A Brother Who Remembers No Wrong

I found a resource on my bookshelf titled A Habitual Sight of Him: The Christ-Centered Piety of Thomas Goodwin, edited by Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones. It’s a collection of excerpts from Goodwin’s writings and sermons about Christ. Thomas Goodwin (1600–1680) was a faithful pastor and president of a college at Oxford. As the title suggests, he understood the ongoing need to behold Jesus Christ.

In the first chapter after the introduction, Goodwin focuses on how Christ excels Joseph. But he begins with a question that I found both honest and thought-provoking:

“Now when Christ comes first out of the other world, from the dead, clothed with that heart and body which He was to wear in heaven, what message does He first send to them?”

In other words, when Christ rose from the grave, what were the first words He spoke to His disciples?

If it were us, as Goodwin says, we might expect Jesus to rebuke them. After all, they had abandoned Him. He could have “berated them for their faithlessness and falsehood.” But He didn’t. Instead, His first words, recorded in John 20:17, were:

Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”

Goodwin draws a comparison to Joseph in Genesis 45, when he finally reveals himself to his brothers after years of betrayal and separation. Joseph’s first words in verse 4 were:

“I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.”

Here’s what Goodwin says in response:

“This is a more friendly speech by far, and argues infinitely more love than that of Joseph. For Joseph, after he had told them he was their brother, added, ‘whom you sold into Egypt’; he reminded them of their unkindness. Not so Christ. He says not a word of that; He reminds them not of what they had done against Him.”

Goodwin then applies this pastorally:

“Poor sinners, who are full of the thoughts of their own sin, know not how they shall be able at the latter day to look Christ in the face when they shall first meet with Him. But they may relieve their spirits against this care and fear by Christ’s conduct toward His disciples, who had so sinned against Him. Be not afraid, your sins He will remember no more.”

And then he goes a step further:

“He says not, ‘Tell them I have been dying for them,’ or ‘They little think what I have suffered for them’; not a word of that either. His heart and His care are set upon doing more: He looks not backward to what is passed, but forgets His sufferings… He expressed His joy that, not only does He go to His Father, but that He goes to their Father, to be an advocate with Him for them.”

Despite the older English, Goodwin’s point is clear: Jesus does not hold your sins against you. Just as He did not shame or rebuke His disciples, neither does He come to you in condemnation. You, like them, now have the same Father as Christ. He calls you His brother. He remembers your sin no more.

Where Joseph recalled his brothers’ betrayal, Jesus recalls only His love for you. That, Christian, should be a deeply comforting thought.

You can see his full paper here.