Forgiveness And Restoration Series

March 10, 2021

Hope Lutheran Church

Rev. Mary Erickson

Luke 15:11-32

Forgiveness and Restoration

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

“You can’t get there from here.” It always sounds a little crazy when you hear someone say that. It means that there is some kind of obstacle or impasse between you and your destination. A river or a mountain is blocking the way. In order to get there, you’re going to have to circle around this obstacle. The only other alternative is to forge a path directly over or through the impasse.

Impasses occur in travel. But they’re also true when we navigate relationships:

• A steep ridge can stand in the way of a road’s course; resentment can mount up between two people.

• A deep canyon can separate two locations; mistrust from an offence can create a gulf between two friends.

• An unyielding granite mountain can lead to a dead end; a heart rendered hard from experiencing hurt can end a relationship.

In due time every relationship will encounter impasses at one point or another. Is there a way to get beyond the obstacle? How can the roadway from me to you open up again?

Jesus tells a parable about a certain family. A man has two sons. The one son, the younger of the two, makes a grave error in what he values. He cares more about money and high living than he does about his family. This young, foolish son makes an outrageous request of his father. “Give me my share of the inheritance, father. I don’t want to wait until you die. I want it now so that I can do what I please with it.”

Unbelievably, the father consents. He gives his impetuous son his share of the family estate. The young son hits the road, leaving his family behind. Jesus says he goes to a distant country. In other words, it’s a place you can’t get to from here. A chasm has formed between this young man and his family.

Well, you know how the story unfolds. The young son squanders all his assets on fast living until he’s left with nothing. He goes from living high off the hog to feeding the pigs.

Eventually he comes to his senses. He wants to return home. But he realizes that the damage he has caused to his family has completely ruptured how things were. He can’t get back to the place he was before. There’s no possible way he can make right and undo what he has done.

Nevertheless, his longing for home is so strong, he decides he’ll take whatever bond his father will offer him. He heads for the place that once was known as home.

But when he arrives, his father is simply overjoyed to have his long-lost son return to him. He showers him in kisses. He trades his son’s tattered clothing with a fine garment. He covers his calloused, bare feet with shoes, and he throws a feast for friends and family.

The wayward son didn’t see any way possible to restore what he had broken. But there was a way. It was forgiveness. In his love, the father forgave his son.

Forgiveness has the power to restore our broken relationships. It removes the obstacles choking the bonds between us. It opens up the impasse and creates a new way forward.

The world yearns for forgiveness. There’s a Spanish story about a father and son who had become estranged. The son had left home. In time, the absence of his son weighed on the father. All the details of their long-ago disagreement ceased to matter. He only wanted to have his son back.

The father looked high and low. He asked friends if they’d heard from his son. Nothing. In one last desperate attempt, the father placed an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad said this:

“Dear Paco, meet me in the plaza in front of the newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your father.”

Saturday came, and at noon, 800 Pacos showed up at the plaza. They were all looking for the forgiveness of their father.

Forgiveness creates a new pathway. The world is yearning for forgiveness.

Divine forgiveness restores our relationship with God. Our own sin destroyed the bonds between humanity and our divine creator. It was a rupture we could not possibly restore. Mired in sin, we can’t get there from here.

But what we could not achieve, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did. On his cross, Jesus restored what we had broken. His actions spanned the divide we created. He reached out in love. It was forgiveness, plain and simple. And his actions have restored us in the house of divine love.