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Ascension: That’s what much of the church celebrated either last week or today—remembering the ancient story of Jesus’ last words to his disciples as Luke records them—and his physical disappearance. The idea of the resurrected Jesus rising heavenward a few weeks after Easter isn’t the most interesting message in the gospel for many of us.
Many postmodern preachers privately still don’t have much use for an old church festival like the Feast of the Ascension. Just how relevant is the story of someone being carried off into the clouds? We would prefer to think of Christ in this-worldly terms, and for the most part rightly so! After all, healing the sick, proclaiming liberation for the captive, comforting the broken-hearted, raising up the dead hopes of forgotten peoples—aren’t these where it is really at?
Ancient people didn’t divide things up like we do. For them, Christ’s ascension put him in good company with Elijah and his chariot of fire, and with Moses, whose burial place was a mystery. For them, the story was a testimony to Christ’s authority—in a world where they didn’t have any personal power or authority at all.
In the process of being modernistically dubious about the ascension we may also miss something else that’s even more important. Because, before being hoisted heavenwards, Jesus tells his disciples a thing or two. He charges them with an important job: Once he has gone they will be all about proclaiming the good news to the nations! A monumental task. And not just proclaiming any good news: They are to proclaim the practice of forgiveness—to the nations!
Forgiveness is a much-needed topic these days, but it isn’t a comfortable one. Everyone doesn’t agree on how it works or what it means. As a pastor, as you may imagine I have had to deal with the struggles around forgiving and being forgiven for many years. A teaching right at the heart of Jesus’ message, it may be the hardest part of that message. I want to ask us today to share a conversation with a neighbor, or two at the most…. please gather in groups of two, no more than three.
Discussion Question 1: Who taught you about forgiveness, and how?
Question 2: What does forgiveness mean to you today, in the best sense?
Over the course of some time, my understanding of forgiveness has evolved. Like many of you, it started out personal, and maybe even unrealistic. Somehow as a child, I got the idea that I needed to forgive everyone immediately, even if they didn’t ask for it. And I got the notion somehow that being ready to forgive was the same thing as living like a doormat. As I read the New Testament more carefully, I came to realize that there are a whole host of teachings about forgiveness. But I have yet to find a single passage that suggests being a doormat as a way of life.
For the Jesus we meet in Luke’s gospel, God’s forgiveness of sin is attached to our human forgiveness of debt. Check out Luke’s version of the Lord’s prayer, which isn’t quite like ours, when it comes to forgiveness. It says, even more plainly, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those indebted to us.” Jesus makes the connection between having our sins forgiven by God to whether we forgive the DEBTS—the economic debts, the “what I owe you” of others.
I came to believe as I got older, and as I worked with real people, in real life struggles, that forgiveness in the personal realm really can have a twisted side. Many people I have talked to in my study, in their living rooms, and in hospital beds were staying stuck in toxic relationships and situations because of their heartfelt belief they needed to forgive. But what these friends really needed, after years of terrible relationships, was to move on out of there! They needed to be emancipated, redeemed, released. And their own mothers’ teachings on forgiveness likely as not got in the way. More than once, individuals have raised this forgiveness question: shouldn’t I keep on forgiving him, no matter how many times he…. And what I have had to say, over and over, is, you need to love yourself as much as you do the people around you. You need to offer yourself the kind of kindness you are offering others. You are under no obligation to stay in captivity. For now, the most you may be able to do that’s even close to forgiveness is to release yourself from the past…move on. Forgiveness is not the same as staying stuck. It is about real healing… real personal liberation.
So, the side of forgiveness that we most often miss is the side that says, “I release you.” Sometimes it is our neighbor that needs to be released. But sometimes it may be you or me.
For Jesus as Luke’s gospel recalls him, forgiveness was directly linked to restoration, reclaiming our humanity, guarding and fighting for our neighbor’s dignity: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those indebted to us—our debtors.” In that world, a world where getting in debt meant someone could literally own you—first the family farm, then your body, your labor, your family—in a world like that, forgiveness was very basic—it was about releasing the captives. It was about restoring the means to make a living, being clear about, and speaking up for, basic human rights. And Jesus told his friends they needed to address the nations.
Jesus was preaching emancipation of people who had lost everything. He couldn’t have been clearer. If we want to be released from our personal wrongs, then we better be ready to release other people from what they owe us.
The person who taught me about forgiveness in the personal realm was my mother, Ineke, God rest her soul. She did it more with how she lived than how she talked. And the one who taught me about the God given dignity of every human being, the holy call to release the captive? My grandma Naomi, who read the bible with passion and love.
Whom will you teach?
