November 14, 2023
Dear Friends,
Last week I wrote about Atonement. Let’s talk next about what forgiveness does and does not mean.
Forgiveness means that there is no more debt. Take a trivial example. Suppose you eat my piece of pie when I get up from the table. You owe me a piece of pie, and specifically the one that you ate. I can demand that you pay your debt, or I can forgive the debt. If I forgive the debt, I am suffering on your behalf. I’m going without a piece of pie that otherwise belonged to me.
Jesus often talks about it in terms of money. A man owed his master a ton of money, and when he could not pay, he was brought before his master to receive his sentence. However, the master looked in pity on the servant and forgave the debt. That means that the master was suffering on behalf of his servant. He was going without the money that belonged to him. He was simply enduring the loss.
That’s how forgiveness works. Through our sins – each and every sin – we incur a debt that we could never repay. We owe God love and trust and honor, but we fall short of his glory. The wages of sin is death, and the cost of paying this debt is our lives. But God has forgiven our sins in Jesus’ death & resurrection. He suffered on our behalf. He gave up his life so that we could live. He endured the loss.
That’s what forgiveness does – it writes off the debt, endures the loss, and suffers for the sake of the one forgiven.
But, that doesn’t mean that all things are promptly made new. The relationship is indeed set aright. But the sin may have left a mark. If my sin against you is that I sock you in the nose, you may forgive me, but your nose is still crooked and I am reminded of my sin every time I see it. If my sin is that I drove recklessly and smashed your mailbox, you may forgive me, but I still have a dent in the front fender of my car.
That is to say: while forgiveness does not hold a sin against someone, it doesn’t erase all the marks that sin left behind. Notice, in particular, that in the resurrection, after Jesus has forgiven those who nailed him to the cross, he still has in his hands and feet the mark of the nails, and he has in his side the mark of the spear. The sin is truly forgiven, but the marks caused by that sin remain.
Why wouldn’t God erase those marks? We’ll leave that for next time, but let me make one thing clear in advance. The marks that are left by sin are not something leftover to make us pay for our sin. It is not as though Jesus paid 99% and left 1% of the debt for us. No, the debt has been fully paid. Whatever we suffer on account of our sin in this life, it is not about atoning for our sins.
God bless and keep you,
Pr. Buchs
COMING EVENTS:
Wednesday, Nov. 15 @ 6:00pm – Small Catechism Bible Study
Saturday, Dec. 2 – Spaghetti Dinner & Silent Auction