make and how you spend it? Or because a person is called an “Attorney at Law” you will given them the private details of your marriage or possessions and life? Yet so few would dare to come and confess their troubling sins to their pastor even though that's exactly what he has been put here by the Lord: to absolve them! Brothers and sisters, just as the Lord has given you a doctor to care for your body and a CPA to do your taxes, recognize and believe that He has given you a pastor to rescue you from the guilt of your sins!
Brothers and sisters, I make no law. You never HAVE to come to confession. I only want to teach you what it is so that you will desire the joy and comfort of those words of absolution and forgiveness against those sins which trouble and bother you. If you happen to have no sins that trouble you, well, then definitely don't come because it won't give you anything you need! But I know you. I know that you have done things you are not proud of. I know you have had thoughts that would frighten even those who are closest to you in your life. I know that you have said things which you long to be able to take back. Brothers and sisters in Christ, don't be troubled by these things! Don't let them gnaw at you and eat at you and be fuel for the lies of the devil! Come and confess them. More importantly, come and be ABSOLVED and forgiven of them. And see how they vanish from God's memory and your pastor's who has vowed that he will NEVER break the seal of that confession. Brothers and sisters, please don't hear my words as any sort of threat or requirement. Hear them as I mean them, as Christ means them, as a gracious invitation to you to let His Word remove the terror and sorrow and guilt of your thoughts, words and deeds. Come, let your pastor do his job and speak Christ's comforting words of forgiveness to you. Next Wednesday at Noon and 7:00 PM. And any other time you need it! As the Father has sent Jesus, so He has sent me to forgive you your sins. That's what I'm hear for so put me to work! In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.