Last week I shared some thoughts about forgiveness.  As it is such an important topic I thought I’d offer a few more reflections this week.  In addition, I plan on developing a series for discussion on forgiveness this summer as well as continuing to preach on the subject.   If we want to change our lives, the lives of others, and the course of humankind, forgiveness must become part of the essence of who we are, despite the immense and enormous challenges in doing so.

As this is a vast topic, what follows are just a few thoughts.

There is a professor at Yale named Miroslav Volf.  He writes, “At the sight of our sin, God did not give way to uncontrolled rages and measureless vengeance: neither did God insist on just retribution.  Instead, God bore our sin and condemned it in Christ Jesus. But God did so not out of impotence or cowardice, but in order to free us from sin’s guilt and power…this is the Gospel in its simplicity.”

In other words, as human beings we all fall short, sometimes do the wrong things or don’t do the right things, and we at times live putting ourselves first ahead of God.  God’s response. God’s stance toward us. God’s reaction. We are forgiven. I am forgiven. You are forgiven. Period. Now others may not forgive us for something. We may struggle with forgiving ourselves, but when it comes to God, it’s a done deal.

The slate is clean like a brand new white board that has never been written upon.  When we accept that we are forgiven, we begin to see ourselves and others quite differently. We give ourselves and others a lot more slack.  We don’t seek perfection. We know we all fall short at times. We embrace humility and become more empathic. And when we accept and take in God’s forgiveness, we feel free.  We feel free precisely because God’s forgiveness jettisons guilt, and shame, and despair if we really accept it.

Jesus one day told this great story.  In paraphrased form he said, “One day a King had a man brought to him who owed him a ton of money.  The King told the man that he was going to sell him and everything he had to pay off the debt. In response, the man pleaded with the King not to destroy him.  The King felt empathy and decided to wipe out the debt and let the man go.

Sometime later, that same man happened to be owed some money himself from another person.  He went out to find the man. When he found him, he told the man who owed him he better pay it off or bad things would happen.  The man even began to choke the fellow who owed him.

The King heard about this event.  He was amazed that the fellow whose debt he had wiped clean was unforgiving to others.  The King was furious. So he sought out the man he had forgiven, and tossed the guy into prison.”   After telling this story, Jesus said, “Remember, God will forgive you unless you fail to forgive others in your heart.”

One day Jesus also said this, “Whenever you pray, pray this way. ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we also forgive those who trespass against us.’”

These two stories underpin why one day Martin Luther wrote, “Forgiveness is the primary and foremost duty of Christians, second only to faith and the reception of God’s forgiveness.”

So given that we are compelled to forgive because we have been forgiven, let’s take a look, for a moment, at what is at the core forgiving.  Earlier I mentioned a man from Yale named Miroslav Volf. He has explored forgiveness extensively. I’d like to share some of his thoughts in slightly adapted form.  

He writes, “God forgives.  We should forgive. And we should forgive as God forgives.  But it is very difficult to forgive. A keen sense of equity guards our dignity in a potentially hostile world.”

He goes on to write, “Remember, Christ is not just outside of us, modeling forgiveness and urging us to forgive.  Christ lives in us…from Christ we receive the power and the willingness to forgive. Christ forgives through us and that is why we can forgive.  As Paul wrote, ‘It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.’ Therefore it is not I who forgive, but Christ who forgives through me.  When we understand that it is Christ who lives in us, we gain a desire to practice being like Christ and we will have a sense that is it not so much we who are acting ourselves, but it is Christ who is acting through us.”

Volf also writes, “For Christians, forgiving, like living in general, always takes place in a triangle, involving the wrongdoer, the wronged person, and God.  Take God away, and the foundations of forgiveness become unsteady and may even crumble.”

As I think about all of this it seems that the basis or foundation of forgiveness is two-fold.  First and foremost, the very presence of God is within us. The power and strength to do anything in life, therefore, does not come from us alone, but rather from God who is within.  God’s power is within. God’s love is within. God’s healing is within. God’s forgiveness is within. So whatever we do in life, we do so with God at the foundation. We can do because God can. We can forgive, because God in us can.

Sometimes, perhaps we just need to say something like, “God I can’t forgive.  It seems impossible to me. But I know you are in me, your very presence. Please help me with this and show me the way toward forgiveness.  While I may not be able to forgive on my own, I know you through me can.”

The second foundation of forgiveness, is to totally get, understand, embrace, and accept that God loves us without bounds. Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, 7:36-50 (please read these verses) says, in essence, when you are loved much, you can forgive much, or when you have been forgiven much, you love just as much.  When we receive and take in God’s love, that puts us in a position to live with a forgiving heart because forgiveness comes from the love of God.

So, the basis of forgiveness is to accept, embrace and take in the truth that God is in us, around us, ahead of us, behind us, all over us, and that God who made us loves us without bounds. This foundation is the place from where forgiveness starts, both for others and ourselves.

To put all of this another way.  God is in me. God loves me. God forgives me. God is in you.  God loves you. God forgives you. Knowing and believing and accepting these things changes how we live and respond to others and ourselves and they make forgiveness possible over the course of time.