Jesus and forgiveness

Jesus and Forgiveness

A couple of weeks ago I preached a message dealing with the trauma Jesus felt when Herod Antipas killed his cousin John the Baptist. The tragic news Jesus received that day was a soul-crushing event. We talked about what Jesus did to process that terrible news.

By way of brief summary, I said that the treatment of John the Baptist before he was killed was a foreshadowing of the treatment Jesus would receive before he was killed. Jesus knew this, which was part of why it was so traumatic for him.

In today’s Scripture reading, Jesus is standing before the man who killed his cousin. Jesus could have been defiant and confrontational as Milosavic was in his first appear before the war crimes tribunal. It is good for us to see Jesus in this role since today we want to talk about forgiveness.

Scripture Reading: Luke 23:4-12 Page 747.

4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, "I find no basis for a charge against this man." 5 But they insisted, "He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here." 6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. 8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. 9 He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. 11 Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. 12 That day Herod and Pilate became friends-- before this they had been enemies. (NIV)

When Jesus and Herod Antipas met that day in Jerusalem, they were not exactly strangers. They were both from Galilee and actually knew each other well, although not personally.

Verse 8 indicates that Herod had wanted to meet Jesus for a long time. The reports about the miracles of Jesus were well known to Herod. The wife of Cuza, his personal financial manager, had been healed by Jesus and supported Jesus financially.[1] She had been one of his earliest supporters and she remained faithful to the very end. In fact, she is listed as one of the witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus and carried the news to the unbelieving disciples.[2] Across town, her husband’s boss is celebrating the death of Jesus even as she is delivering the news that her faithful friend Jesus is alive again. From this, it is easy to see that Joanna might have been the most loyal, faithful, and outspoken supporter of Jesus. Virtually from the beginning, she would have gotten the news to Herod Antipas about Jesus.

Two weeks ago, we talked about Herod killing John the Baptist. Then Herod thinks that Jesus might be the reincarnation of John the Baptist. Herod knew he had done wrong, but he is not inclined to try to make it right. In fact, he compounds his sin by threatening to kill Jesus. Luke 13:31-34 tells the story:

At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you." 32 He replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' 33 In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day-- for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! 34 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! (NIV)

These men have never met face to face, but they know a lot about each other. Herod didn’t like Jesus and Jesus didn’t like Herod, but they had never actually met. Herod wants to see a miracle. He is full of questions, but they are not the questions of a sincere seeker. They are the malicious questions of a detractor. Jesus will not even speak to him. He is silent. They mocked him, and dress him in a king’s robe before sending him back to Pilate who in turn releases Jesus to be crucified. From the cross we have the most incredible words ever uttered. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”[3]

For me, this is our magnificent Christ at his finest moment. He is forgiving Herod for what he has done. Herod paid in other ways[4] and was eventually lost. On the other hand, Pilate eventually became a Christian and gave his written testimony of salvation to none other that Tiberius Caesar.[5]

This story from the life of Jesus is helpful to us in understanding what forgiveness means and what is doesn’t mean.

1. There is no such thing as forgive and forget. Even though some hold that up as the model of forgiveness (“For His will is, not that you should forgive an offence, but forget it.”[6]) this is not what Jesus did. He remembered very well what Herod had done.

2. Neither time nor forgiveness heal all wounds. Even though the death of John had been some time before, the wound of it was still fresh in the heart of Jesus. Conrad Green, the founder of Christian Conciliation Service, told me this week of a study from a Californian University where the level of bad feeling was still as great ten years after the divorce as it had been at the time of the divorce. Untreated wounds do not heal with time.

3. If you forgive someone, you must be best friends after that. Even though Jesus forgave Herod after the death of John and after his own humiliation, Jesus and Herod were never buddies. Jesus didn’t talk to Herod. He didn’t want to talk to Herod. Herod was an evil man and Jesus didn’t want anything to do with him. Sometimes people mistakenly believe that once they forgive someone, they need to spend time with that person and talk to them and be best friends. I don’t think that is required. You are required to have a heart free from condemnation toward that person.

4. Forgiveness does not necessarily change our opinion about a person. Even after Jesus forgave Herod for killing John, he still referred to him as a “fox.” That would not be a complimentary expression.

5. Jesus does require that we forgive people who hurt us.

The Lord’s teaching on this is found in Matthew 5:43-45 where he said, “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Jesus also taught the necessity of forgiving multiple times. He said we should forgive seventy times seven. My sense of that is that we must forgive people every time we think about what they did. We might forgive them fifty times the first day and forty times the second day. In the end, by the time we get to 490 times, we probably have fixed the idea of forgiveness over the top of the pain we experienced.

Forgiveness is the undeserved favor we extend to those who have hurt us. Rather than condemnation, we extend forgiveness.[7] We do this because it is what Jesus has done for us.

At the very moment they were crucifying Jesus, he was forgiving them. Not out of theological reflection, but out of great pain, he extended his forgiveness. It was a spoken and tangible act.

Being tangible is important. I find that when I just think about things, my mind goes in circles. I can lay awake for hours sawing my sawdust and thinking in circles. But when I get up and write things down, I must stay linear without repeating myself time and time again. An act of forgiveness is tangible and happens in a specific moment in time.

It starts in your heart alone. Later it will reach to others, but now it is in your heart.

[1] Luke 8:1-3 “After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.” (NIV)

[4] “During this time of his rule, Antipas was experiencing political problems of his own. Aretas, the Nabatean king whose daughter had been Antipas' wife before he became involved with Herodias, returned to avenge this insult. Antipas' troops were defeated. This, together with some other problems, led to his political downfall. Antipas was finally banished by the Roman emperor to an obscure section of France.” Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers.

[5]Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., “Apology,” Ante-Nicene Fathers; Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian; vol 3 (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994) 35.

[6]Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., “Tertullian Against Marcion,” Ante-Nicene Fathers; Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian; vol 3 (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994) 407.

[7] Luke 6:37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (NIV)