When was the last time something was lavished on you? Hospitality? Kindness? Luxury? We don’t always associate words like “lavished” and “riches” and “pleasure” with our relationship with God (thank you, Puritan forebears!). But Paul lays it on thick when rhapsodizing about God’s generosity toward us in forgiveness and redemption.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
How we feel about being forgiven and redeemed is linked to whether or not we feel we need forgiving and redeeming. Some people feel guilt and shame pretty easily – for them, those are words of life. Others are offended by the notion that we, good creatures made in the image of God, could be characterized as “sinners”; they find the whole notion of confession and forgiveness oppressive. Some resist the language of sin in our worship services, as though the word itself conveys a wrong emphasis. Perhaps we should talk about hurtfulness; most people get that.
St. Paul had no problem talking about guilt and shame – he knew how prideful and arrogant he had been as a follower of the Mosaic law, and how violently and zealously he had persecuted Christ-followers. He had a visceral gratitude for the forgiveness and redemption he came to understand as God's gift through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Seeing how destructive he could be allowed him to grasp the true cost and immeasurable value of God’s forgiving grace.
John Newton, the repentant slave trader who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace, understood what that unmerited redemption was worth once he came to see how lost he was, how depraved in his disregard for the value of other human beings. It took recognizing his sinfulness to understand the extent of God’s transforming love – a love that not only restores individuals, but is part of God’s larger plan to restore all of creation to wholeness, “things in heaven and things on earth.”
When have you have been the recipient of “amazing grace” from someone? From God? It can be simultaneously humiliating and exhilarating to be on the receiving end of forgiveness when we’re aware of how hurtful we can be.
And have you been called upon to forgive an extraordinary hurt? How did you come to offer that gift? Was it connected to grace you’ve received? This is one reason we include confession in our prayers – to remember who we are, and how loved we are because and in spite of who we are.
Our nation saw grace “lavished” when members of Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, even the families of those massacred there, freely offered forgiveness to the murderer. Many observers took offense at that, feeling that that young man did not deserve to be forgiven, especially as he seemed unrepentant. To which the Christian says, "Exactly." Those who offered forgiveness understood that, from the perspective of God’s holiness, none of us deserve it, yet God has lavished grace upon us.
Only as we understand that we need and have received that grace for ourselves are we truly able to lavish it on others. And as we do that, God's plan for the cosmos gets more and more complete.
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