The other day someone asked me when the practice of confession began in the Church. Obviously in Matthew 18 and John 20, Jesus alludes to His disciples and/or the Church forgiving sins. Even before that, in the Jewish celebration of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, there is a moment for one to consider their sins before God. And of course, the entire sacrificial system of ancient Israel was based on a confession of sin. Still, the question of our current practice of confession is an interesting one.
It appears that the earliest record that we have of a recurring confession in the way that we do it happened in the 5th century. Here people at the beginning of Lent were invited into the church to enumerate their sins to a priest at the very least on Holy Thursday before Good Friday in preparation for Easter. This practice grew and by the 1200’s, the Roman Catholic church issued a requirement for people to confess their sins before a priest at least once a year. As an aside, the little “confessional booth” that we equate with this practice in the Roman Catholic church was not invented until 1576 (so Luther probably never saw the inside of one).
So when Luther writes his Small Catechism, there was a healthy practice of confession. Luther himself is said to have made a nuisance of himself, confessing his sins in his monastery several times a day and sometimes for several hours. Knowing that, it is interesting that later in life he encouraged his people not to make a lengthy ordeal out of confession. Rather, he told people in the catechism to confess ALL sins to God in a summary way (like we do on Sunday morning) and then confess particularly troubling sins to a pastor individually.
Luther was also very clear about the reason for confession. Confession by itself was nothing special. Like telling your doctor that you have a pain, it is a necessary part of the healing process. The magic comes not with confession, but with forgiveness. When the healing words are spoken to us, telling us that our sins are forgiven in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, there is something amazing there. In that moment, God is assuring us of what Jesus has done for us on the Cross – taking away those very sins we have just confessed.
Take a moment to consider the gift forgiveness that is offered to you as you confess your sins. As you consider that, remember what Jesus has done to assure you that when a pastor or fellow Christian tells you that your sins are forgiven, they are.