Yesterday I was preaching on the most difficult petition in the Lord's Prayer.
"Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us…"
The gist of whatever wisdom I have on this hard saying of Jesus:
We either learn to forgive, or all the other worthwhile things we do in life lose their point.
Forgiveness feels like an option , but in reality it is a necessity if life is to flourish and grow.
Think of the friendships that would be impossible if every wrong word was held against us.
How could any family survive a grievance count?.
The story of the prodigal son is also the story of the prodigal father.
The son wasted the money, the father wasted his time waiting.
The son swallowed his pride and ran home, and said stuff what the neighbours think.
The father swallowed his pride, ran to embrace him and said stuff what the neighbours think
The son wasted his life chances, his father wasted the chance to tell him to get on his bike.
Forgiveness is about not taking advantage of our rights, not cashing in our entitlement to be angry.
Forgiveness means not holding someone's mistakes against them ikn perpetuity.
Forgiveness is the lifting of another's burden, bearing their cost to our own hurt.
Forgiveness is the gift of love, the self emptying of our resentment.
It is the overflow of divine love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit
But forgiveness is never easy, always costs, is born and borne out of pain.
To err is human – we know the rest, and so we pray:
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us…..
…………………………………..
The painting by Burne Jones is a powerful reversal of medieval piety, and the belief that love held Jesus on the cross – the Knight who lives by honour and sword, has taken off his helmet, laid his sword aside, and is embraced by the crucified Christ who for love's sake has broken free from the cross, and hands that refused to hold a sword reach out in forgiveness.
There's a funny serious cartoon here which makes its own point.
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