Good Morning Friends,
I do not know about you, but I want my faith to be a faith of actions, not just words, thoughts, and feelings alone. The problem comes when I am tested by fire in my need to forgive myself and others when our faith does not have much in the way of works to show it is alive in us. We are to have a proper purpose in this regard and a healing and seeing with new eyes. But even if I feel God’s presence, I have found that I often need supernatural support to stop me from setting blame when things are not perfect. I need more practice. I am as perhaps you are always a beginner when it comes to forgiveness. And for this reason, this morning I sought a little help from the Teacher and his friends. So, Have You Not Only Learned The Freedom Of Forgiving But Are Willing To Practice It?
Scripture: He replied, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.’ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!’ So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counsellors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them. Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.’ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Daniel 3: 25-43 (NRSV)
Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord! Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
Psalm 25: 4-9
Let me cross over to see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and the Lebanon.” But the Lord was angry with me on your account and would not heed me. The Lord said to me, “Enough from you! Never speak to me of this matter again! Go up to the top of Pisgah and look around you to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east. Look well, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because it is he who shall cross over at the head of this people and who shall secure their possession of the land that you will see.” So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.
Deuteronomy 3:25-29 (NRSV)
Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
Matthew 17:3 (NRSV)
Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Matthew 18:21-35 (NRSV)
Message: Today we ask a tough Lenten question about what completes our lives. And yes, the answer is Jesus. But it is a little bit sad if we have not submitted to receiving and offering up forgiveness from our hearts for all those things that need forgiveness. To help us understand what we are to reflect, we have as our text a passage about the Israelite nation. The pregnant moment it depicts is the moment of the crossing into the Promised Land. After forty years in the desert, the Hebrew nation is leaving Moses behind as they begin crossing with new leadership in Joshua. And in the Gospel message we have a passage about Jesus training Peter in leadership with a focus on the need for forgiveness to complete our lives. And when we combine today’s lectionary selections we begin to see the role of forgiveness in freeing us from our past and in also freeing us to our future. We also begin to see that when we believe in something larger than what we can accomplish alone we must use faith as a means of achieving it. Here forgiveness with faith frees up space within us to create the life and the love we really want and that is what makes a life complete in Jesus. Interestingly there is a symmetry between Jesus and Moses that can speak into what makes our lives complete. What Moses did for Joshua, Jesus did for the twelve. They both trained others to take over the reins of leadership. Both would bear the sins of others. The list is extensive. Both Moses and Jesus were born into a history of oppression from other nations. The killing of Hebrew infant male children was ordered by both Pharaoh and King Herod. Both Moses and Jesus hid from persecution in Egypt. Both used water as a symbol of salvation. Both were raised by men who were not their natural fathers. Both faced rejection. Both were described as shepherds. Both were compassionate for others. Moses’ ministry started supernaturally with the burning bush and God speaking to Him. Jesus’ ministry started supernaturally when the dove descended on Him and a voice from Heaven spoke. Moses reappeared after His death and Jesus reappeared after His resurrection each helping to complete what God had envisioned. Friends, now we have a call to cross over into a land of unlimited forgiveness. The juncture is at the corner of Peter’s question about forgiveness and Moses demonstrating that social good comes before individual gain. And the length of days that Moses and Jesus walked on this earth would not have changed their effect. No greater success would have been attained. So too for us, only when our hearts forgive will we be freed to love and discover a completeness that exist beyond time.
And So, Jesus’ final words in today’s Gospel parable are very instructive and chilling for those who refuse to listen regarding the importance of forgiveness from the heart. It is about not being bitter. It is about not sowing seeds of bitterness. It reminds us that the law was given through Moses, and that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, but that without a sacrifice offered up, hard justice must still be served. And so, this morning we have contemplated the success and sacrifices in the lives of Moses and Jesus. And my hope for you is that you have learned something from it regarding the role of forgiveness in completing your life. We are to have a proper purpose when it comes to forgiveness and the freedom it provides when we both offer it and receive it. Friends, forgiveness is a means of restoring relationships, and ultimately the relationship we have with God. Our sin that needs forgiveness is our clinging to that which diminishes our relationship with God.
Pray we do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Pray we allow the forgiveness offered by Jesus to complete us and work in us to extend the forgiveness and love we have been given. Pray we mature to accept Christian forgiveness over a demand for unlimited vengeance, or mere tolerance. Pray we prepare to forgive even before the people in need of forgiveness show sorrow for their actions. Pray we pass on the mercy we have received from Jesus. Pray we crossover into an opportunity to conquer our fears. Pray we never consider mercy a weakness. Pray we forgive from the heart. Pray we know that some of the best parts of our lives are just fragments and glimpses of God and that the completion of their effects may well extend beyond the time we are alive on earth. Pray we realize the importance of how our hearts remember the events of our lives. Pray we realize the importance of keeping the dream alive in our hearts. Pray we survive the test of the Holy Spirit and its fire. Pray we realize that accepting people is not the same as forgiving them. Pray we realize that forgetting is not forgiving either. Pray we realize that the test of forgiveness lies with the healing of the lingering pain. Pray therefore we forgive the monsters so that they do not have power over us. Pray we forgive ourselves. Pray we realize that forgiving is a confrontation that reveals love’s ultimate power to free and heal us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 