Forgiveness – A Faith-based Response
My Bible is rich with hand-written notes from sermons and Bible studies over decades. Last Sunday, the gospel reading was from Luke’s gospel. And as I reviewed the pages in my Bible, I found this quote from a sermon in January 1998. Listen to these words of wisdom: “forgiveness is surrendering the right to hurt you for hurting me.” (Dr. Archibald D. Hart “Arch”) This quotation was used by the pastor to emphasize the story of the sinful woman (Luke 7:36ff).
Luke spends less time in Jesus’ Galilean ministry than his colleagues Matthew and Mark. But the story in chapter seven goes into much detail about our LORD having dinner with a Pharisee. As was the custom, Jesus was reclining at the table when a woman – who had lived a sinful life – entered the picture with an alabaster jar of perfume. The gospel writer fails to identify this perfume that was undoubtedly expensive – perhaps even nard (from spikenard plant).
As the story unfolds, we are told she stood behind Jesus weeping, and using her tears, she wet His feet. Then she kissed them and began to pour the perfume on His feet.
The dichotomy is reflected in the internal thoughts of the host Pharisee. He was unsure that Jesus was a prophet, but if He were, He would know the kind of woman she was who was tending to Him! A sinner no less! Even though the Pharisee did not voice his concern, Jesus knew his thoughts and responded by teaching the host using a parable of two debtors. The Pharisee responded correctly to Jesus’ question, then Jesus used this example of debt forgiveness and pointed to the woman who was in abject humility kissing His feet. Jesus said, “you did not put oil on my head. . .but she has poured perfume on My feet.” (verse 46) The final lesson was that our LORD forgave her because she loved much. And like the parable, Jesus said, “he who has been forgiven little loves little.” The final statement from our LORD’s lips is pure gospel. He said, “your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (verse 50)
Let us take a look at some definitions. The Greek word is metanoia for forgiveness and charizomai for forgive. (The root word is charis meaning grace or kindness). Strong’s Concordance translates charizomai as “to bestow favor unconditionally.” The Latin root word for forgive is perdonare – from which we get the English word pardon. The Latin definition means “to give completely without reservation.”
The man, Dr. Archibald Hart (“Arch”) was a native South African born in 1932. He was a Christian man from his teen years going forward. His initial training was in engineering; but while working as an engineer, he returned to academics earning his M. S. and Ph. D. in clinical psychology. He and his family came to the United States in 1971 for a year’s study at the Fuller School of Psychology. He applied to remain at Fuller but needed some assistance to show his qualifications. Unbeknownst, the then-governor of California, Ronald Reagan wrote a letter of endorsement on his behalf. His work at Fuller was noteworthy; however, he was also a noted author and speaker – including Focus on the Family. Once asked about the genesis of his accomplishments, he simply stated, “I just got in the boat with Jesus and went wherever He took me.”
My article is entitled “To Release and Untie.” Dr. Hart’s statement of forgiveness is legendary; and one in which we tend to forget. Forgiveness is not a human trait, but heavenly. Only those in faith can truly forgive. . . and forget. Throughout entire history, our LORD has shown how forgiveness works. The phrase “70 x 7” is a numeric picture of God’s eternal forgiveness. This picture is not 490 times, rather He is telling us to always forgive.
May we continue to walk in faith; knowing that sin is pervasive, but forgiveness is divine. Thank you, Dr. Hart, for this beautiful picture of the grace of God showing how two wrongs do not make a right.
Peace
Connected in Him, I stand
GHR
