Confession
help them quiet their distraught consciences. In the end, without remorse for the sins we reveal, confession remains a mere “dumping” of sin from one person to another and can have no redeeming effect. With remorse – with the desire to truly undo the wrongs we have committed by turning away from them for good – confession becomes a joy. In casting off the veil that has kept our sin hidden, it removes the spell of secrecy. I have seen people change in an instant; people who came to me in such distress that their sin seemed to burden them physically, but who almost skipped away once they had everything off their chests. Bonhoeffer describes this transformation in a wonderful way and shows us that it is more than an emotional thing, but something with eternal meaning: In the confession of concrete sins the old man dies a painful, shameful death before the eyes of a brother. Because this humiliation is so hard, we continually scheme to avoid it. Yet in the deep mental and physical pain of humiliation before a brother we experience the cross of Jesus as our rescue and salvation. The old man dies, but it is God who has conquered him. Now we share in the resurrection of Christ and eternal life.
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