Today is September11th and I wonder, what does September 11th represent in your mind? When you think about that day, what thoughts do you have? What kind of feelings or what kind of emotions well up inside of you? After several years of anniversaries of this date, what is in your heart?
A little while back, we were on vacation in Michigan and stopped at a Meijer Store. As we walked in, a family of Middle Eastern descent was also walking in. The mother was literally covered from head to toe in a solid black robe. There was a small slit in the veil covering her head, through which she experienced the world. She was walking several feet behind her husband and her children. That same week we went to a Walgreens in search of some medicine. While Lara was inside, a group of young men wearing large white turbans walked down the sidewalk, laughing and carrying on. They were speaking in Arabic, or some other dialect. They glanced at me sitting there in my vehicle. Their eyes pierced through my soul. And most unnerving, while at a mall, I observed a rather nervous Middle Eastern man strolling through the mall carrying a large backpack. Earlier that same day there were bombings in London, bombings in Madrid, and bombings in Israel.
September 11th has changed everything. We don’t know what to think, or what to feel, or how to act. We don’t know when to be confident or when to be vigilant. We don’t know who is a friend or who may be an enemy. Everything is suspect. What’s being concealed behind the veil? What’s in that backpack? What's going on in those tightly wrapped heads? What are you saying in that dialect?
Before September 11th we were naïve and innocent to the world. But after September 11th our eyes were opened. We saw evil incarnate. We became angry, even vengeful. Suddenly, tolerance didn’t seem like such a great idea. Multiculturalism became a fad. Racial profiling? How could we not? Compassion? Certainly not for them.
It is against this backdrop that we wrestle with this Christian notion of forgiveness and reconciliation. What does it mean to forgive someone? What does it mean to be reconciled to our enemies? Do we even know? Before September 11th we didn’t think we could hate anyone. We didn't think that we could feel so justified hating, even justified in pursuing, destroying, bombing, decimating, and killing. But now we don’t know what to do with the darkness in our hearts. Hate, unforgiveness, and revenge seem like the only logical responses to September 11th.
What does Jesus say about forgiveness?
Matthew 5:7 (NIV) says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
Matthew 5:38-42 (NIV) says, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."
Matthew 5:43-48 (NIV) says, "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not evenpagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Matthew 6:12 and Matthew 6:14-15(NIV), in the last verses of the Lord’s prayer says, "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV) says, "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.' "
Matthew 18:32-35 (NIV) says, "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how the heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Mark 11:25 (NIV) says, "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."
Luke 17:3-5 (NIV) says, " 'So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him.' " The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!' "
Romans 12:20-21 (NIV) says, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good..."
James 2:13-14 (NIV) says, "…judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?"
Luke 23:32-34 (NIV) says, "Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals— one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.' And they divided his clothes by casting lots."
Even after all this time, should we even be talking about forgiveness?
Are there people we should not forgive? Are there people who should not be shown mercy? Are there people we should not be praying for? Are there people who should never see our other cheek? Who, only over our dead bodies, might get our cloak? Who will never get us to go that extra mile? Who will never be fed or given a drink? Who should never hear from us, "forgiven?"
In the abstract realm of ideas and good intentions, we love our enemies. It is easy to love abstract ideas and concepts like forgiveness. But is our forgiveness real? Are we following Christ’s example? Are we walking in his steps? Are we being merciful? Are we being overcome by evil, or are we overcoming evil with good? For most people it is foolishness to even talk about forgiveness. Forgiveness is weakness. Forgiveness is defeat. Forgiveness is permission for our enemies to destroy us.
But is it really? I have observed that it isn’t just terrorists that we cannot forgive. We struggle to forgive our parents. We struggle to forgive our spouses, our siblings, our children, our relatives, our co-workers, our bosses, our neighbors, our friends, and our brothers and sisters in Christ. The ugliness of unforgiveness isn’t just a September 11th phenomenon. It is part of the daily ebb and flow of our sinful nature. Since the fall, it has been our default setting.
Jesus chose to forgive his enemies rather than to exact revenge on them.
