Red Letter Day - Father, Forgive Them

During this season of Lent, these weeks leading up to the celebration of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus, we are looking at some of the words Jesus said while he was dying on the cross.  We call this series, red letter day, because the words of Jesus are often in red print in a Bible, but these final words of Jesus aren’t just written in red ink on a page, they were spoken through the red blood of the cross. 

Last week we talked about all that had taken place in the 12 hours leading up to these words.  Jesus had been betrayed by one of his disciples, and then abandoned by all the rest.  There was no one to support Him or stand with Him during His time of need.  He was falsely accused by the religious leaders, and then abused by the Roman soldiers who physically tortured Jesus before His crucifixion.  He was then bullied and made fun of by the crowds who gathered to watch Him die.  Even strangers mocked Him as they walked by.  As Jesus looks out and thinks about all of these people, and all of these different offenses, He says this:

Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.  

To the disciple who betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver, Jesus said, Father forgive him.  To his friends who ran in fear when the soldiers arrested Jesus, He said, Father forgive them.  To the religious leaders who should have known who He was and celebrated His arrival as the Messiah, Jesus said, Father forgive them.  To the Roman officials who crucified Him and the soldiers who beat Him, he said, Father forgive them.  To the crowds who gathered or passed by to watch the spectacle of the crucifixion and mocked Him and made fun of Him, He said, Father forgive them.  

There wasn’t just one person Jesus was thinking of in this moment, it wasn’t just the soldiers who nailed Him to the cross, or the crowds who made fun of Him, in many ways it was to all of creation that Jesus said this because it was all of creation that nailed Him there.  Last week we heard Paul say that Jesus was crucified for our sin, so I am just as guilty of nailing Jesus to the cross as the Roman officials or religious leaders, and so it is also to me, and to you, that Jesus says, Father forgive them.  

I’m thankful that each time I read God’s word I see something new or get a different take on a situation.  The new thought that came to me this week is that Jesus prays for forgiveness without asking anyone to do anything in order to receive it.  Jesus doesn’t say, Father forgive them if they turn and ask you for it.  Or, Father, forgive them when they clean up their act, or love you with all their heart.  Jesus doesn’t ask God to forgive those who deserve it, in fact He is asking God to forgive those who don’t deserve it because they don’t know what they are doing.  Jesus is asking God to forgive us before we turn to Him or ask for it.  This prayer shows us just how filled with love, and grace, and mercy God is.  God’s love and forgiveness is truly unconditional.  

This prayer is not only the desire of Jesus’ heart, He truly does want God to forgive us, but it is also the fulfillment of prophecy.  Isaiah 53:12b He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.  Not only is Jesus’ death on the cross a fulfillment of prophecy, pouring out His life unto death and being numbered with sinners - literally crucified in between two thieves, but so is this prayer.  These red letters fulfill one of the many promises God made about the Messiah.  Jesus not only takes on the sin of the world, but He asks God to forgive the world.  He is interceding for them.  He is interceding for us.  

Jesus asks God to forgive us and we don’t deserve it, we can’t earn it, or repay it; all we can do is receive it.  Our first response to these red letters of forgiveness is to say, Thank you, Jesus, for asking God to forgive me, and God, thank you for forgiving me in Jesus.  Thank you for redeeming us from sin and the grave and allowing us to be in a relationship with you where we can experience the fullness and freedom of life forever.  The first response to God’s forgiveness is always to receive it freely, openly, and fully, and we do that in humility, and with gratitude.  

The second response is to allow God’s forgiveness to shape us.  If forgiveness sets us free, then it sets us free to live differently and to love differently, and the way God calls us to live and love is by forgiving others just as God forgives us.  Ephesians 4:32, Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  

We pray something similar in the Lord’s Prayer when we ask God to forgive us our sins just as we forgive those who sin against us.  Jesus often taught about the need to forgive and the power of forgiveness, and it was just as difficult for the disciples to think about forgiving others as it is for us today.

In Matthew 18, Peter asked Jesus, how many times do I need to forgive someone?  Peter thought he would show just how faithful he was by picking a big number, so he said, 7 times?  But Jesus said, no not 7 times but 70 x 7 times.  While Peter is off doing the math on how many times that really is, Jesus launches into a story that teachers us so much about forgiveness.  Matthew 18:23-27  

The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.  Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’  The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.  

As we think about this story, the king would be God, and we are the man who owes his master 10,000 bags of gold.  I love how Jesus makes the debt so large that there is simply no way it can be repaid, and that’s the point.  The debtor can’t repay the king, and the reality is that we can’t repay God.  God’s forgiveness is given out of love and grace and mercy alone.     

