Friday, 1 August, 2003

We continue a brief walk with some material on reconciliation by Walter Wink.



We expect evildoers to repent and seek forgiveness. Jesus, however reversed all that. He declared to an incredulous world that could not finally accept it, that God already forgives us, whether we ask for it or not, whether we like it or not. We can repent, in fact, precisely because God has already forgiven us. The gospel declares to us, You are forgiven! Now you can repent! “The kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). It is because God already loves us that we can dare to approach God. God accepts us as we are; the prodigal son’s father runs to greet him and receives him back as son. God, moreover, makes no exceptions: whether we are able to forgive or not, God does, and this applies even to Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot.



I wasn’t going to include the last three names - as the whole notion of God forgiving us whether we like it or not is too much for most people to handle in the first place. Then again, adding the names Wink uses throws the ballpark wide open and we really need to take a moment to grasp the wideness of God’s actions that are not at all dependent on what we think of them. The power of God’s forgiveness and love is the power that pulls us home. The love and grace and forgiveness are there…just like the father of the prodigal son…always there…always available. To repent is to come home to what is there – a promise so wide and gracious that many cannot and will not let themselves run home and be grasped by its life-giving power. We can become so caught up in wanting to evaluate whether another person is worthy of such a gift that we often do not live within the gift ourselves. Everyone likes to be a gatekeeper at times…but none are needed if the gate is kept wide open by the only one who has the ability to welcome us home.



Connection: Remember, it is not too hard to understand why people were upset with Jesus’ radical notion of the grace of God and the life within the Reign of God. Look how upset we can become when such a notion of forgiveness and grace is laid on the table in front of us this day.



Gracious God, lead us home by the power of your love. Your promise of new life goes against everything we have come to accept as a way to make ourselves right with ourselves, our world, our family, and You. Empower us to trust in your promise this day. Amen.