Free to Forgive

Jesus said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”  This is Jesus’ summary of the law.  It is the short answer on what our lives should look like.  These commands expose the fact that we are broken lovers (as I have written about here).  They constantly remind us that we need forgiveness.  We experience our sin on an everyday basis in our relationships.  We feel our selfishness, our impatience, our insensitivity.  Or we feel those things from someone else.  We feel the snub.  The judgmental looks.  The passive aggressive comments.  We don’t see things or each other the way God sees us. 

So how does our freedom in Christ affect this situation?  How does the grace he has given us affect our everyday interactions?  Paul tells us in the opening verses of Galatians 6.  He begins saying, “Friends, if anyone is caught in any transgression…” Here is the context.  Here is the given I have been talking about.  The given in every single normal human situation is sin.  It is there.  It may not always be obvious, but it is present, and it’s wise to remember that when dealing with other human beings as well as dealing with yourself.  It will help you to manage your expectations.  Some of the wisest mentors I have ever had agreed on this.  They would say “expect conflict.”  Just expect it.  When you deal with people you will have conflict.  It is a very helpful thing because it is much less surprising when conflict actually happens and far less disturbing.  Expect conflict.  In a sense Paul is saying that very thing here to the church in Galatia: expect conflict, expect sin to pop up.   

So, what does Paul say here in light of this given?  What should he say?  What does our world say…the current cancel culture?  If anyone is caught in any transgression make an example of them.  Punish them.  Rebuke them.  Judge them.  Fire them.  Take away their endorsements.  Pour on the guilt trips.  Get distance from them.  Give them the cold shoulder for a while.  Don’t we see this very reaction take place multiple times every year?  Every time an athlete tests positive for a banned substance the reaction is the same suspend them and take away their endorsements.  We say guilty and get our distance.  I don’t want to have anything to do with that…disassociate.  Shouldn’t Paul say the same? 

He doesn’t.  He says, “If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual (or of the Spirit) should restore him or her in a spirit of gentleness.”  Now, one could tell Paul he’s being a bit naïve.  Any transgression?  Really Paul?  I mean we can let some things slide, but some things need a more strict response.  No.  Paul is showing us how grace has affected the way we relate to each other, how our freedom changes the way we respond to each other when we sin.  This is grace’s arena.  It works amongst the sinners.  It is for people who get caught.  It is for people who screw up.  It is for people who put their foot in their mouth or patronize or gossip, or lie, cheat, and steal.  It is for sinners.  It’s for all of us.  Grace makes no sense in any other context.  It is never where it is not needed, but thank God it is always there when it is needed.  It makes me think of those State Farm commercials where people find themselves in tricky circumstances, and they just sing a little jingle and the State Farm agent instantly appears and gives them what they need.  Well, grace is the same way, “Like a good neighbor grace is there!” 

Paul says to restore the person who has been caught in a spirit of gentleness.  He does not say judge them.  He does not say distance yourself from them.  He says restore them.  It’s important to remember that Paul is talking about people who have been caught.  He is not, nor is the Bible, ever weak on seeing sin for what it is.  Paul follows Jesus’ teaching and lifts the law to its highest point so that it is painfully clear that all people are in the same boat, we are all broken lovers.  We are all imperfect.  We are not loving God, we are not loving each other, and we are not loving ourselves the way that we should.  We are in the same sorry state of sin.  And he is addressing people who have been caught, people who have been found out.  There is no question about the sin, it is obvious and out in the open, and Paul is now saying how to respond. 

Paul says to restore them gently.  Restore them.  Remind them of God’s love and forgiveness.  Remind them of what Jesus has won for them.  Invite them over for dinner.  Take them out for coffee.  Love them.  That’s true of all of us when our sin is exposed.  We need love more than ever right in that moment.  That’s what grace is all about.  That’s how it changes the way we interact.  It transforms our relationships because it says that I want to be in relationship with you in your brokenness, in your imperfection, in your struggle because that is exactly what we have experienced with Jesus in our own pain.  Grace says I want to stand with you through this, through whatever ramifications your actions bring about, through whatever justice you have to face.  I will be with you in this.  I am your friend.  Restore them gently. 

Then Paul goes on to say, “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”  What does that mean?  It sounds like he’s pulling back from telling us to be in relationship with this person caught in their sin because you don’t want to fall like they did.  At least that’s the only way I have heard it preached before.  To be fair there, there is some of that here.  We’ve all seen movies depict the priest all hot and bothered after the young man or young woman leaves the confession booth.  But with the context here Paul is primarily warning us against self-righteousness...the great temptation to judge this person, dismissing this person as unworthy.  We know this because of the next command, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”  He’s saying stand in there with them and bear it with them.  Restore them gently.  The law of Christ that he is referring to here is from John 15:12-13 when Jesus told his disciples,  “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”  Paul is telling his readers and us to love one another like Jesus loved us.   

This is how grace works.  We hear it again and again from Jesus and from Paul.  Love begets love.  The woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and her hair.  He said because she has been forgiven much she loves much.  The woman at the well who was accepted by Jesus and then boasts in her weakness as she witnesses to the crowd no longer ashamed, “Come hear a man who told me all I ever did.”  We are set free to love.  We are set free to forgive, and it is nothing short of a miracle every time it happens.   

Paul’s letters always begin reminding us of all Jesus has done for us, retelling us the good news and relaying the foundation of God’s immeasurable love for sinners in His Son Jesus Christ, then calling us to love each other in light of that awesome grace.  Love begets love.  His forgiveness enables us to forgive.  His reconciling us to himself opens the way for us to seek reconciliation with others, with those who have been caught.  Remember what Paul says as he concludes this letter to the Galatians.  “Neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”  Grace is that creative word in us that fills us to overflowing, that enables us to give to others, to share the great news we have received with others, to stand with each other in the hard times because Jesus stands with us always.   

The band Mumford & Sons sing a song called Roll Away Your Stone.  The lyrics go like this: “It seems that all my bridges have been burnt, but you say that’s exactly how this grace thing works.  It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart, but the welcome I receive with every start.”  That is Paul’s story and that is our story.  Jesus has set us free.  He has restored us gently and always will.  He always welcomes us back in.  Let’s do that for each other and for all that we meet who find themselves caught.  Let’s remind them of the grace that we have all received through Jesus Christ.  And let’s pray that the Lord might reconcile us all to one another.  Amen. 

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