Tag Forgiveness

When Rights Collide

Todd R 2 Comments

For a time, Moses was the sole judge over Israel, deciding right and wrong in countless cases brought by the people.  This was a massive burden and brought him to exhaustion, until his father-in-law Jethro urged Moses to delegate some of the responsibility.  Jethro tells Moses to find some able, trustworthy men, and in Exodus 18:22, he says “And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.”  Moses was to act essentially as a court of appeal for hard cases.  What kind of “great matter” might Moses get?

Deuteronomy 17:8 might be one example: “if any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the LORD your God will choose.”

What the Bible recognizes here is that the right solution isn’t always obvious.  The Bible recognizes that things can get messy.  Life isn’t always as black-and-white, right-versus-wrong as we might think.  There are complex situations where rights conflict with rights, rather than a simple right versus wrong.  Each side of the case – the plaintiff and the defendant – might be at fault.

For example, suppose one person assaulted another without provocation, but in return the other retaliated in an unjustified way.  Should both complaints cancel each other out, and no judgement declared either way?  Or should the judge enforce the penalty for both crimes independent of each other?  If one penalty is greater than the other, should a judge subtract one penalty from the other and enforce the difference on the person with the greater crime?  Would that be justice for either person?

Sometimes there aren’t easy answers, even based on God’s perfect, revealed law.  All of us are sinful and justice requires we be punished for the times we have violated some kind of legal right, committed come kind of assault, or harmed someone in another way.  What solution can untangle all of these competing claims for justice?

The only viable answer is forgiveness, but forgiveness doesn’t come free, or cheap.  For our violations against God, the cost of forgiveness was Jesus’ suffering and dying on the cross.  For our sins against each other, God demands that we forgive others as we have been forgiven by Him.  We are to bear the cross of not only our sins, but the sins of others.  Forgiveness is hard because it sometimes means not demanding that our rights be respected.  Sometimes it means our sense of justice might be violated.  Yet forgiveness is what our Lord demands.

As Jesus said in Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Moses may have been able to be the court of appeal for Israel, to bear the burden of every “great matter” of the time, but only Jesus could bear the burden of every matter for all time.  He asks us to follow His example, even when we think we have the right to do otherwise.

Of Love and Forgiveness

Todd R 1 Comment

Fellow travelers,

Have you known Christians who love well?  Not ones who know the Bible well, or who know all the right doctrines, or who are involved in many church activities.  Not even a person who writes (or reads) a great blog.  These are not bad things, and they may help someone become more loving, but they aren’t the same thing as being a person who loves as Christ loved.  Who loves well.

Not everyone like this gets there the same way, but Jesus mentioned at least one specific way: the more we know how great God’s forgiveness for us is, the greater is our love.

This comes from Luke chapter 7, in the story about “a woman of the city, who was a sinner.”  This woman broke an expensive flask of ointment over Jesus’s feet, then wiped the ointment on His feet with her hair and tears.  What a bold statement of devotion to Jesus she made!

However, Jesus was criticized by a Pharisee for not refusing this act of worship: “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”[1]  To the Pharisee, an upright, respectable religious person should have nothing to do with this sinful woman.

In response, Jesus tells a parable about a man who was forgiven a very large debt, and therefore loved the one who forgave him more than another man did who was forgiven a smaller debt.  Jesus contrasts the actions of the Pharisee – who didn’t treat Jesus with nearly as much honor as the “sinner” – with the woman, and says: “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

We don’t know much for sure about this woman’s sins, but we know the Pharisee was aware of them and hated her for it.  He thought her sins were worse than others and should exclude her from any social interactions.  We also know that she was aware of how great her sin was, but she also knew that Jesus loved and forgave her anyway, even though her sin was great.  Jesus tells us her devotion is proof of that.

In this story, those with “checkered” pasts, full of sin, pain, and suffering, can become the most passionate believers, as they know what the gospel is capable of overcoming first-hand, in themselves and in others.  Jesus and his early followers went to these outcast people, and the faith of that first generation of Christians changed the world forever!

So, who is willing and able to reach out to sinners in the same way God reached out to them in Christ?  Those who have a very real sense of how great are the sins God that has forgiven them. Often the greatest “sinners” are the ones who learn how to love well.

[1] Luke 7:37-39

The Tribulation of the Cross, Part 2

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When we read Matthew 24:13 – “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” – what do we think of?  I’m currently reading a book about the life of Queen Elizabeth I of England that focuses on her life before becoming Queen, and there is a lot that reminds me of Matthew 24:9-10, which says, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.  And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.”  Elizabeth’s older sister Mary, a Catholic, pursued often violent methods to purge the country of Protestantism[1], as chronicled in the sensational book, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs[2], which soon became the 2nd most-read book in England after the Bible.  John Foxe listed story after story of Protestants being tortured, burned alive, and persecuted in other extreme ways that sometimes are what we think of reading Matthew 24:13.

