9-8-22 - Rejoicing With the Forgiven

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

How do you feel when people get away with stuff? What if they say they’re sorry? This week, we’ve looked at stories of the lost being found, and at each finding Jesus says, “So there is rejoicing over one sinner who repents.”

But do we rejoice when someone is forgiven for something awful? Not always. The media is full of stories of people who feel cheated of “justice” if a case goes against them, or if someone is publically forgiven, as when Pope John Paul II forgave his would-be assassin.

Forgiveness doesn’t come naturally, especially if we're used to a system of blaming and judging. To forgive means to “give for,” to give to another what they owe us, what they already took. When we forgive, we release the debt owed us. In a sense, we pay twice, once when something was taken, and again when we restore it ourselves. Forgiveness is costly.

Jesus says: Look how lavish with his love God is. Though we wander off to things we believe will give us pleasure or security or power or control, God greets us when we return, even before we get there, as Jesus tells in the parable immediately following these two. God extends us grace over and over and over again. To some, this makes God look like a chump, someone taken advantage of. But no; God gives with eyes wide open, and will give again.

I don’t know if the Pharisees got the point of Jesus’ stories. When you’re wired to earn your way, it can be hard to take in the message of overwhelming love. Some years ago, in prayer. I sensed God say to me: “I already love you the most. There is nothing you have to do, or can do, to make me love you more – I already love you the most, with the love that fills the universe and beyond.”

It’s taking me time to live into that love, and to extend it to others. Thankfully, I have a lifetime to learn to absorb it, trust it, let it make me whole. A lifetime, and eternity beyond that. You too.

God gives with a heart wide open, offering us forgiveness, love and grace, unearned and unearnable, unmeasured and immeasurable. Can we say, "Yes" today, and rejoice that others are forgiven too, even those we consider unforgivable? God doesn’t…

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