“Forgiveness” 2 Cor 2: 1-10

There are certain topics every time I preach on them I know that people are going to get antsy. The first is money. The second is today’s topic - forgiveness. 

Yet, even if it makes us feel uncomfortable, the Bible has a lot to say about forgiveness. Why this such a hard topic? Because most of us have  personal stories or know of close friends who have stories of broken relationships. Deep hurts. Un-forgiveness. And while we don’t believe this is God’s plan for us, we also aren’t sure that we have the courage to step into a different way.

Part of life is being hurt. Its an ugly, but true fact. In the words of Pastor Adam Hamilton, “We are bound to hurt others and other are bound to hurt us.” But this is not how God imagined or wanted life to be for us. Emotional hurts are a direct result of Adam and Eve disobeying God, they are a consequence of free will, and stumbling into sin. God wants us to repent of the harm that we cause others and wants us to seek to forgive others for the pain that they cause us, though this is often easier said than done. 

Because the world we live in is filled with brokenness, forgiveness is essential to life. In fact, if we do not forgive, we often perpetuate the cycle of hurting others. But as Christians we believe that Jesus taught us a counter-cultural way to live by both his example and teachings on forgiveness. Jesus ultimately did as he taught, forgiving even the people who called for him to be crucified and those who mocked and beat him as he hung on the cross. He suffered pain and humiliation that is hard for many of us to even fathom, yet he asked God to forgive those gathered around the cross that day. And he forgave his disciples even though they turned their backs on him, only one staying by his side as he died. But Jesus also calls us as his followers to live into his example of forgiving others, even asking the disciples to go to the very ends of the earth announcing the forgiveness of sins. However, we know the actual act of forgiveness can be unspeakably difficult at times.

The Apostle Paul is speaking to the Church in Corinth about following Jesus’s example when it come to forgiveness. We know from 1 Corinthians that there is a lot of pain in this community. Times when they have wounded one another. Times when they have turned against Paul.

Now it seems that Paul has hurt some in the community because he had plans to come visit, but for some unstated reason, those plans changed. So people are angry. Paul is writing to tell them that he felt compelled to follow God’s plan - even if it changed his plan to be able to come and see them. He still loves them. He is still concerned with their spiritual well-being, but above all he is cornered with doing the will of God.

He also know that while they may be upset now, it would have been a painful visit with confrontation if he did come in person. Therefore, it was better to have some distance so that cooler heads could prevail. 

It would seem based on the next part of this letter, that someone in particular is stirring up trouble against Paul. And it is probably the case that person is speaking out against both Paul and his teachings, thus leading people astray. So Paul is asking the community as a whole to reprove this person in love - because if one is hurt, all is hurt. But he goes on to ask them to love this person. How can you both love and reprove? And what is Paul trying to get across about forgiveness? 

While Paul starts off talking about punishment, he quickly pivots to forgiveness. For me his word about consoling this person who has hurt Paul and the community are an embodiment right before us of the Lord’s Prayer:“forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”. We pray this prayer together each and every Sunday, 52 weeks a year. But would we be quick to console those who have hurt us? Would we want to affirm our love for that person? Or would we rather stew a while?

For Paul, the answer is that they should forgive. For he has already forgiven that person for the sake of the whole gathering. It’s hard to believe that this is the same person who had held people’s coats as Stephen was stoned, but something in Paul has changed.

We, too, can have a change of heart that leads us to forgiveness. I think if we let the Lord’s Prayer transform us from the inside out, if we mean what we pray, than we will be more prone to forgive. But I also think that one of the reasons we are slow to forgive is because we don’t exactly know what forgiveness means or looks like in our daily lives. Even the best relationships in our lives have conflict. Most of the conflict are small things - irritations and disappointments - but if we don’t actively choose to forgive the small things, they often fester and infect our soul. Other conflicts are like boulders, weighing on us. So we are invited to forgive.

Often it is the pain caused by people we are in relationship with, family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, that hurt the most, and can sometimes even feel like small deaths or sorrows. With these type of relationships, forgiveness means we renounce vengeance and retaliation, to set aside bitterness that chokes out hope and life, but it does not mean that we need to be abused. When we think that forgiveness means that we continually offer ourselves up to be mistreated or diminished again and again. Forgiveness also doesn’t mean we ignore an incident on the outside and get angry about it on the inside, allowing it to get stuck inside of us. When we do this, it is both unhealthy, and gives the other person power over us. 

Forgiveness is difficult. But forgiveness also becomes easier the more we practice it and the more we remember that we are forgiven by God. May we leave this place and seek to be people marked by forgiving hearts and follow the path of mercy, in order to proclaim the love of our Lord and Savior. Amen.