In the story, the debtor can’t repay his debt.  God doesn’t even think about us repaying Him because we can't, and in our own lives there are those who have hurt or offended us who can also never repay the debt.  Think about someone who has betrayed a confidence, or wasn’t there for us in a time of need.  In these situations, we can be deeply hurt or offended, but there is nothing that person can do to change the situation.  They can’t repay the debt.  They can’t make the offense or pain go away.  

And of course sometimes we are the ones who have hurt or offended someone by what we have done or not done, and while we might feel terrible about it, we can’t repay the debt.  As much as we might want to, we might find ourselves in a situation where we can’t do anything to make things right.  Those who have hurt us might be feeling exactly the same way and while we might be waiting for some kind of restitution, nothing is possible or acceptable.  

The debtor can’t always repay the debt - but that’s not the end.  The offended can always show mercy.  The king chooses to show mercy.  God chooses to show mercy, and we can choose to show mercy,  It is within our ability to forgive and it is God who calls us to forgive.  That’s the rest of Jesus' story.  Matthew 18:28 -34

But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.  When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’  In anger his master handed him over to the jailers, until he should pay back all he owed.

The man who had been forgiven his debt of 10,000 bags of gold now goes out and refuses to forgive someone who owes him 100 silver coins.  He refused to show mercy to someone else.  He refused to forgive, and did you notice where that un-forgiveness landed him?  In prison.  Not being willing to forgive others doesn’t put them in prison, it puts us in prison.  We find ourselves in a prison of emotions and feelings that bind us up and keep us from experiencing freedom, and fullness, and joy, and peace.  We find ourselves in a prison that keeps us from really living life to the fullest.  

When we don’t forgive someone else, it doesn’t punish them, it doesn’t lock them up, it locks us up, but we don’t have to live in prison because we have the power to show mercy.  The debtor may not be able to repay the debt, but the offended can always show mercy.  We can always choose to forgive.  

But you don’t know what I’ve been through?  You don’t know the pain I have suffered?  I have been betrayed by my spouse.  I have been abandoned by my family and friends.  I have been unjustly treated at work and accused of things that aren’t true.  I have been abused by those who were called to protect me, and bullied and made fun of by people all around me.  How do I forgive all this?  

I don’t know, but I do know someone who has chosen to forgive all of this, and more - Jesus.  Jesus was betrayed, abandoned, falsely accused, abused, and bullied - and it all happened in the span of 12 hours, and yet His words from the cross teach us that the offended can always show mercy.  It is not easy, but it can be possible because Jesus did it, and the Bible tells us that through Christ, all things are possible.  

On the cross, we see that God’s love for us is so powerful that it forgives us unconditionally.  If God’s love can forgive us, then God’s love can help us forgive others.  The love of God is greater than any offense we have committed and it is greater than all of the offenses we cling to as well.  God’s love can help us forgive.

Forgiveness is a choice we make, and here is how we can make that choice even in difficult and painful situations.  Don’t think about forgiveness as forgetting, think of it as remembering. Forgiveness is 

● Remembering all that God has done for us

● Remembering all the sins God has forgiven in our lives.

● Remembering that God’s love can help us do what we don’t think we can

● Remembering that the offended can always show mercy

● Remembering that God wants us to forgive so that we  can be free to live and love fully.  

● Remembering that if I don’t forgive, I am the one who ends up in prison, no one else.  

None of this is easy, but Jesus shows us that it is possible when from the cross He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.  

 

Next Steps

Father, Forgive Them

Read Luke 23:32-43

List all the people that Jesus forgives with these words?

How does verse 43 reinforce Jesus' message of forgiveness?

Read Matthew 18:31-35

What do we learn about forgiveness from Jesus' parable?

What do you find more difficult, accepting God’s forgiveness or forgiving others?  Why?

The debtor can’t always repay the debt.

When have you found yourself in a situation where you were at fault and could do nothing to set things right?  

● How did not being able to repay the debt make you feel?  

● How did the situation get resolved?

When has someone hurt or offended you in a way that could not be repaid or set right?  

● How did you feel in that situation?  

● How did the situation get resolved?

In what way can we not repay our debt to Jesus?  

The offended can always show mercy.

● When have you been shown mercy in a situation?  

● When have you been able to offer mercy in a situation?

● How did it feel to give and receive mercy?

What is one way you can open yourself up more fully to God’s mercy and grace?  How can this help set you free?

