Posts tagged forgiveness
Bible in a Year – Day 33: Sin Equation
Feb 2nd
Today’s Reading: Leviticus 5, 6 & 7
At first glance, today’s reading might fall into the “more of the same” category and we have to resist them temptation to simply skim through these chapters. For me, it is important to read every word, because if it’s in the book, it has a purpose for being there. And so, I read through these chapters wondering what was there that we didn’t already cover yesterday. Then it hit me. This was the beginning of God’s crazy plan to save us from ourselves. It doesn’t really look like it from this vantage point, but just wait! Let’s look at the Levitical equation as most people understand it:
Sin Committed + Required Sacrifice = God’s Forgiveness
That makes sense based on the text, but as a New Testament follower of Jesus, I would view the equation more like this:
Sin Committed + Required Sacrifice + God’s Forgiveness = Life + God’s Blessing
What in the world am I talking about? Well, I know that the Bible tells us that the “wages of sin is death.” Presumably, anyone able to offer a sacrifice is not dead and, therefore, have not paid the “wages” for their actions. They took out a spiritual payday loan on their life. And so, the sacrifice required is not actually the pricetag for their sins – that pricetag is much higher. Instead, when we sin, God offers forgiveness. And when that forgiveness is added to the “sin” side of the equation, the result is that we have life and blessing, or as the Scripture says, “life…more abundantly.” In fact, through God’s infinite grace, even the price he asked as a sacrifice for our sins was given to us by him. Just as in the story of Abraham and Isaac, God provided the sacrifice for the people of Israel and he provides it for us today. In addition, he tends to restore to us even more than the price that we paid in the first place.
So, what was God up to here? Did he change his mind about the cost of sin, or is there some other explanation? Well, in the pre-Jesus world of Israel, the understanding of sin, sacrifice and forgiveness (or atonement) would perhaps be more like that first equation, but remember, the Old Testament points to the New Testament – it foreshadows (and sometimes directly predicts) the future. And so, I believe that the second equation represents what God was doing all along. The second equation has always been God’s plan, even if his people didn’t know it.
Think of it this way: Imagine that I agree to sell you a car. I look up the Blue Book value of the car and give you a price of, say, $15,000. That is the price, the value, the worth of the car. And so I tell you that I will sell you that car for $15,000, but that if you’ll give me $150 now, you can take the car and use it and we’ll settle up the rest of the payment later. Your assumption, then, would be that you will have to, at some later date, pay me the rest of the price for the car. Now, let’s say that a few weeks later, you see me and say, “Hey, how do you want to work out the payment for this car? Can we do some kind of payment plan?” And I say, “You know what, don’t worry about it right now. I’ve still got the $150 you gave me earlier. We’ll just work it out later.”
Now, let’s imagine that it’s a few months later and I still haven’t required any real payment for the car. You see me again and, knowing that you owe me $14,850, you try to avoid me. But I make the effort and walk over to you, call out your name and begin a conversation. And as we talk, I say, “Hey, I’ve got a lot of things I want to chat with you about, but first, I wanted to let you know that you don’t owe me anything for the car.” Of course, you would be flabbergasted! What had changed my mind?
Well, the truth is that nothing changed my mind. I actually always intended on giving you the car. The only reason I gave you a price in the first place was so that you would understand that what you were receiving was of value. The only reason I asked for the $150 was because I knew that if I told you I was giving you the car, you would never accept it. In other words, your accepted paradigm was that of a financial transaction, so I created one for you. I didn’t need the $150. As a matter of fact, I had already returned the $150 to you multiple times over in ways that you simply didn’t notice. Are you getting the picture?
In this example, my motives never changed and my plan never changed – only your perception changed. And so I think it is with the people of Israel (and with us). That is why reading the Bible in it’s entirety is so critically important! What we read here in Leviticus about all these sacrifices is just the beginning of the story. God is giving us the Blue Book value of our sins and asking for a little down payment – one that, like the $150 for the $15,000 car, pails in comparison to the actual price. It’s not the whole story. It’s just one chapter.
In that case, I guess we’ll have to keep reading…
Bible in a Year – Day 28: What’s a Life Worth?
Jan 28th
Today’s Reading: Exodus 30, 31 & 32
As with just about every day, there’s a lot packed into today’s reading. However, there were two parts that really jumped out to me and they both follow a similar theme. First, there is the “atonement money” that God requires every person to pay. Second, there is this conversation between Moses and the Lord where Moses asks God to forgive the Israelites for worshiping the golden calf. Both, I think, demonstrate a fundamental truth about the value of each individual – a truth that God first taught Noah and then, Noah articulated back to God.
Let’s take a look at the atonement money. The purpose of this money was to offer a “ransom” for the life of each individual. Clearly, this has some prophetic undertones as Jesus would pay the ultimate ransom for us and would be the ultimate atonement. However, I think there’s something interesting about this passage. God requires that everyone is to give one half shekel. And he specifically says that the rich are to give no more than a half shekel and the poor are to give no less.
