Church of the Holy City

God’s and Human Forgiving

God’s and Human Forgiving
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
June 5, 2011

Numbers 15:22-31 Matthew 18:21-35 Psalm 103

The Bible passages for this morning concern forgiveness. I can think of two ways to consider the theme of forgiveness. There is God’s forgiveness of us and there is our forgiveness of our fellows. In our responsive reading from Psalm 103, we heard that God, “forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” Healing our diseases corresponds to healing our spiritual evils. And in the passage from Numbers, we heard about sacrifices to atone for sins that were committed unintentionally. In our passage from Matthew, we heard about a king forgiving the debt of his servant. And we also heard about this unthankful servant not forgiving his fellow servant.
It is in God’s very nature to forgive humans when we sin unintentionally. God is mercy itself. And God wants to enter into a loving relationship with the whole human race. God created us in order to have a heaven from the human race. And being in heaven is not going to a place. Being in heaven is being in a love relationship with God. So being in heaven is the same thing as being in a love relationship with God. This is what salvation means. Salvation, from a Swedenborgian perspective, is nothing else than being in a love relationship with God. This love relationship is what God longs for. So we can say that God wishes to save the whole human race, for salvation is that very love relationship.
Jehovah, or the Lord’s internal, was the very Celestial of Love, that is, Love itself, to which no other attributes are fitting than those of pure Love, thus of pure Mercy toward the whole human race; which is such that it wishes to save all and make them happy for ever, and to bestow on them all that it has; thus out of pure mercy to draw all who are willing to follow, to heaven, that is, to itself, by the strong force of love (AC 1735).
There is a power emanating from God that lifts everyone up toward Himself. It is always operating. We may not be aware of it, but all through our lives, God has been elevating us toward Himself, into that heavenly love relationship.
There is actually a sphere elevating all to heaven, that proceeds continually from the Lord and fills the whole natural world and the whole spiritual world; it is like a strong current in the ocean, which draws the ship in a hidden way. All those who believe in the Lord and live according to His precepts, enter that sphere or current and are lifted (TCR 652).
It is out of pure mercy that God forgives us and draws us upward toward Himself by the strong force of love. But this forgiveness is not excusing wrongs that we continue to commit. We have a part to play in God’s saving love for us. We need to cooperate with God’s love and take action from the power God gives us. We need to restrain ourselves when we are moved by unholy desires. We need to ask God into our lives. And we need to ask God to lift us out of sin and error and into goodness and truth. We need to act as if our salvation were completely in our own hands–all the while acknowledging that it is God who actually acts to bring us out of our errors.
Divine mercy is pure mercy toward the whole human race to save it, and it is likewise with every person, and never recedes from any one; so that whoever can be saved, is saved. And yet no one can be saved but by Divine means, which are revealed by the Lord in the Word. Divine means are what are called Divine truths; these teach in what manner man is to live in order that he may be saved; . . . So far therefore as a person abstains from evil, so far the Lord out of pure mercy leads him by His Divine means, and this from infancy to the end of his life in the world, and afterward to eternity (HH 522).
So when we think of God’s forgiveness, or of God pardoning our sins, we are to think of the process of regeneration. We need to think of moving out of darkness and error and into light and truth. Regeneration is the purification from all that blocks the Lord’s inflowing love and wisdom. All that blocks love, in other words. So we can think of sin as anything that stands in the way of love, anything that inhibits our reaching out to our neighbor and to God with open arms and love. When we remove those blocks, love and truth enter us from God, and we are reborn. Then, what we did in the past is forgiven as we accept new life from God. So Swedenborg writes,
The pardon of sins . . . are nothing else than purification from evils and falsities, implanting of good and truth and their conjunction, thus regeneration (AC 10042).
One of the obstacles to love for our neighbor is when we harbor a grudge or a resentment against them. We can build up in our minds anger against others, so that it is hard for us to face them, let alone to reach out to them with love. Forgiveness is an essential aspect of love for our neighbor. When we feel we have been wronged, we have several ways of reacting. We can bury that wrong in our hearts, and let it build and build until it poisons our relationships with that person and makes us resentful, angry, and vengeful. William Blake wrote a poem that captures this attitude very well.

A POISON TREE

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole,
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see,
My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree.

We can take a perverse delight in meditating on all the things wrong in someone else, and all the things that they did to wrong us. But then we are just making a poison tree in our minds and hearts. Furthermore, we are filled with disturbing and unpleasant thoughts. If we don’t forgive, we will carry around with us the person we are upset with. They will live in our head. We will be giving them free rent in our head. Swedenborg tells us that whoever we are thinking about will be present in spirit. This means that if we are thinking about someone in anger, they will be present. And that’s the last thing we really want! We need to release ourselves of that bondage to the other person, and to release them from our own bitterness. Only then will we find peace of mind. Then, when we confront that person again, it will be as if it is the first time we have seen them, having let go of the difficult past.
Sweet forgiveness is the answer. Though we may feel that we have been wronged, we need to let it go. We need to release the bitter feelings that can develop. We need to forgive. Jesus tells us to forgive seventy seven times. The number seven means holiness, and the act of forgiveness is a holy act. It brings with it holy peace. Even on the cross, Jesus forgave the human race.
I can think of a few strategies to help us forgive. One is simply to stop thinking of the other person. Don’t fill your consciousness with them. Think of something else, something happy. Don’t dwell on them. Out of sight, out of mind. Out of mind, out of heart. Another way is to make allowances for why they may have acted in ways that bothered us. When Jesus forgave the human race on the cross, he made allowances for our terrible actions. He said, “They don’t know what they are doing.” Sometimes someone will cut me off in traffic, and I’ll say to myself, “He must be in a hurry to get somewhere.” Or, “Maybe he’s late for work.” At other times, I may say other things to myself, but this is a talk about forgiveness. If we can look into another’s heart, we would understand why they do the things that hurt us. There may often be some reason that causes others to act in ways that hurt.
But forgiveness does not mean that we are to be a doormat and let people walk roughshod over us. In the Blake poem, when his friend offends the poet, he confronts his friend. “I told my wrath, my wrath did end.” We do need to draw boundaries between what we find acceptable behaviors and what we will not tolerate. Even the forgiving Jesus confronted the Pharisees. Sometimes with strong language. In Matthew 23:25-26 we find one such confrontation:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”
Here, Jesus isn’t just denouncing the Pharisees. He is modifying their behavior. He tells them how to act in the future. “First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will be clean.”
It seems hard, sometimes, to live and let live. Yet this is what we are asked to do by Jesus. Only by forgiving can we live in peace with our neighbor. Only by forgiving can we reach out in love to our brothers and sisters. Only by forgiving will we be the image and likeness of God, who forgives us continually. Since we are forgiven, let us forgive. This is the message we heard this morning in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Let us not build a poison tree, but instead let resentments fall away, forgive, and live in peace with the neighbor.