What would you do if you were planning to go abroad in a few weeks, you had some important unfinished business and you were in a gathering with your associates?
Being a responsible person, I am sure that you would not dilly-dally and talk about the weather or other insubstantial matters. Most probably, you would go direct to the business at hand, as soon as you had exchanged the necessary pleasantries called for by proper decorum.
When Jesus appeared to the apostles after His resurrection, He went on to the important matter He still had to wrap up.
Through His death and resurrection, He had already opened the gates of heaven, and He had made it possible for men to be forgiven of their sins. But the redemption still had to be applied to its beneficiaries. The apostles still had to preach the Gospel to the whole world.
Meanwhile, there was this pressing need. In spite of hearing the gospel, in spite of being washed from our sins through baptism, we still need the help of God. Especially since we are not angels. who through one act of the will, are able to make a final choice for or against God.
We need the grace of God for the forgiveness of our daily faults and weaknesses. And since Jesus knew the great need of man, it is very significant that his first act, once He had gained the merits of the redemption, was to establish one of the most important ways that the redemption could be applied to us.
He conferred to the apostles the divine power of forgiving men’s sins. “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained” (John 20:23). This was the institution by Christ of the Catholic sacrament of penance and reconciliation.
Some people argue that the priest cannot forgive sins in confession because they are only human beings like everyone else. But this objection fails to take into account what Christ Himself wanted to do.
Certainly, no man can dare to arrogate to Himself the power to forgive sins. But the bishops and the priests, who are the successors of the apostles in this sphere, do not arrogate it. It was freely given by Christ. Yes, to a human being, but through the divine power.
If Jesus Christ used clay and saliva to manifest His divine power and give sight to the blind through the application of simple mud, why can He not make use of human beings to exercise His power to forgive sins?
When the priest absolves us of our sins in confession, he does not do it in his name or by his own authority, but in the name, authority and in the person of Jesus Christ Himself.