Now, whenever God and money are combined in the Bible, most people immediately believe that the passage must be a commentary on church giving, tithing, etc. In this case, though, I don’t think that’s the point at all. In fact, when you read through the rest of scripture, you see that God typically does require more from those who have more and often lessens the giving requirements for those who are poor. So what’s going on here?
Well, remember that we’re talking about a ransom or atonement. That is, a sum of money paid in exchange for someone’s life. What’s a life worth? Whatever the person who saves your life says it’s worth. In this case, God tells the people that they are to pay one half shekel as a ransom for each life. But what is God going to do with a half shekel? He doesn’t need the money! What he does need is that for the people to understand that their lives have value and that no one person’s life is more valuable than another. The lives of the rich aren’t worth more than the lives of the poor or vice versa. This is a lesson in the value of a life, not a story about tithing or church giving.
This same lesson, then, is obviously learned and articulated by Moses when he says to God in chapter 32, verses 31 & 32:
“Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”
Moses here is essentially telling God that his life (or more accurately, his soul or his existence) is not any more valuable than anyone else’s. If they aren’t going to be forgiven – if they’re going to be rejected by God – then Moses doesn’t want to be accepted by him either. It’s a reminder that we’re all in this boat together – that God interacts with humanity as a whole as well as individuals. And it’s a reminder that you are worth the same as me and the same as the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich. And, ultimately, Jesus would pay the same price for all of us.
They Know Not What They Do
May 6th
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:34, King James Version)
I was recently listening in on a webinar where the above verse was mentioned. Mind you, it was not the main topic of conversation and, in many ways, it was kind of glossed over – not in an intentional way, but in the way that we tend to do when we’re covering a lot of information in a little bit of time. However, in that instant after hearing the words and before moving on to the next thing, I took a moment to jot myself a note. The note read “Forgive them, for they know not what they do. What does that say about God’s ability/willingness to forgive?”
Now, I don’t have an answer for that question, but I wanted to share with you some of the things that jumped out to me and that have stirred my heart about that verse. Here, Jesus is being tortured – he is being killed – by a group of people made up of those who should know better (religious leaders supposedly in tune with God’s ways) and those who have no reason to know right from wrong in this situation (Romans, who are uneducated about and/or ambivalent to Jewish custom, law or religion.)
In the midst of their derision, Jesus asked God to forgive them – not simply to spare their life or to not judge them harshly – but to forgive them. Presumably, the kind of forgiveness that we are told only comes from giving our lives to Jesus is here being dolled out to people who not only haven’t accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord, but to people who are actually murdering him. On the surface, it seems like a really kind gesture, but thinking deeper, a statement like this – an act like this – seems to suggest some things that are counter to popular theology.
We have been told and believe that the only way to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is to believe in and follow Jesus. Those who do not follow him, we are told, don’t stand a chance in eternity. Now, there are different views regarding those who never got a chance to hear the message of salvation (some think those people are fine and others think they will rot in hell) but very few of us have held to a theology that says that those who have had a chance to encounter Jesus, but have rejected him, have any chance at salvation, redemption or forgiveness.
But here, Jesus asks God to forgive the people because “they know not what they do.” In other words, they are ignorant of what their actions really mean. They don’t know that he is the Messiah. The don’t know about his mission here. Even though they have had personal interaction with the Savior of the world, they don’t recognize him as such and, seemingly, Jesus asks God to let them off the hook.
This is an understandable request, given that the majority of the people in the crowd had been riled up into a frenzy by the religious leaders. But I have begun to wonder how that applies to us today. What about all the people who have rejected God and rejected Jesus because of some horrible example of “Chrisitanity” in their lives – people who wear the name of Jesus, but fail to exemplify his character. I mean, if someone was beaten and molested by her pastor father and, thus, rejects everything he claimed to believe in, would that person be extended the same kind of forgiveness as those who crucified Jesus? What about people who are being whipped into a frenzy by today’s religious leaders who tell them that following Jesus means hating illegal immigrants, inciting violence against Muslims and overthrowing government? Or, what about those Muslims who have chosen a level of devotion to God that most of us can’t even fathom, but have been led astray by their own religious leaders into extremist, Jihadist beliefs and acts?
All three of these examples fall into the “they know not what they do” camp. Their actions represent not the rejection of Jesus, but, in the first case, rejection of personal beliefs associated with an abuser, and in the second and third cases, adherence to an ideology espoused by religious leaders – leaders who have been entrusted with helping those individuals adhere to God’s way. They know not what they do.
Actually, there are any number of people of whom we could say “they know not what they do.” The question I have, that I have no answer for, is this: What does God do with those who know not what they do? What if our theology on eternal salvation comes with a big caveat regarding ignorance and knowledge? I’m sure somebody else has thought through these questions and has compelling revelation to share. For me, I’m just asking the question and thinking about this verse in a way that is completely new to me. I would love to hear from you.