Where do you need to give, or ask for, mercy in your relationships with others?  How can forgiving others help you live with more freedom and power?  

Red Letter Day - God, Why have you forsaken me?

Today we begin our Lenten message series called Red Letter Day.  If you don’t know what a red letter Bible is, it is a Bible where the words of Jesus are printed in red so that they stand out and are easy to see.  The first red letter edition of the Bible was published in 1899 and I have to say that it is handy because if you are looking for a teaching or quote of Jesus, it’s easy to find them.  The idea of the red letters was to emphasize the teaching of Jesus, but clearly all of God’s word is important for us to read and consider.  

Of all the red letters, or words of Jesus, some of the most powerful are the ones he spoke from the cross, and those are the ones we want to reflect on these next few weeks.  They might be red letters on the page, but there were truly red letters because they were spoken while the red blood of Jesus flowed down the cross.  That’s the setting for each of these final words.  Jesus had been betrayed by one of his friends, abandoned by all of his disciples, falsely accused by the religious leaders, and sentenced to die by crucifixion.  Matthew 27:37-44

It’s a pretty traumatic scene.  Not only is Jesus suffering physically, but emotionally as well.  The sign over his head said King of the Jews which is who he was, but they placed it there not to identify him but to mock him.  The crowds made fun of him as they passed by and the religious leaders stood around Jesus and taunted him by saying, Hey Jesus, you trusted in God - let him save you.  Where is your God now?  Are you going to keep trusting him now?  

Maybe you have asked yourself this very question, where is God now?  How can I trust God when I am suffering through all these problems?  It’s easy to trust God when things are going well, but when things are uncertain, when things are beyond our ability to control and direct, when we are struggling with life, and health, and relationships, it’s hard to place our full confidence in God.  In the dark times it is hard for us to not feel like God has walked away.  As difficult as this moment was for Jesus, things were about to get really dark - literally.  Matthew 27:45-46.

As if all the people turning against Jesus weren’t enough, now the sun refused to shine on him, and it is in the dark that Jesus cried out, God, why have you forsaken me?   In all the years that I have read this passage, I never noticed that Jesus did not refer to God as Abba, or father, like he normally did, he used the word Eli, which simply means God.  It’s as if Jesus feels that the relationship with his father has slipped away.  The love and care is not there.  It’s in the dark that Jesus feels alone, abandoned, and truly forsaken.  And so many of us have been there - in the dark, feeling lost, alone, and abandoned.  As a pastor, I have often heard people ask that painful, gut wrenching question, Where is God?  Why has he forsaken me?  

My first funeral was for a still born child.  He was perfectly formed, but never took a breath in this world.  A few years ago I was in a similar situation and held an infant that never took a breath in this world.  I found myself asking God, why?  Where are you in this?  

In the midst of cancer, accidents, suicides, and child abuse, I have heard people ask - God where are you?  Have you forsaken us?  When jobs are lost, and relationships crumble, and teenagers turn away, and a once bright and promising future comes crashing down, we have cried out and we have heard people cry out to God in the dark, Why?  God, why have you forsaken me?  

As people share their stories of these dark places, or I walk through it with them, most of the time, I have no answers.  Sure, I can talk about a fallen world and the consequences of sin, or I can say that sometimes bad things happen to good people, and that unfortunately accidents just happen, but I have no real answer to the question - why.  When I have found myself in these dark places and asked myself this same question, I don’t have any answers.  Sometimes there just are no answers.  

In 1 Corinthians 13:12 Paul says, For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

In Isaiah 55:8-9 God says to us, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  

As much as we want answers, and as much as we want everything to work out like a hallmark movie - life and faith is not like that - and so in the dark we cry out to God.  If Jesus can cry out to God in the dark and ask, God where are you?  Then it’s ok for us to do the same thing.  But it’s in those moments of despair, when we think God has forsaken us, that we have to hold on to this one simple truth, God is still with us.  

When you look at these red letters, what do you see?

NOWHERE 

In the difficult times, that is often what we feel, that God is nowhere.  This is what Jesus felt, that God was nowhere to be found.  When the sun refused to shine, God was nowhere.  But what if these same red letters actually say:  NOW HERE

Even in the dark, God is here, and if God is here then here are three truths we need to remember. 

God is Good    God is For Me     God is With Me

For several months now David has opened our time of worship with the refrain - God is good (All the time) and All the time (God is good).  We join right in and say it, but do we believe it?  Can we trust that God is good even when things around us aren’t good?  Is God still good when we are in the dark?  I’ll let Jesus answer that question.  No one is good—except God alone.   Mark 10:18

If God is good, then God is always good, even when we are in the dark places.  When we are questioning where God is, and struggling with the challenges of life, we need to remind ourselves that God is good (all the time).  

