Go Now and Forgive Like Jesus?
Millions of Christians—Jesus-Followers will say this or hear this particularly this weekend. It is Easter weekend. The Christian community is united in remembering the brutal sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross during the annual Passover celebration in Jerusalem. Among other things that it represents, it is the judicial judgment for all of my crimes against God, mankind and creation. All of them. The work of Jesus, the Son of God on the cross that day has satisfied the demands of any court in all of the universe for all of my crimes of commission and omission. Technically, legally and in actuality, I have already had my day in court, been found absolutely guilty and condemned rightly to eternal punishment—and through the one act of the Final Adam—what I owed justice has been now fully paid. Not overlooked, not swept under the celestial rug, not the merciful act of a compassionate judge who just rubs my head and says, “Well, you messed up, but..hey its OK now!” It was fully weighed, measured and adjudicated—perfectly. Paid in full—though I didn’t spend a day in Hell.
I am now forgiven by God on the sole work of Jesus in my stead, on my behalf, in my place as a substitute guilty condemned.
This is the stunning news of Good Friday! It is finished, legally for me and for the billions of very guilty-as-sin-Jesus-followers like me. I am legally ‘forgiven’; meaning specifically (and this is very important) that all crimes, all debts, all offenses have been fully paid for. My debt against God is fully satisfied and so now He reasonably– naturally forgives me. It makes perfect social sense now. What is not to forgive—it is paid for. We can now commune as if there was never any debt between us. File closed. There is nothing to prevent His eternal love, honor, glory from pouring out over me for all eternity. Reconciliation can now begin experientially in earnest. I can now really get it! All because Jesus took care, perfectly of all my debts.
So now, back to the original statement. On this day, Christians all over the globe in 100s of languages will hear at the end of millions of homilies and messages from a 1000 different denominations and sects, “Go Now and Forgive Like Jesus—Forgive like God does.”
Almost without exception—universally, that has come to mean, “Because of the awesome huge price to Jesus for what he did for you, by an act of the will, just let go of the debt of the crime committed against you.” Let go of your right of justice for that crime. Choose to forgive. Choose the path of compassion. Choose to release the ‘other’ from the debt caused by their offense. You absorb their debt because, “that’s what Jesus – that’s what God would do!”
No! Particularly on this day, we can see that that is not the case. That is exactly not what God would do. God required the horrific death, the vulgar painful humiliating dehumanizing death of the God-Son, Jesus, before He would move one single iota toward forgiving you or I of any crime—any crime—no matter how big or how little. God, by His wonderful and glorious perfect nature (which is reflected in us as His image) demands justice for all crimes—all rebellion. The Universe is perfectly moral. It is foundationally good yet scarred by evil and corruption. It is God’s perfect plan that all corruption be redeemed. Nothing less.
Let me put it another way. You cannot really forgive-like-Jesus anyone until their actual debt to you is fully paid; what they took from you directly and indirectly is fully paid. There may be the words, “I forgive”, but it does not mean the same thing that God means. Actually way down deep, that kind of ‘I forgive’ is in actuality a secondary self-victimization. You are giving up your right to the debt being paid. You are undermining the image of God in you. Ironically, it is a sin against God!
Until the debt is paid – and you are restored– there is no basis for ‘Jesus-intimacy’. There may be some lesser reconciliation, boundaries, some flimsy foundation—there may be ‘peace’—but not ever intimacy—not the God-peace that surpasses comprehension.
On this weekend, where God’s wonderful gracious justice is most clearly manifested—lets not in any way water down ‘forgiveness’. Not this year. Let’s go for something much higher this year and truly be set free from our victimization. Let’s find deep intimacy with those who offended us so deeply!