Forgiving Sins

Luke 7:48-49 states:

⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

 ⁴⁹ The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 

If you have a Study Bible, somewhere in it you'll find some type of chronology of Christ's life, and my NIV Study Bible places this event almost smack-dab in the middle of Jesus' ministry. It also divides the three years of his ministry as follows:

Year 1--the Year of Inauguration

Year 2--the Year of Popularity

Year 3--the Year of Opposition

This chronology suggests the Year of Inauguration covered events up to around Luke 4. Today's reading happened in the Year of Popularity, which covers Luke 5-8, roughly. At this point, people have heard of Jesus, he's gotten John the Baptist's attention and crowds are beginning to come out and see him wherever he goes. I chose the verses I did because it illustrates that even at this point, people were still unsure as to what he was--the Messiah, or merely a charismatic speaker with extraordinary gifts.

Mark 3:21-22 suggests that even his family wasn't sure what to make of him and the priests believed he was demon-possessed. Amidst all of this he does something truly amazing, something that started to make the people think they were in the midst of something truly spectacular and beyond their comprehension.

He forgave their sins.

When you think about the elaborate ceremonies and sacrifices that were established in order to achieve forgiveness in the Old Testament, this is remarkable. Indeed, today (Saturday, October 8th) is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish faith (technically, it runs from sundown on the 7th to sundown on the 8th). Forgiveness didn't come easily, lightly or without serious reflection, remorse and repentance for the people of that time. And yet, Christ forgave the woman's sins. She offered no sacrifice, she received no absolution from any priest, and she hadn't even asked for forgiveness in the first place.

Even as we perform Confession and Absolution in our services, it's not our pastors doing the forgiving, which they make clear when they speak "In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." In Jesus' time, ORDINARY PEOPLE DIDN'T FORGIVE SINS. Even priests didn't forgive them, but oversaw the rituals for absolution, and now this man, a carpenter's son from Nazareth, from whence "nothing good can come,"claims to perform things that only God can do? That's certain to attract attention.

As we progress in the next couple of weeks, we'll see that the events that turn the Year of Popularity into the Year of Opposition will be Christ's message of salvation only through him, which can dampen the job prospects of Pharisees and other religious leaders who would suddenly become redundant, to use the British term. As much as I've stated in every single Bible Class I've led or attended in the past 10 years or so, I cannot stress it enough--the message of Christ was the COMPLETE UPENDING of the religious way of life of the people of Israel. The impending Age of Grace would require a totally different understanding of God. When all of recorded history was spent worshiping a God of wrath and vengeance, and someone comes along and completely changes it, it will not happen without resistance or misunderstanding.

When we receive our forgiveness the next time we're in church, think about all that Christ freed us from--not only the bondage of sin, death and the power of the devil, but all the elaborate, time-consuming rituals required to receive that absolution in the good old days. What was astonishing to the people of his day is his everlasting gift to us today--never take it for granted.

Scott