It is so hard to keep focus on the gospel. We might even say it is impossible, because the gospel itself is purely a gift of God. We struggle because every influence in the world and every inclination of the human heart tend away from the gospel toward the law. Even in the church the social, legal, and organizational aspects of her day-to-day affairs absorb such large amounts of time, that even those who are supposed to be theologically trained get off the track of the gospel, and heading the other direction, chug away on the law rails. Our human relationships are governed by law, as they should be. The law fences things off, creating boundaries, that when they are transgressed cause great mischief. I found it interesting that the pope's personal butler is being tried in a Vatican court for theft. He took personal papers from the pope's desk and gave them to reporters. The butler argued that he was battling the forces of corruption in the church that were hurting his employer. However, it is hardly right to fight corruption by doing a corrupt thing. The seventh commandment has never been rescinded by God. We all owe obedience to this commandment in the church in so far as it is an earthly institution where the law orders the relationships among the people who are in it.

Not surprisingly, the pope is rumored to be contemplating a pardon for the man, who meant well, but was terribly misguided. How difficult it is for the temporal court of the Vatican to understand its place making judgments while also considering itself as a court that belongs to the church. Such muddles were characteristic of Roman practice in the medieval period, when bishops, who were spiritual authorities and temporal lords at the same time, sometimes excommunicated temporal rulers over purely secular disputes about property and other forms of earthly jurisdiction; confounding the law and the gospel. It is not as though it was illegitimate for temporal authority to be exercised by churchmen, but it was a terribly damaging confusion when they used temporal power to enforce church teaching and practice or used spiritual authority to enforce secular goals. The pope excommunicated whole nations, such as England, to enforce his political will, depriving whole peoples of the Lord's body and blood to bring their rulers to heal. There are earthly judgments that need to be made. That is the Lord's business, but it is business that must take place in the public square and must be conducted according to the law, including the commutation of a sentence. Perhaps the pope is considering commuting his former butler's sentence, because this is not the same as forgiving Him in Christ's name.

The business of holy absolution is a far different business. It takes us from the justice of the law with its threats and punishments to the justice of Christ. That justice is the conferred righteousness which Christ merited for poor sinners. God's justice in Christ is nothing other than His full and complete grace for us. God's justice is a gift from Him, not our work for Him. If we are going to earn our way, the payment is too high. The law's justice is too inclusive. If we are to survive, we must go from the seat of judgment to the mercy seat of Christ (Rm 3:25). Here is where the blood has been poured out for us upon the ark of the cross and covers all the sins of the people. Beyond all things the certainty of the mercy stands over our sin, it covers everything as a canopy. Under this we nestle safely.

Martin Luther