Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” – Luke 23:43 (NIV)
What is forgiveness? How have you forgiven others? How have you experienced forgiveness? How does it work?
If you are interested in stories of forgiveness may I recommend www.theforgivenessproject.com
Perhaps you think it odd of me to lift up a passage about Good Friday as we are so near Christmas. However, is not the baby we celebrate the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world? We remember that Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce her soul because of the baby she held. The shadow of the cross was upon the manger in which that baby was laid. His life was never free of his fate, and thereby when we celebrate the baby we must do so with awareness as to the death of man the baby would become.
What is forgiveness? I am not completely sure, other than to say that it is the highest form of love. Luke tells us that the two criminals on either side of Jesus while he hung on the cross argued among themselves. One wanting to be saved from his fate mocked Jesus. One knowing that he was receiving what he deserved and Jesus was not stood up for the Suffering Servant.
Not believing himself worthy of forgiveness he simply asked Jesus to remember him. Rarely is such repentance ever seen. His life was a waste and he knew it. No good things would be remembered of him, and yet in the presence of Jesus he asked to be remembered, not forgiven since he could not come to forgive himself.
What a miraculous thing that he heard from Jesus, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus forgave him and gave him life! The criminal knew he had done wrong and stood convicted in his sin. This is repentance, that moment we realize we are in fact wrong. The criminal did not know about, about the highest form of love, about forgiveness. That is what Jesus offers, and in the shadow of Jesus cross he receives that which he did not deserve, but which love gave him nevertheless.
The child we celebrate is covered by the shadow of the cross in order that in the shadow of that same cross we may discover the greatest gift we shall ever know; forgiveness that is neither deserved nor expected but is given by the God who is love. Rejoice in this child for he offers us life!
Merry Christmas,
Garrett
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Love and Forgiveness
At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?" Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.” – Matthew 18:21-22 (The Message)
Have you had to forgive one person a lot of times? How hard was it? What about Jesus’ message made forgiveness this important? Have you ever wanted to give up on someone? Did you? Would Jesus?
The following is an anonymous story that was e-mailed to me.
When I was a kid, my Mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my Mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my Mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!
When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my Mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."
Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides a little burned biscuit never hurt anyone!"
Life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each others faults - and choosing to celebrate each others differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.
We have no idea how close anyone is to giving up on himself or herself. Each of us has had others give up on us, and then wanted to throw in the towel too, to say, “I’ve had enough!” God created us to live together, and let’s be honest; we don’t always live together well. That is why we need forgiveness, without it love cannot win, because without it love cannot exist. Sure forgiveness is hard sometimes, most of the time really, but not forgiving is worse.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Have you had to forgive one person a lot of times? How hard was it? What about Jesus’ message made forgiveness this important? Have you ever wanted to give up on someone? Did you? Would Jesus?
The following is an anonymous story that was e-mailed to me.
When I was a kid, my Mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my Mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my Mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!
When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my Mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."
Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides a little burned biscuit never hurt anyone!"
Life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each others faults - and choosing to celebrate each others differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.
We have no idea how close anyone is to giving up on himself or herself. Each of us has had others give up on us, and then wanted to throw in the towel too, to say, “I’ve had enough!” God created us to live together, and let’s be honest; we don’t always live together well. That is why we need forgiveness, without it love cannot win, because without it love cannot exist. Sure forgiveness is hard sometimes, most of the time really, but not forgiving is worse.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Division and Forgiveness
After a first and second admonition, have nothing more to do with anyone who causes divisions, since you know that such a person is perverted and sinful, being self-condemned. – Titus 3:10-11 (NRSV)
Have you ever caused divisions? What did you do? Did people offer you the chance to repent? Did you? What happened? Have you ever admonished someone who was divisive to stop for the sake of everyone? What happened? How is someone who does not stop “self-condemned”?
A couple of nights ago I had a dream. It was one of those long restless dreams that make us feel groggy when we wake up, like we didn’t have any sleep at all. In the dream I did something awful and was caught in the midst of my wrongdoing by a group of good friends. What they caught me doing shocked them because my action hurt them badly. In a testament to their friendship they begged that I apologize.
I didn’t, I refused, and even though I knew I had done wrong I thought, “Who are they to tell me to apologize.” My pride got in the way just as it often does in my waking life. Again they begged me to apologize in order that we could move on, in order that the person I hurt the most could get over the pain. In my refusal things turned from bad to worse, a fight ensued and the division I had caused only got worse until I was all alone.
It was just a dream, and yet so often such things happen in the real world. The late British writer Charles Williams once penned the words, “Many promising reconciliations have broken down because, while both parties came prepared to forgive, neither party came prepared to be forgiven.” In my dream I refused to be forgiven, because I refused to admit I had done wrong (even though I knew that I had), and all I then did was make people hurt worse. I ended up all alone, and in that way I suppose I can see how someone who causes divisions is being self-condemned; all alone due to a pride that keeps him from accepting forgiveness. These words to Titus are still good for us to remember, because sometimes we are the ones causing the division.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Have you ever caused divisions? What did you do? Did people offer you the chance to repent? Did you? What happened? Have you ever admonished someone who was divisive to stop for the sake of everyone? What happened? How is someone who does not stop “self-condemned”?
A couple of nights ago I had a dream. It was one of those long restless dreams that make us feel groggy when we wake up, like we didn’t have any sleep at all. In the dream I did something awful and was caught in the midst of my wrongdoing by a group of good friends. What they caught me doing shocked them because my action hurt them badly. In a testament to their friendship they begged that I apologize.
I didn’t, I refused, and even though I knew I had done wrong I thought, “Who are they to tell me to apologize.” My pride got in the way just as it often does in my waking life. Again they begged me to apologize in order that we could move on, in order that the person I hurt the most could get over the pain. In my refusal things turned from bad to worse, a fight ensued and the division I had caused only got worse until I was all alone.
It was just a dream, and yet so often such things happen in the real world. The late British writer Charles Williams once penned the words, “Many promising reconciliations have broken down because, while both parties came prepared to forgive, neither party came prepared to be forgiven.” In my dream I refused to be forgiven, because I refused to admit I had done wrong (even though I knew that I had), and all I then did was make people hurt worse. I ended up all alone, and in that way I suppose I can see how someone who causes divisions is being self-condemned; all alone due to a pride that keeps him from accepting forgiveness. These words to Titus are still good for us to remember, because sometimes we are the ones causing the division.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
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