I believe most of us know the Story of the Prodigal Son by now – a father with two sons, and one decided to take his share of inheritance and left home.
• The other stayed and worked hard in the field to please the father.
• His younger brother eventually squandered everything and had to come home.
Let’s read the last part of the Story – Luke 15:21-32
On his return, he faced two contrasting receptions.
• One was happy to see him; the other was angry at his return.
• One was overwhelmed with love and excitement; the other was filled with resentment and refused to see him.
• One was eager to forgive; the other was determined to condemn.
• One saw the event as sweet and called for a celebration, the other found it bitter.
The fact was undeniable. The offense was real. The young man did wrong.
• He shouldn’t had demanded for the inheritance, prematurely, especially so when the father was still alive.
• It was grossly disrespectful and sinful, for the conservative, Jewish culture.
• He left home and did nothing noble. Squandered all the money in wild living and accomplished nothing. It was just one mistake after another.
When he came to his senses, he returned home, with nothing to offer, practically bankrupted.
• Yet the father treated him with love and grace, and welcomes him with an embrace and kiss.
• The father had already forgiven him in his heart, even before he could complete his apology speech.
• It was as if no explanation was needed. He was his beloved son before, and he remains to be his beloved son now.
His brother, on the other hand, was angry and bitter. He refused to see him.
• The father and the older son both saw the same offense, but they did not share the same sentiment.
• Why were the responses so different? Why were there TWO opposing receptions, from the same family, when they both saw the same offense?
• One was ready to forgive, and it tells us something about forgiveness:
(1) FORGIVENESS IS A CHOICE WE MAKE
It has nothing to do with the offense, or the seriousness of it.
• It is not dependent upon the offender. It need not have to wait for an apology. It has nothing to do with getting the person to make amends.
• Forgiveness starts with us. It is a choice we make to let go of the offense and be at peace.
Of the two (the father and older son), the father would have felt the hurt of the offense more, having the younger son demanding his inheritance prematurely, treating the father as ‘dead’, leaving the home and squandering his money. Yet he was the one overjoyed at seeing his son.
• If you want to be like him - happy and eager to celebrate – then you must forgive. We take the initiative and choose to forgive.
• Otherwise, you’re left with only one other option – remembering the offense and letting it bites you, causing you to feel bitter, angry and revengeful.
• Is that what you want?
Two elderly sisters were involved in a car accident 20 years ago.
Each blamed the other for the accident. The one driving said her sister was distracting her, and the sister said she was driving badly.
Both of them should have said "well these things happen" and got on with life, but instead, they accused each other and refused to talk to each other, for 20 years!
Choose happiness. Free yourself from these by taking the step to forgive.
• God set us the same example in Christ, when He made the first move to reach out to us and offer us His forgiveness.
• Jesus’ cry on the cross “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) - was the cry of God’s heart.
• The Bible says, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Col 3:13b)
Forgiveness is not giving a cheap excuse for the offense. It is not ignoring the crime. It is not denying the wrongdoing.
• It was clear that the younger son had done wrong. No one dispute that.
• But we can choose to let go of the offense, and extend forgiveness and grace instead, even in the face of the hurts and pains we felt at being wronged.
Don’t let an offense hold your emotion at ransom.
• Release the offense and you’re releasing yourself from the torment of bitterness and resentment.
• Let go and you’ll experience freedom and joy. It is a choice you make!
(2) FORGIVENESS CHOOSES TO SEE THE GOOD
If the offence had already taken place, then God has already allowed it. So learn to see the hand of God in it. God always turn it into something good.
• Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, but got to know ultimately it was God’s disguised plan to bless him, and eventually saved his family from the famine.
• The offense was a blessing in disguise. God uses the hurts in our lives to test us, mould us, and prepare us for great things.
The father said to his older son, “…this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” (15:32)
• Learn to see the better good in the seemingly bad things that has happened.
• The son saw only the bad. He wanted justice. He wanted retribution. He wanted punishment, for the sin his brother has committed.
You see, we are worried that when we forgive, we forgo justice or fairness.
• The Bible says, “God is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver…” (Isa 33:22).
• Heb 10:30-31 “For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
• Ultimately God will judge every person according to what he or she has done (cf. Rev 20:13 “…each person was judged according to what he had done.”)
What is really lost if we forgive? What will the older son get to lose? What is at stake here?
• Honestly, he has nothing to lose but everything to gain, to have a brother back in the house, to have a companion to talk to and an additional helper in the field.
• In fact, the father says, “you are always with me and everything I have is yours.” (v.31) - the father recognises his faithfulness, and tells him he will receive all his inheritance. His place in the father’s heart is secure; he is loved and accepted, and enjoys the blessing and comfort of a good home.
• In fact, the one who has lost everything was his brother. He has lost the time he could have with the family, the good food, and the comfort of the home. Now he lost his share of the inheritance; he lost his friends. He went through lots of suffering and pain, having to live even with the pigs.
We do not lose anything in forgiving others.
• We stand to gain – we experience joy instead of anger, gladness instead of bitterness, peace of heart instead of a grudging spirit.
• In forgiving others, God moulds us to be more like Him. We learn to love others unconditionally, we learn patience and tolerance, and we learn to be kind and gracious. We learn to be like Christ.
Forgiveness chooses to see the good.
(3) FORGIVENESS COMES BY THE GRACE OF GOD
God will give us the grace and strength to forgive.
Corrie ten Boon was a Dutch Christian whose family helped many Jews escapes the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. They were captured, and Corrie ten Boon and her sister were sent to the German Ravensbruck concentration camp. They were tortured and suffered greatly under the hands of the German guards, and her sister eventually died.
Many years after her release, she met one of the German guards at a church service. This was her account in her book THE HIDING PLACE:
“It was a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former Secret Service man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing centre at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there - the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's painful face.
He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. "How grateful I am for your message," he said. "To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!"
His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.
I tried to smile; I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness.
As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.
And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.
It is His love in our heart that makes it possible. It is His forgiveness that is flowing through us. We love because He loved us. We forgive because we are forgiven.
• When we surrender our right to get even, God will give us the ability to forgive.
• You take a step out and then you find God giving you the strength to walk.
Is there someone you need to forgive? Is there someone you haven’t talked to in a long time because of what they did?
PRAY: I am willing to forgive _________________ and pray that you’ll bless him/her.
Fills our heart with your love, Lord and help us forgive those who have wronged us. Do not let bitterness and a vengeful spirit rob us of peace and joy. We ask for your grace to forgive the hurts and offenses in our life. Help us be willing to release them. Cleanse our mind from every petty, vengeful thought. Renew our mind with your Word and truth. Let your forgiving love flow through us. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name we pray, AMEN.