Can you think of a time in your own life when God was good?  Better yet, write down all the times when God has been good so that during the difficult times when you think God is nowhere to be found you will remember that because God is good, God is now here.  

God is Good.  God is for me.  

Romans 8:31, if God is for us, who can be against us?  

God is for us.  God is our advocate, He supports us, He sustains us, He fights for us, and He comforts us.  In all that we go through - God is for us.  Paul goes on and asks the question we all ask.  Is god for us all the time or are there times when God is not for us and we are separated from God.  Is there anything, any dark or difficult thing, any sin or failure, anything at all that keep God from us?  Paul answers his own question with a resounding - NO.  

In all things we are MORE than conquerors because God is with us and it is God’s love that makes all the difference.  God’s love doesn’t always change our circumstances, but it can give us hope and strength in the circumstances because the power of God is there for us.  Knowing God is for us helps us see that instead of feeling like God is nowhere, He is actually now here.  

God is Good.  God is for me.  God is with me.  

In the Old Testament, when the people of Israel stepped into the Promised Land they were going to face struggles and difficult days, so God said to them, Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.  Deuteronomy 31:6

And when Jesus left his disciples, and they were unsure of all that was going to happen to them, He said, I am with you always.  Jesus promised to never leave us and to never forsake us.  Even in those dark moments when we might turn away from God, God does not turn away from us.  He is with us.  He is NOW HERE, and always will be.  

What helps us go from feeling like God is nowhere to trusting that God is now here is knowing God and it’s trusting that:

God is Good - God is for me - God is with me.  

When we remember this, and cling to this, it helps us trust God in those dark times, and it’s that trust which helps us not ask WHY, but WHAT.  God what are you doing?  Help me see what you are doing in this situation so that I can cling to you and your goodness, your strength, and your love.  

Let’s go back and ask that question as Jesus cried to God from the cross, God, why have you forsaken me.  What is God doing here?  People have been asking this question since this red letter day, and the best answer we get comes from the Apostle Paul.

2 Corinthians 5:21.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  

If Jesus became sin, if He took on Himself the sin of the world, then in these moments of darkness, God turns away.  The holiness of God turns away from Jesus, and the reason God does this is so that He will never have to turn away from His children again.  If Jesus becomes sin, and dies for sin once, and or all of creation, then truly God will never have to turn away from His children again.  God doesn’t abandon us in our sin because of Jesus.  God doesn’t ever forsake us because of Jesus.  Jesus cried out in darkness so that we will never have to, and we don’t have to because God is good, and God is for us, and God is with us.  

While this is a genuine cry of anguish from Jesus, we know that somewhere in Jesus' mind and heart - He still trusts God.  We know this because these words come from the beginning of Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?  

While these red letter words reflect the real struggle of Jesus, He would also have remembered the end of Psalm 22.  They will proclaim his deliverance, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!  

Jesus knew it was a dark day, but He also knew that the light of deliverance was coming.  He felt as if God was nowhere and he knew that in this moment God would redeem the world.  

If you are in a dark place and asking why God has forsaken you, if you are thinking God is nowhere to be found, and that God’s help is never going to come your way, then remember these three unchanging truths.  God is good.  God is for me.  God is with me. 

Next Steps

Red Letter Day - Why have you forsaken me?

Read Matthew 27:37-46.

Reflect on all that is going on around Jesus.  Ask yourself why Jesus might be struggling to trust God at this moment?  When have you struggled to trust that God is with you?  

Read Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 8:31-39, Deuteronomy 31:6

Remember a time when:

● God was good.  How does remembering that moment help you trust God in this moment?  Write down all the times you can remember when God was good even if the circumstances were not.

● God was for you.  How did it feel to know that God was in your corner even if no one else was?  How did that give you confidence or courage to keep going?  Where do you need to know that God is for you today?

● God was with you.  How can remembering that experience give you confidence that God is with you today?  How can you see that God is NOW HERE?

Instead of asking God, Why, ask God, What?

● What are you doing in this situation?  

● What do you want me to learn about you?  Me? 

● What do you want me to do?  

● What can I remember to help me trust you more?  

Who do you know that might be in a dark place today?  How can you remind them that God is good, that God is for them, and that God is with them?  How can you comfort and encourage them, and bring God’s light into their darkness?  

Ask God to show you those areas in your life where you feel alone and abandoned.  Ask Him to bring you the assurance of his comfort, and healing.