But there is more to the context than that.  Matthew 24:11-12 say, “And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.  And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”  This idea of love growing cold is immediately before “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”  In a martyrdom scenario, enduring is not the same as living, so enduring means something other than staying alive.  So, what does a Christian endure in order to be saved?

When Jesus was on the cross and said “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” in Luke 23:34 I believe He was modeling this endurance.  On the cross, the lawlessness of the world had increased to the point where God Himself was abandoned and killed by a populist mob, fueled by a conspiracy of religious and political leaders.  All of Christ’s followers were scattered like sheep without a shepherd, yet He continued to love.  Yet, instead of calling upon an army of angels and freeing Himself from the cross, He forgave.

Matthew quotes Jesus as saying that while lawlessness is increasing, “many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.”  Jesus said in Matthew 24:6 that “you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”  In opposition to this, false prophets will tell us to be alarmed and they will tell us that there is so much lawlessness that we need to do something other than love God and love our neighbor.  Some of these prophets will claim to be the Christ (Matthew 24:5), but they will insist on a path other than that of the cross.  Perhaps using a Facebook post fed through a heartless algorithm, they will say “The time is coming when good people will have to do bad things to very bad people,” even though Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  (Matthew 5:44)

Repeating yesterday’s post, when I’m struggling to face the world as I see it, I ask about John 3:16, “Exactly which world did Jesus love enough to die for?”  The answer is this one.  Not just the part of it I get along with or that I’d pick to be in my Facebook feed if I had full control.  Sometimes bearing our cross is just being willing to love those Christ loved, even when we don’t want to, and even when they hate us as they hated Him.

I praise God that Christ loved me, because I too easily find people I’d really prefer to stay away from, but if Christ had taken that approach, maybe He would have never come down to earth to die for me.

Father, forgive us, for we do not know what we do.  We praise You that You endured to the end for our sake.

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:32

[1] At other times and places, Protestants have persecuted Catholics, or each group has fought among themselves.  This is only one example among (sadly) many.
[2] I’m planning a history post for next March 20, the first publication date of this book in 1563.

“A New Leaf” – A Poem for Everyday Grace

Todd R 2 Comments

Dear fellow travelers,

Happy New Year!  Today I am going to share a poem whose point is relevant every day, every hour, and every moment we may need it.  God’s grace is available to us at all times, because God is always faithful, as Lamentations 3:22-24 says:

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
            his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
            great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
            “therefore I will hope in him.”

The poem’s title is “A New Leaf”, author unknown, and compares a child/teacher relationship to us and Jesus.  His mercies are new every morning and every day, not just on special occasions.  God wants everyone to turn to Him at all times.  Don’t wait until New Year’s Day.

Photo by Robert Thiemann on Unsplash

“A New Leaf”

“He came to my desk with a quivering lip, the lesson was done. 
‘Have you a new sheet for me, dear teacher?  I’ve spoiled this one.’
I took his sheet, all soiled and blotted and gave him a new one all unspotted.
And into his tired heart I cried, ‘Do better now, my child.’

I went to the throne with a trembling heart; the day was done.
‘Have you a new day for me, dear Master?  I’ve spoiled this one.’
He took my day, all soiled and blotted and gave me a new one all unspotted.
And into my tired heart he cried, ‘Do better now, my child.'”

The Apostle Peter, Son of Gomer?

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Peter is one of the most fascinating characters in the New Testament.  His struggles and flaws are written for all to see, but so is the patience and love Jesus had for him.  In Peter’s two letters, we get to see examples of his growth and maturity.  One of Peter’s struggles was how Jews who had become Christian should treat Gentiles.  In Galatians 2:11-21 is a story of Paul rebuking Peter for his hypocrisy toward Gentiles, and in Acts 10 and 11 is a story of Peter receiving a vision from heaven telling him not to treat Gentiles as unclean, because God can make anyone clean.

Peter ponders whether the key is for letting people in or keeping them out.

In 1 Peter 2:9-10, he shares this lesson with his readers:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (emphasis mine)

The bolded words clearly call back to the story of the Old Testament prophet Hosea, who God told to marry a prostitute named Gomer to teach a lesson about idolatry.  Hosea’s children by Gomer are named in Hosea 1:6-9 –

“She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, ‘Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.  But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.’ When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son.  And the LORD said, ‘Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.’” (emphasis mine)

As Peter grew in Christ, he learned the same lesson Hosea learned: that all of God’s people are like Gomer and her children: once estranged from God in spiritual prostitution and adultery, but now a beloved people, betrothed to one faithful God.  Jesus, our Holy High Priest, made the necessary sacrifice for the salvation of anyone and everyone who will come to Him.  Those He saves join His “royal priesthood”, proclaiming His excellent work to all people who have not received mercy, but who His blood covers.

“Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” – Matthew 7:1-2