Forgiveness

So Peter asks Jesus, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? Seven times?"

"No," Jesus replies, "not seven but seventy seven" (or perhaps seventy times seven). In other words, there is no limit.

The first thing that jumps out at you when you read the text is that Peter does not mention the church member being sorry. That changes everything. It is one thing to forgive someone who is sorry. It is another thing to forgive someone who is not. Why would Jesus not tell us to wait for an apology from the perpetrator? Why would he not require that we hold such a person to some standard?

It is tempting to do a psychological assessment here. We all know that the emotions we feel seething within us when we have been "done wrong" are not helpful. We know that they produce all manner of illness. We know that they eat away at our souls, bodies, emotions. We have seen the diminished humanity of someone who harbors ongoing anger. Maybe Jesus is being therapeutic, telling us to forgive others for our own good. But I do not think that Jesus is primarilly concerned with mental (and physical) health here. Instead, I would offer two other concerns which I do think motivate Him here.

One is the covenant. The other is the reality of human dominion. Let's look at covenant first. The basis of our relationship with God is His grace. He freely chose to gift us with life, to forgive us and to free us from death. None of this is earned or warranted. It is His choice and it is a gift. There is debate about who is offered this grace (all people or only a select number). How that mercy is realized is another much debated question. I will only say that on numerous occassions Jesus states that our willingness to forgive is a condition of God's forgiveness. ["So my heavenly Father will also do to every on of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart."] An argument can be made that we renew this covenant with God each time we pray the Lord's prayer ["forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors"]. The salvific impact of mercy cannot be overstated. If I understand Jesus correctly, our eternity is tied up with forgiving others.

The other issue is human dominion. As our reflections on Genesis pointed out, the Lord God made a decision to hand over power to the human. In the world, we are given dominion (as the image of God). The same is true (only intensified) in the church. Jesus breathes His Spirit into us. We are teh Body of Christ! We are given the power to bind/unbind sins. This is not an empty image. It is a metaphor for a genuine reality. Sin is real. Very real. So is forgiveness. God's war against sin and death was won by Jesus, but we are partners with Jesus in the ongoing battles today. We forgive others so that we can then invite them to repent. Repentance is not causal, it is responsive. People change their lives when they are free. Forgiveness provides that freedom. The sins done against us are the ones which we have the power to forgive because it costs us.

I do not know why God would make the decision to hand over so much power to humans. I do not understand why God would put Himself in a situation where the Church is so vital to His saving work. I think the cross is key. The Lord, emptied of His divine status, hung on that cross. The powerlessness of His power is the absolute paradox. But the cross is not an isolated, singular event. It is at the heart of God's saving work. As He allowed Himself to be beaten, tortured and killed, so today He allows His mission to be impacted by our choices and decisions. Throughout history, the sins of the church have diminished the success of the mission. Likewise, our fidelity has produced great fruit.

Forgiveness, whatever other benefits is provides, is about the mission of Jesus. Those who harm us need His grace and mercy. Our acts of forgiving are His work of salvation, in and through us. We become sacraments of His presence. So mercy is a gift we receive, and also a task with which we are burdened. Our mercy is God's reformation of the world. Our forgiveness is a means of His salvation impacting the world. To forgive is to share, as the Image of God, in the saving work of God. And, for everyone, there are some people who have hurt us so badly, that to forgive them is to be crucified. That may be, in the end, why we must forgive. Perhaps, when Jesus says we must take up our own cross, what He means is that when we show others mercy (especially the unrepentant) we die to ourselves and enter into a deeper union with Him. It is all more complex then that, no doubt, but certainly the cross and mercy are tied together not only at Calvary, but within our own hearts and our own relationships.