BIBLE STUDY: FORGIVENESS
A. INTRODUCTION: As we restart Bible Study our theme is one of the BIGGEST, most DIFFICULT, most IMPORTANT: forgiveness. There is nothing Jesus talks about more that is more difficult to live up to. Just speaking for myself, I can go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, feed the hungry, love one another and believe. But forgive my enemies? Forgive 7x7 times? Or 70x7!! 490 times!? Show forgiveness equal to God’s forgiveness? Or equal to what I’ll need one day? That is tough. So, let’s consider forgiveness.
B. TODAY, Luke 23:32-34. On the cross, being crucified, being unjustly executed, Jesus says to God, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Read that again.
C. SUMMARY. Let’s link Jesus’ most famous saying about forgiveness (“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”) with the complicated story of Jacob and Esau (told over several chapters in Genesis, Ch. 25-33). Jesus makes his statement soon after his awful crucifixion began. Nailed to a wooden cross, in agony, Jesus offers blanket forgiveness to everyone: the Roman government leaders and Israel’s religions leaders who arranged the crucifixion, the Roman soldiers who “just followed orders” and did the actual killing, the crowd who jeered, his Disciples who ran away, people who were silent or didn’t care. Jesus lumps all these together as those who “know not what they do.”
The Jacob and Esau story is also a reminder of over-the-top forgiveness. Jacob and Esau were twins, with Esau born first and therefore the main inheritor. In a seeming joke, Esau sells his “birthright” (no right to his inheritance) to Jacob for a good meal after a bad day. Jacob later deceives his father into giving his blessing (and all that goes with it) to him rather than Esau. All heck breaks loose in the family, so Jacob runs far away. He gets deceived by his uncle but generally prospers personally and financially. Growing older, he wants to reconcile with Esau, but fears revenge. To everyone’s amazement Esau is welcoming, gracious, generous with unmerited forgiveness – the very definition of “grace”.
D. KEY POINTS
1. Numero Uno. I am number 1, the center of my universe. I don’t confess that proudly, but it is true. I don’t confess that proudly, but it is true. I want things to work out for me. So it’s a compelling argument when the New Testament emphasizes the personal gain, the self-centered benefit that comes from forgiveness. We could forgive because it is the right thing. Or Jesus wants us to. Or the other person begs us. But the Bible is blunt – and so is reality. Forgiveness is good for the person doing the forgiving. Biblically, the argument is that we will be forgiven in the measure and manner we forgive others. Whether it is God on Judgment Day or someone that you have wronged, sooner or later we all need forgiveness. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. So our willingness to forgive sets the standard for how we will be forgiven. On a more psychological/personal/mental health level, being a forgiving person takes away bitterness, resentment, stress, revenge. Forgiveness is good for us.
2. TRY IT. If you have my new book, “My Jesus”, look from the bottom of p. 143 -145. I’m writing about whether our church’s emphasis on love is “easy religion” compared to sterner, tougher, rigid religion. Whenever I use the word “love” we can insert “forgiveness,” and the message is the same. Both are difficult. Start with making a list. Of people who have hurt you, done you wrong. People you maybe should forgive, but don’t want to. Then start. What would it take to forgive? What step can you take? Maybe brutal honesty is a way to begin. Tell God flat out how you feel; and ask for God’s help, strength, and wisdom. Ask God for an opening. Ask God for a forgiving heart.
