Jesus speaks of the repentance of sinners as a source of joy. And yet, the repentance of sinners is a cause of conflict the world over.
“Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself. It’s not for the other person,”
Maya Angelou
I wonder why it is very difficult to accept the salvation of forgiveness by God of another, immediately questions come to mind:
Was their repentance genuine?
Will they do it again?
Can they be trusted to turn over a new leaf?
What if we think of forgiveness not as something for the other person, but something for ourselves?
Luke 15:1–10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety–nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety–nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
This Sunday we are challenged, not to accept the conflict of there being other sinners in the world besides ourselves, but the conflict of our being asked to understand that God rejoices in their redemption and we should accept their forgiven status.
For some things that is easy, while many in South Africa and beyond resented the release of Nelson Mandela from jail, the international view–point, was in the main, that he should be forgiven, redeemed, and released. The balance was in his favour, and my Christian friends and I, who sang our way through the mid–eighties, wearing ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ T–shirts, certainly felt this was the right thing and we rejoiced with those who rejoiced.
But Maya Angelou did not speak of forgiveness in these terms, when she spoke of forgiveness being for herself, she spoke of forgiving the man who had raped her when she was seven years old, after which she was hospitalised and the man was beaten to death, and she felt responsible for his death – as a victim and a child.
How much more complex this real forgiveness of a personal assault and a trauma so deep she did not speak for years thereafter.
Our real–life emotions when we are the victims of crime, or perceive we have been unfairly treated, or are closely connected to someone who has been the sufferer of the sins of another – these are much more complex and difficult to untangle than my youthful and niave impressions of the politics of Apartheid in South Africa gained in my living room in Scotland.
Unless we actually have the power of pardon over imprisoned people, it is also unlikely that our personal forgiveness of those who have done us harm will make much difference to their fate, but an expression of regret – a repentant confession – this can make a great deal of difference to sentencing or to the length of time someone might serve a prison term. Families of victims can have a great deal of difficulty accepting the confession or expression of regret of those who have wronged them, it is not at all easy to accept that “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” If the sins of that sinner have affected us directly.
There is conflict in the gospels over how far the universal offer of forgiveness at repentance is fair. In the story of the lost sheep, ninety–nine are left in the sheepfold – the shepherd knows they are safe and need not worry about them. The resentment of the good sheep at being left behind can show in many turns of church life. The celebration of a new convert may swiftly be followed by the jealousy of the long–standing church member who didn’t ‘get’ an Alpha Group, or new communicants dinner, or celebration lunch.
“Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself. It’s not for the other person,” Maya Angelou
In this Maya Angelou has her finger on a crucial truth of the Christian faith. We need to forgive because we need to live our lives, to move on, to let go the jealousy, resentment, trauma or pain. Yet it is truly very hard to do. Sometimes we forgive as if we have written the event on a piece of paper, and then screwed it tight into a jar, and then we put the jar at the back of the cupboard of our hearts believing the forgiveness to be complete. But it is not. When a later sin or injustice arises, we pull all the closed jars out of the cupboard and out come all the sealed up but not really forgiven notes of past sins.
Forgiveness is taking the jar to the river or ocean and throwing it in. Forgiveness is burning the note–to–self so it can never be re–read. Forgiveness is letting go, but letting go in a way that is celebratory:
“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’”
When we find that lost person, lost part, lost soul, we see redemption in action, then the joy that moment creates should be infectious. For many of us in the pains and sufferings we receive in this world we cannot see the subsequent repentance, forgiveness and redemption – that part of the story of the sinner remains opaque to us. Often at the point of loss there is no further contact, no way to communicate a forgiveness however hard won or given with pain, loss, and reluctance.
And so, to let go the hurt, we might finish the story for ourselves, let go of the suffering, find forgiveness – not just for them, but for us.
Can you think of a situation which you find hard to forgive? In politics, or in church, or in your personal life?
What is it, in particular, that is difficult about that act of forgiveness?
If you imagined the sinner in that story being redeemed – being brought into heaven by a rejoicing Shepherd, how would you feel?
Is there a way to enable your journey of forgiveness? Would writing it in a jar and casting it away, or burning it, or some other ritual help?
Would that forgiveness in your own heart set you free of the harm, or do you feel it might take more, and longer, to let it go?
To return to Maya Angelou; ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.’
Forgiving God,
hear my anger at the injustice of redemption,
at the openness of the love
your love – that is in and through all things –
to create the forgiveness of the sinner,
the release of the prisoner,
the freedom of those who have wronged me.
Help me, over time and in my own way,
to be able to let my anger dissipate,
and to find peace in my own heart,
and possibly even in time,
to rejoice at the redemption of another who hurt me.
May I, like the woman who found her missing coin,
rejoice at the addition to heaven of one more soul,
and let go the resentment or pain to replace it
with resurrection
and the eternity of heaven.
Amen
Maya Angelou, any of her works would add to this theme but I would recommend readings from either:
‘I know why the Caged bird Sings’ 1969
’And Still I Rise’ 1978
Jesus speaks of the repentance of sinners as a source of joy. And yet, the repentance of sinners is a cause of conflict the world over.
“Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself. It’s not for the other person,”
Maya Angelou
I wonder why it is very difficult to accept the salvation of forgiveness by God of another, immediately questions come to mind:
Was their repentance genuine?
Will they do it again?
Can they be trusted to turn over a new leaf?
What if we think of forgiveness not as something for the other person, but something for ourselves?
Luke 15:1–10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety–nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety–nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
This Sunday we are challenged, not to accept the conflict of there being other sinners in the world besides ourselves, but the conflict of our being asked to understand that God rejoices in their redemption and we should accept their forgiven status.
For some things that is easy, while many in South Africa and beyond resented the release of Nelson Mandela from jail, the international view–point, was in the main, that he should be forgiven, redeemed, and released. The balance was in his favour, and my Christian friends and I, who sang our way through the mid–eighties, wearing ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ T–shirts, certainly felt this was the right thing and we rejoiced with those who rejoiced.
But Maya Angelou did not speak of forgiveness in these terms, when she spoke of forgiveness being for herself, she spoke of forgiving the man who had raped her when she was seven years old, after which she was hospitalised and the man was beaten to death, and she felt responsible for his death – as a victim and a child.
How much more complex this real forgiveness of a personal assault and a trauma so deep she did not speak for years thereafter.
Our real–life emotions when we are the victims of crime, or perceive we have been unfairly treated, or are closely connected to someone who has been the sufferer of the sins of another – these are much more complex and difficult to untangle than my youthful and niave impressions of the politics of Apartheid in South Africa gained in my living room in Scotland.
Unless we actually have the power of pardon over imprisoned people, it is also unlikely that our personal forgiveness of those who have done us harm will make much difference to their fate, but an expression of regret – a repentant confession – this can make a great deal of difference to sentencing or to the length of time someone might serve a prison term. Families of victims can have a great deal of difficulty accepting the confession or expression of regret of those who have wronged them, it is not at all easy to accept that “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” If the sins of that sinner have affected us directly.
There is conflict in the gospels over how far the universal offer of forgiveness at repentance is fair. In the story of the lost sheep, ninety–nine are left in the sheepfold – the shepherd knows they are safe and need not worry about them. The resentment of the good sheep at being left behind can show in many turns of church life. The celebration of a new convert may swiftly be followed by the jealousy of the long–standing church member who didn’t ‘get’ an Alpha Group, or new communicants dinner, or celebration lunch.
“Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself. It’s not for the other person,” Maya Angelou
In this Maya Angelou has her finger on a crucial truth of the Christian faith. We need to forgive because we need to live our lives, to move on, to let go the jealousy, resentment, trauma or pain. Yet it is truly very hard to do. Sometimes we forgive as if we have written the event on a piece of paper, and then screwed it tight into a jar, and then we put the jar at the back of the cupboard of our hearts believing the forgiveness to be complete. But it is not. When a later sin or injustice arises, we pull all the closed jars out of the cupboard and out come all the sealed up but not really forgiven notes of past sins.
Forgiveness is taking the jar to the river or ocean and throwing it in. Forgiveness is burning the note–to–self so it can never be re–read. Forgiveness is letting go, but letting go in a way that is celebratory:
“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’”
When we find that lost person, lost part, lost soul, we see redemption in action, then the joy that moment creates should be infectious. For many of us in the pains and sufferings we receive in this world we cannot see the subsequent repentance, forgiveness and redemption – that part of the story of the sinner remains opaque to us. Often at the point of loss there is no further contact, no way to communicate a forgiveness however hard won or given with pain, loss, and reluctance.
And so, to let go the hurt, we might finish the story for ourselves, let go of the suffering, find forgiveness – not just for them, but for us.
Can you think of a situation which you find hard to forgive? In politics, or in church, or in your personal life?
What is it, in particular, that is difficult about that act of forgiveness?
If you imagined the sinner in that story being redeemed – being brought into heaven by a rejoicing Shepherd, how would you feel?
Is there a way to enable your journey of forgiveness? Would writing it in a jar and casting it away, or burning it, or some other ritual help?
Would that forgiveness in your own heart set you free of the harm, or do you feel it might take more, and longer, to let it go?
To return to Maya Angelou; ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.’
Forgiving God,
hear my anger at the injustice of redemption,
at the openness of the love
your love – that is in and through all things –
to create the forgiveness of the sinner,
the release of the prisoner,
the freedom of those who have wronged me.
Help me, over time and in my own way,
to be able to let my anger dissipate,
and to find peace in my own heart,
and possibly even in time,
to rejoice at the redemption of another who hurt me.
May I, like the woman who found her missing coin,
rejoice at the addition to heaven of one more soul,
and let go the resentment or pain to replace it
with resurrection
and the eternity of heaven.
Amen
Maya Angelou, any of her works would add to this theme but I would recommend readings from either:
‘I know why the Caged bird Sings’ 1969
’And Still I Rise’ 1978