Picture: With 4 youth, following midweek prayer service at Alegria Baptist Church, in a favela in Maceio, Brazil, 2014, photo taken at the request of the young men.
Many postmodern preachers privately still don’t have much use for an old church festival like the Feast of the Ascension. Just how relevant is the story of someone being carried off into the clouds? We would prefer to think of Christ in this-worldly terms, and for the most part rightly so! After all, healing the sick, proclaiming liberation for the captive, comforting the broken-hearted, raising up the dead hopes of forgotten peoples—aren’t these where it is really at?
Ancient people didn’t divide things up like we do. For them, Christ’s ascension put him in good company with Elijah and his chariot of fire, and with Moses, whose burial place was a mystery. For them, the story was a testimony to Christ’s authority—in a world where they didn’t have any personal power or authority at all.
In the process of being modernistically dubious about the ascension we may also miss something else that’s even more important. Because, before being hoisted heavenwards, Jesus tells his disciples a thing or two. He charges them with an important job: Once he has gone they will be all about proclaiming the good news to the nations! A monumental task. And not just proclaiming any good news: They are to proclaim the practice of forgiveness—to the nations!
Forgiveness is a much-needed topic these days, but it isn’t a comfortable one. Everyone doesn’t agree on how it works or what it means. As a pastor, as you may imagine I have had to deal with the struggles around forgiving and being forgiven for many years. A teaching right at the heart of Jesus’ message, it may be the hardest part of that message. I want to ask us today to share a conversation with a neighbor, or two at the most…. please gather in groups of two, no more than three.
Discussion Question 1: Who taught you about forgiveness, and how?
Question 2: What does forgiveness mean to you today, in the best sense?
Over the course of some time, my understanding of forgiveness has evolved. Like many of you, it started out personal, and maybe even unrealistic. Somehow as a child, I got the idea that I needed to forgive everyone immediately, even if they didn’t ask for it. And I got the notion somehow that being ready to forgive was the same thing as living like a doormat. As I read the New Testament more carefully, I came to realize that there are a whole host of teachings about forgiveness. But I have yet to find a single passage that suggests being a doormat as a way of life.
For the Jesus we meet in Luke’s gospel, God’s forgiveness of sin is attached to our human forgiveness of debt. Check out Luke’s version of the Lord’s prayer, which isn’t quite like ours, when it comes to forgiveness. It says, even more plainly, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those indebted to us.” Jesus makes the connection between having our sins forgiven by God to whether we forgive the DEBTS—the economic debts, the “what I owe you” of others.
I came to believe as I got older, and as I worked with real people, in real life struggles, that forgiveness in the personal realm really can have a twisted side. Many people I have talked to in my study, in their living rooms, and in hospital beds were staying stuck in toxic relationships and situations because of their heartfelt belief they needed to forgive. But what these friends really needed, after years of terrible relationships, was to move on out of there! They needed to be emancipated, redeemed, released. And their own mothers’ teachings on forgiveness likely as not got in the way. More than once, individuals have raised this forgiveness question: shouldn’t I keep on forgiving him, no matter how many times he…. And what I have had to say, over and over, is, you need to love yourself as much as you do the people around you. You need to offer yourself the kind of kindness you are offering others. You are under no obligation to stay in captivity. For now, the most you may be able to do that’s even close to forgiveness is to release yourself from the past…move on. Forgiveness is not the same as staying stuck. It is about real healing… real personal liberation.
So, the side of forgiveness that we most often miss is the side that says, “I release you.” Sometimes it is our neighbor that needs to be released. But sometimes it may be you or me.
For Jesus as Luke’s gospel recalls him, forgiveness was directly linked to restoration, reclaiming our humanity, guarding and fighting for our neighbor’s dignity: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those indebted to us—our debtors.” In that world, a world where getting in debt meant someone could literally own you—first the family farm, then your body, your labor, your family—in a world like that, forgiveness was very basic—it was about releasing the captives. It was about restoring the means to make a living, being clear about, and speaking up for, basic human rights. And Jesus told his friends they needed to address the nations.
Jesus was preaching emancipation of people who had lost everything. He couldn’t have been clearer. If we want to be released from our personal wrongs, then we better be ready to release other people from what they owe us.
The person who taught me about forgiveness in the personal realm was my mother, Ineke, God rest her soul. She did it more with how she lived than how she talked. And the one who taught me about the God given dignity of every human being, the holy call to release the captive? My grandma Naomi, who read the bible with passion and love.
Whom will you teach?
Picture: With 4 youth, following midweek prayer service at Alegria Baptist Church, in a favela in Maceio, Brazil, 2014, photo taken at the request of the young men.