The end of exile (2)

If exile has ended, why are things the way they are? Why are things not the way they should be? Why are we still here, in this mess of a world? Simply put, we are here to demonstrate the reality that exile has ended; in the words of Charles Wesley’s carol: “God and sinners reconciled.” The Church is to demonstrate how things ought to be.
How is the Church to do this? I will mention only one aspect here: forgiveness. We have in the LORD’s Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount: “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” In Luke’s account of the LORD’s Prayer: “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone one who sins against us.” (Do we?) Forgiveness is so contrary to our fallen nature. We like people owing us. We like holding grudges.
Immediately after the LORD’s Prayer in Matthew 6, we read: “For if you forgiven men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” GOD’s forgiveness cannot be effectively received except by those who are ready to forgive others. Those who do not forgive are saying (whether they know it or not) that they are still in exile, alienated from GOD, unforgiven.
In Matthew 9, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” While the teachers of the law thought this blasphemy, do we not hear the promise of the end of exile from Jeremiah 31:34?
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
Is not the end of exile seen in the reality of forgiveness? It is in forgiving that we demonstrate that we are reconciled to GOD, that exile has ended.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 11:17 pm and is filed under Damon's Notes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.