4 February 2024
And to take the other side of the coin, absolution too becomes another
matter. It is neither a response to a suitably worthy confession, nor the
acceptance of a reasonable apology. “Absolvere” in Latin means not only to
loosen, to free, to acquit; it also means to dispose of, to complete, to
finish. When God pardons, therefore, He does not say He understands our
weakness or makes allowances for our errors; rather He disposes of, He finishes
with, the whole of our dead life and raises us up with a new one. He does not
so much deal with our derelictions as He does drop them down the black hole of
Jesus’ death. He forgets our sins in the darkness of the tomb. He remembers our
iniquities no more in the oblivion of Jesus’ expiration. He finds us, in short,
in the desert of death, not in the garden of improvement; and in the power of
Jesus’ resurrection, He puts us on His shoulders rejoicing and brings us home.
Robert Farrar Capon
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