Knitting a Conundrum

More Thoughts on Forgiveness:

And he said, "There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, `Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them.

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself he said, `How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants."'

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

But the father said to his servants, `Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry.

Luke 15:11-24

I would think of the archetypical story of God and the sinner, the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The sinner is out in "a distant country" until he decides to return. But the Father is out watching for his return even before the son makes it back. He forgives the son joyfully, cutting short the little speech and treats him as the son he is.

Sin is like being separated from God by our turning away from him, and this requires us to repent, to turn back because we willfully separate ourselves from him. It's not a case of God holding our wrong against us like a grudge - its a case of us having a distance or barrier between God and us.

When others wrong us, we are asked to have a forgiving spirit. It's a three way thing: the person who wronged us, we who are injured and God. Much of the time, the person who hurts us doesn't care if we are injured, or doesn't even know we have been hurt by their actions, or has died before we can resolve it. If we let the injury so fill us with hurt and anger that it separates us from God, then it is an evil, and causes sin. If in our transactions with our fellow man we have anger that blocks us from God because someone hurt us, who wins? The Devil. So Jesus asks us to forgive our enemies, so we can have the relationship with God he wishes for us.