Genesis 45:3-11,15, Luke 6:27-38
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Love your enemies, forgive and you will be forgiven; these are some of the words Jesus spoke during his sermon on the plain. In principle these words sound wonderful, but I think most of us would rather go down to the Mexican border and build a wall by hand, one stone at a time, than love our enemies and forgive those who have hurt us. I struggle with the issue of forgiveness. I question myself, have I forgiven, fully, my brother for beating me up, now and then, when we were kids? I think so, but there are still those times when my brother and I get into one of our “discussion challenges” when I get a little edge over him (and I have to admit) I sometimes get a little too much pleasure out of putting him down; it’s part of the game, but it is supposed to be friendly. Forgiveness is not easy; our hurts stay with us much longer than maybe they should; I certainly carry none of the bruises that I once had and they certainly were not as bad as time has made me think of them.
The story of Joseph gives a great example of forgiveness. Joseph, admittedly, was a bit of a tattletale in his youth, but that was no justification for his brothers putting him in a pit and selling him into slavery and then telling their father that he was torn apart and eaten by a lion. Walking to Egypt in chains (or bound by ropes) and later sitting in a prison in Egypt, I don’t doubt that Joseph was a long way from forgiving his brothers. But here, in today’s OT reading, Joseph was past his hard times and was in a position of power and living in luxury, he had maybe 10 years to think about these things and he had come to the realization that what his brothers had meant for evil, God had meant for good, to save his people. It is certainly easier to forgive when in such circumstances. But even then, Joseph, initially, made his brothers jump through hoops and it would not surprise me to learn that he got some pleasure from their suffering.
Forgiveness is hard for me, it was hard for Joseph. Forgiveness, I don’t doubt is equally as hard for you; I see it, and I struggle when you fail or refuse to forgive family members, church members and friends. Refusing to forgive is not what Jesus expects from us. I think, often, forgiveness comes so hard because we have a totally wrong understanding of forgiveness. Forgiveness is not about the other admitting their wrong. Forgiveness is not about restitution. It is not about forgetting past bad experiences. And it’s not about everything being all happy and good. All of these things are possible, but what forgiveness is about, is you, me trying to resolve a bad situation; it is about you, me wanting to restore relationships; it is about you, me praying for the wisdom and strength to forgive and let go of our anger; it is about you, me wanting to be like Jesus.
Forgiving, is what Jesus did for you and me on Good Friday. Did you think that Jesus was going to wait for each of us to admit all of our sins before taking his place on the cross, suffering and dying? And let’s be honest, half of the sins that Jesus has forgiven us, we don’t even remember, or we don’t consider to be sins or we are not ready to repent. Do you think that Jesus is waiting for each of us to make full restitution for our sins? It would take more than we have to make full restitution, if we could in fact find the people to whom we need to make restitution, and we could never make full restitution to God.
Forgiveness is about opening our hearts to those who very likely may not deserve it or even want. In our Bible study class, we looked at the book of Philemon; Paul had the audacity to ask Philemon to forgive his runaway slave, without imposing a single consequence and in fact receive him back as a brother. Who forgives that easily? Well, Jesus! And keep in mind, we are the real beneficiaries of that forgiveness, grace and love. I’m with you, in saying that forgiveness is not easy; I’m with you in the struggle to forgive, but I am sometimes frustrated beyond my limits, by all of you who refuse to, even try, to reach out to those who have wronged you, with an olive branch and forgiveness. Tell me that I don’t understand the circumstances; okay, I’ll admit to that; but then, tell me also that you’ve confessed to God all your sins and you’ve made full restitution; tell me that you are deserving of Jesus’ forgiveness, that you have earned your place before God and I’ll accept your explanation, accept that you have good reason not to forgive you brother, sister, parent, son, daughter, church member, friend, and neighbor.
Jesus in our reading suggests that God is about justice and that God is about balancing the books, or giving the measure that we deserve. We could, none of us, stand up to such scrutiny and survive the punishments we deserve. Do you know what else frustrates me? Jesus by his death, has made it so that you and I can each get away with (even) our refusals to forgive and still enjoy Jesus’ forgiveness. We are all in this together; it’s not just you; it seems, I too have not fully forgiven my brother; I am trying; are you? I’ve even settled my grudge against Sears for not carrying pants that would fit me as a teen (either the waist was too large or the pant legs were too short); it took me years go back and shop at Sears. I’m, without a doubt, a work in progress; aren’t we all? My worry is that a lot of you are not even trying to progress. I so hope I am wrong; so many of you seem to be missing out on family, friends and close church ties that could give your lives so much more joy, that is, with the help of prayer and the Holy Spirit! And even if we get nothing from our willingness to forgive, we will know that we have tried; we will have the weight of our anger, resentment or grudge removed from our hearts; we will have a better understanding of how God feels, as he forgives us while we continue to sin.
Keep trying to forgive; Jesus does; God does! I pray that be your forgiveness you will regain your family member, friend, church family member, or neighbor.