Forgiveness is God?s Purpose
The Triune God loves us, offers us forgiveness, and seeks our
reconciliation. This is the bedrock truth. But what is
forgiveness? And who is the God who offers this to us and
seeks reconciliation with a stubborn and sinful humanity?
Prayer
Scripture Reading: Luke 4:14-30
Reflection
Jesus began his teaching ministry in the synagogues in towns
near to where he had been raised. What were his opening
comments? And how did his first listeners respond? Luke tells
us what happened in Jesus? hometown of Nazareth (4:16-30).
Jesus started by reading Isaiah 61:1-2, in which the Greek word
aphesis (forgiveness) occurs twice. (Read 4:18 again, but
substitute ?forgiveness? and ?into forgiveness? for the words
?release? and ?free? in the NRSV.) Then Jesus told them, in
effect: ?That?s who I am: God?s Anointed One. Forgiveness is
my work.?
It is God?s purpose to forgive. The Pharisees and lawyers who
refused John?s baptism, a ?baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins?, have in fact ?rejected God?s purpose for
themselves? (Luke 7:30).
Luke highlights these facets of forgiveness:
Forgiveness is God?s initiative. In Luke/Acts, God does the
forgiving in 24 of 28 instances; these are typical: Luke 1:76-77;
5:17-26; 24:45-48; Acts 10:43; and 26:17-18. The remaining four
times Jesus instructs his followers to forgive, as God has
forgiven them.
Forgiveness is God?s action through Jesus of Nazareth. This is a
scandal in Luke?s gospel. When Jesus forgives a paralyzed
man, Jesus? detractors accuse him of blasphemy for daring to
assume the prerogative of God (Luke 5:21). His banquet
companions are dismayed by his evident presumption: ?Who
is this who even forgives sins?? (Luke 7:49).
Forgiveness is God?s gift to all humankind. God offers
forgiveness without restriction to the entire human family.
Luke?s story of God?s forgiveness begins in Jerusalem (see
Luke 1 and Acts 2) with Jewish people. Even here, however,
the picture is a UNIVERSAL one, since the Jews gathered in
Jerusalem for Pentecost come ?from every nation under
heaven? (Acts 2:5). It is back to these nations, the Gentiles,
that the word of God?s forgiveness is ultimately destined in
Luke/Acts.
In Nazareth that Sabbath morning (Luke 4:16-30), all three
facets were evident. The Spirit of the Lord had anointed Jesus,
so that his ministry of forgiveness came about at God?s initiative
and was God?s action through him (4:18). Jesus pronounced that
God?s gracious activity is for all humankind. He reminded the
scandalized congregation that God forgives foreigners and
enemies, crystallized for them in the stories of the widow in
Sidon whom Elijah fed (1 Kings 17:1, 8-16) and Naaman, the
Syrian army commander whom Elisha healed (2 Kings 5:1-19).
But what exactly is forgiveness? As a rich experience that is
central to Christian life, forgiveness may be difficult to explain
with other words. Randall O?Brien defines it as ?the removal of
barriers between persons caused by wrongdoing, real or
imagined, ? as sins are sent away and persons are drawn
together in relationships?. He sends us back to the metaphorical
language in Scripture from which the concept of forgiveness
grows. Nasa? (lift up, bear, dismiss, send away) is the Hebrew
term for forgiveness used most frequently in the Old Testament.
Three Greek words are translated ?forgiveness? in the New
Testament: aphiemi (let go, send away, pardon, forgive) is the
most repeated term, but occasionally apoluo (let go, loose) or
charizomai (be gracious) are used.
Study Questions
1. When we think about forgiveness, we tend to focus upon our
human efforts to forgive. What can we learn from Luke?s
starting point: that forgiveness is God?s initiative?
2. Why was it scandalous to say that God?s forgiveness was
being enacted in Jesus of Nazareth? Do people still find this
to be scandalous today?
3. Are there some people or groups of people that you really do
not want to forgive today? Why do we resist forgiving
certain people or groups?
4. Study the metaphors associated with forgiveness in these
passages: Nehemiah 9:16-20; Psalm 32:1-2; Psalm 85:1-3; Psalm
103:8-14; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Micah 7:18-20. (The italicized
passages contain nasa?.) How do the metaphors shape your
understanding of the concept of forgiveness?
5. Examine Nicolas Poussin?s Sacrament of Penance on the cover
of Forgiveness. In this powerful representation of Luke 7:49,
?Who is this who forgives sins??, the artist positions Simon
the Pharisee and his slave in mirror opposition to Jesus as he
forgives the sinful woman. How do you interpret Simon?s
reaction? Does it deepen your understanding of the scandal
of forgiveness in Luke?s gospel?