Which event is associated with the founding of the practice of confession?

Which event is associated with the founding of the practice of confession?

• A. On Easter Sunday, Jesus said 'peace be with you'; Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world and sends the apostles to go out and do likewise.
• B. On Pentecost.
• C. In the Jordan River.
• D. At the Last Supper.

Answer: (A)

The key moment is Jesus’ appearance to the apostles after the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, when he greets them with peace, breathes the Holy Spirit on them, and commissions them with the authority to forgive sins: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.” This gifting of authority becomes the biblical foundation for the practice of confession in the Church, since it establishes who has the power to forgive sins and how that forgiveness is to be exercised through the Church. Pentecost is about the Spirit empowering the apostles for mission, not the act of forgiving sins itself. The Jordan River scene is Jesus’ baptism, which inaugurates his public ministry, not the forgiveness of sins in the sacramental sense. The Last Supper concerns instituting the Eucharist and the priestly role, but the explicit act of forgiving sins given to the apostles occurs at the Easter appearance.

The key moment is Jesus’ appearance to the apostles after the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, when he greets them with peace, breathes the Holy Spirit on them, and commissions them with the authority to forgive sins: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.” This gifting of authority becomes the biblical foundation for the practice of confession in the Church, since it establishes who has the power to forgive sins and how that forgiveness is to be exercised through the Church.

Pentecost is about the Spirit empowering the apostles for mission, not the act of forgiving sins itself. The Jordan River scene is Jesus’ baptism, which inaugurates his public ministry, not the forgiveness of sins in the sacramental sense. The Last Supper concerns instituting the Eucharist and the priestly role, but the explicit act of forgiving sins given to the apostles occurs at the Easter appearance.