“Who is this that forgives sins?”

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If a best friend lets you down, betrays your trust, your relationship is of a different character than it was before. Probably all of us at one time or another have been on one side of these dynamics or the other. Humanly speaking we do not seem to have the emotional equipment to deal with faithlessness.

Now let’s invite Jesus into the picture. He not only dealt with faithless people, but He also talks about forgiveness in a different way than anybody else. The people of His day were amazed at things He said, and they asked, “Who is this that forgives sins?”

Jesus not only forgave sins that were considered unforgivable in those days, but He also forgave His best friends when they proved faithless to Him.  They had glorious opportunities to stand up and be counted as His friends. But they let Him down.

There is an old legend that tells of Jesus meeting Satan out in the desert just prior to His Ascension into heaven. Satan mocked the Lord for being so foolish as to think that His faithless followers would ever make it without His visible presence among them.  The Lord replied that His disciples would trust Him and go out into the world in His name. But Satan just laughed.

As it turned out, every one of His disciples, after Judas, was faithful unto death. They were faithful because their Lord forgave their faithlessness and remembered their sins no more.

The disciples went on to do glorious things in Christ’s name. Do you think of yourself as too ordinary, too faithless to be of much good for Christ?  Your lack of faith is not the story. He is always faithful. He not only forgives your sins, He forgets them. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself with glorious opportunities to serve Him. In baptism He has chosen you. The promise of His forgiveness makes all things new. There is nothing ordinary about you, for you have an extraordinary Lord!

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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