The Office of the Keys

There’s a kind of unforgiveness in the world that’s colder than judgment. 

It doesn’t scream. It doesn’t throw stones. It just walks away. 

It unfollows. It blocks. 

It cancels. 

And the door stays shut.

We live in an age of total unforgiveness. You get one shot. Blow it, and you might never be invited back in. 

No apology is quite good enough. No effort to change ever seems to go far enough. You are what you did… forever.

The irony? We’re all guilty. Everyone carries something… regret, shame, secrets. But no one knows what to do with guilt anymore. Our culture excels at exposing it. 

We’re not so good at releasing it.

And that’s where the Church dares to be different.

In the Church, the door opens. 

Not because you found the key. But because someone else used theirs.

In the Church, the door opens. 

Not because you found the key. 

But because someone else used theirs.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He didn’t just walk out of the tomb and disappear into the clouds. 

He found His disciples. 

He breathed the Holy Spirit into them.

And He gave them something strange and beautiful: authority.

“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:23)

This is what the Church calls the Office of the Keys — the authority Christ gives His Church to forgive sins on earth. 

It doesn’t belong to pastors because they’re extra holy. 

It belongs to the Church because Jesus said so. 

And pastors, publicly called by the Church, are stewards of that authority.

Forgiveness is not a vibe. It’s not a private pep talk. 

Forgiveness is not a long journey back to self-confidence.

It is a word of truth from God Himself. 

Forgiveness is spoken from the lips of the man called and ordained for that very purpose.

It’s hearing a real human voice, with authority from Christ: “I forgive you all your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

The reality of your forgiveness is rooted in Jesus Himself - the work He accomplished on the cross - if you hear your pastor speak it, it’s because Jesus has planned for you to hear it.

Absolution is nothing less than the Word of God come alive for the sake of the Church.

And that word does something.

If you hear your pastor speak forgiveness, it's because Jesus has planned for you to hear it.

I’ve written elsewhere about the beauty of private confession and absolution.

Today I’d like you to think about the corporate “event”.

We're talking about public worship, and the moment near the start of the service called "Confession and Absolution".

It's that moment in the worship service when all of the people confess together - including the pastor.

This is an event that is not brought about by anyone’s piety, it’s not made more meaningful because “Aunt Agnes” in the third pew on the left really - and I mean REALLY means it.

It’s not an event that happens because, well, it’s what we always do.

The confession of sins happens because we’ve just invoked the name of God.

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

That’s how worship begins because that’s who begins our worship.

And when we publicly, vocally, and faithfully invoke His name like that, there’s quite literally no other response than to confess.

It’s as if that Invocation has suddenly made us all aware that, “by golly we’re in the presence of the Holy and Righteous One, the God all creation, and who are we but men and women who hardly deserve such a rich blessing.”

Including the pastor.

So we confess.

And because the pastor has been burdened and blessed with the authority to forgive sins “in the stead and by the command” of Jesus, He speaks those amazing words.

And when you hear them, Jesus wants you to hear His voice in, with, and under the voice of your pastor.

Jesus forgives you. He just uses your pastor’s voice to let you know.

The confession of sins happens because we’ve just invoked the name of God.

The world cancels people. 

But in the Gospel, Christ cancels guilt.

And He does it by being canceled in our place.

On the cross, Jesus took our shame… all of it. 

Our secrets. 

Our failures. 

Our guilt. 

He bore the full weight of human sin and heard the sentence we deserve: "Cut off. Forsaken. Condemned."

This was no accident. It was substitution.

As the Apostle Paul writes:

“He forgave us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us... This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13–14)

That’s “cancel culture”, all right, but on a cosmic level.

Absolution is God’s cosmic cancel culture.

Not a culture that erases people for their sin. 

It’s a kingdom where sin itself gets nailed to a cross and left for dead.

So when you confess your sins and hear the words of absolution, you’re not just getting comfort.

Sure, it probably does help you “feel better”, but that’s not really the main point.

You’re receiving a verdict. Guilty but Pardoned. 

Case closed. The Judge Himself has spoken.

That’s why the Church keeps using the Keys. Not as a tool of control, but as an instrument of freedom. Not to shame you, but to release you.

These are not keys intended to keep the doors of the church shut, they are the keys that burst those doors open, inviting the rest of the world inside where they too might hear the most important words any man has ever spoken:

I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

No more hiding. No more pretending. No more working off the debt.

Just a door flung open. A word spoken in grace. And a burden lifted.

Come to the place where guilt is canceled… not by forgetfulness, but by blood.

Come hear the Word that sets sinners free.

Lord Jesus Christ, You bore the sentence we could not escape. You were silenced so that we might speak. You were cast out, condemned, and crucified— that our guilt might be canceled and our shame undone.

Grant us hearts that do not flee Your voice, but run to You in honesty and hope. Let us hear the absolution not as mere words, but as Your own breath, filling our lungs with grace.

Make us bold to confess what burdens us, and even bolder to believe Your promise: that sins confessed are sins forgiven, and guilt laid down is never picked up again.

To You be all praise, O Christ, our key and our door, our mercy and our freedom.

Amen.