Forgiveness

Luke 20

Jesus is in Jerusalem. The struggle between the powers that be and the established order of things and the new covenant that Jesus is ushering in is growing. Jesus knew what was coming and he did it anyway.

“9 He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. 13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “May this never be!” 17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ” ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone ‘ ? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” 19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.”

There is a certain amount of satisfaction in fixing broken things. Finding something that doesn’t work the way it was designed to work and making it it work again. It’s thrilling. Restoring. That’s what God does in and for us.

Sin cannot be undone. Like ringing a bell or saying a word or doing a deed if we do something or say something that is wrong or hurtful or sinful we can never undo it. We can apologize and make amends but we can never undo what was done. We can’t fix it. But we can forgive and be forgiven. All our sins are not only against people. Our sins are also against God. The best we can hope for and best possible thing that can happen is that we repent, turn around, stop going our own way which is walking away from God and our other broken relationships and ask to be forgiven. It doesn’t undo anything. It isn’t magic, it is real. When we repent and ask to be forgiven we are really and truly forgiven. By God anyway. People can be a different story.

This doesn’t have much to do with what I read in this chapter but it has a lot to do with my life right now.

Please pray for Mary and I. It feels like there are changes coming. I know my hours are being cut. That is going to be really difficult and it might lead to other big changes. We just want to do what is right and good and the will of God.

The Christian life is simple but it’s not easy. Forgive as we have been forgiven. Trust in a God we cannot see. Believe promises spoken thousands of years ago. Continue to believe that Jesus death covers all my sins.

I still do.