But Jesus Christ changed all this! 1 Peter 2:21-25 (NIV) tells us, "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
Was Jesus Christ being a fool when he was enduring the cross and suffering for our sins? Was he demonstrating weakness? Was he raising a white flag of defeat? Was he giving his enemies victory over his soul? Or was something else at play there on that cross? The cross of Jesus Christ was a direct, frontal assault on our spirit of unforgiveness. In that moment God was calling us out of the darkness and into the light. He was showing us a new and better way to live life, and how to discover eternal life.
Have you ever noticed that when Jesus was dying on the cross, surrounded by his enemies who were actively afflicting injury on his body, that not one of them had repented before Jesus said in Luke 23:34 (NIV), "Father, forgive them…" Why did Jesus say to his enemies, "Father, forgive them…" if they had not yet repented? Doesn’t that strike you as odd, or even contradictory? Does it make any sense to forgive someone who has not yet repented? Is that what God is asking us to do?
Romans 5:6-8 (NIV) says, "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Colossians 1:21-22 (NIV) says, "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation." Recently, I was reading a book on forgiveness and reconciliation and was challenged to think about repentance and God’s forgiveness in a new light.
How and when does God forgive us?
Does God forgive us because we have repented or because we took some initiative? Or does God forgive us for the possibility, the hope, that we might repent of our sin? Do we repent so that God will forgive us, so that God will act? Or do we repent because God has already acted, because he has already forgiven us in Christ?
I have more questions than answers when it comes to God’s forgiveness, but of this we can be sure. God wants us to respond to his mercy and forgiveness. God forgives us so that we will be forgiven, and so that we forgive others, even our enemies. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." Forgiving others is the only acceptable response to being forgiven by God. That is why God tells us that if we haven’t forgiven our brother, we ought to lay our gifts at the altar and first go and be reconciled to our brother.
To try and worship God without first forgiving those who have offended us is to show complete and utter contempt for God’s grace. This is why God told the prophet Hosea in Hosea 6:6 (NIV), "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God, not burnt offerings." God’s not interested in our rituals, our ceremonies, our acts of worship, our style of music, our finely crafted prayers, our dress and appearance, our motions, or our words. God looks into the very depths of our hearts, and what he desires most is mercy, not sacrifice. He desires the acknowledgement in our spirits of his own grace, not our offerings. Nothing we do matters if underneath it all our hearts are filled with hate and vengeance and unforgiveness.
Matthew 6:12 and Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV), in the last verses of the Lord’s prayer says, "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Obedience in forgiving others is to be the defining mark of our character as Christians. It was the defining characteristic of Jesus Christ when he prayed,
Central to the Christian story is the forgiveness that we are asked to give to one another. Only the Christian has the courage to talk about forgiveness in the face of sin and evil. Only the Christian has the faith and trust in God to forgive in the hope that it might melt the hearts of our enemies. Forgiveness is the very wisdom of God. Forgiveness is a posture of strength, and it is the supreme virtue of the brave. Forgiveness is a signal of ultimate victory through the blood of Jesus Christ. It is a testimony. Forgiveness is the power of God at work in our lives. Forgiveness is the evidence that God’s Holy Spirit has transformed us and is transforming us. Forgiveness is the complete and utter destruction of our sinful nature. It is also the destruction of the sinful nature of our enemies, of those who hurt us, and of those we hate or are angry with.
September 11th is a time when, like Jesus’ disciples, we need to be praying, "Lord, increase our faith! Make us obedient to your gospel." One of the things that should concern every single one of us is how to make Christ’s forgiveness real in our lives and in our church fellowship. One of the ways we hope to do this is through our communion celebration. Communion is as much about receiving the forgiveness of God as it is demonstrating the forgiveness of God to others. Communing with God is all about forgiving as we’ve been forgiven. And we can never lose sight of that fact. Christ’s forgiveness cannot be dishonored.
Who do you need to forgive this morning? What relationships need to be reconciled? Can this be a time when in addition to receiving God’s grace, we can begin thinking about how to share God’s grace? When in addition to celebrating God’s mercy, we can focus on becoming merciful? When instead of harboring bitterness, we can release the bitterness and invite God to heal us? God is calling us this morning to forgive as we have been forgiven. We have been forgiven this much (big gesture).He asks us to forgive this much (small gesture).