Forgiveness leads to change
I have preached recently about the God whom Jesus reveals to us. The Gospel texts of the third and fourth Sundays of Lent (Cycle C) tell us of Jesus as he preaches that God is not a chastising and punitive God, but clearly a forgiving God. God does not take away life according to our guilt (Luke 13:1-9), nor does God want for us to remain estranged, or separated, from God (Luke 15:11-32). God wants us to have life, and to have life in fullness and eternity.
However, some persons have asked me if there are any consequences for our sins? Can we do whatever we want, and later if we feel guilty, then we just ask God to forgive us and, there you have it? There is a moral life, a full and worthy life to which we are called. In that sort of life there is real happiness that endures. It is a life in which we are invited by God to love well according to our abilities, and with respect to our limitations. We need to be able to see and know that real, profound, and enduring happiness is only possible when we live the moral and upright life. Jesus the Christ is our model. Following Jesus’s example, we can do the good and avoid the evil.
Unfortunately, we have allowed ourselves to believe in a false God who is violent, capricious, and mean. We have learned that, “God will punish you!” We have learned about this angry God better than we have learned about how to live and love in the world today, as Christians. Too often we have learned and we teach our young children that God becomes angry when we sin and is prepared to punish us, UNLESS we repent. Such teaching is the start of a sick cycle that carries us deeper into a dysfunctional image of God.
Rather, I invite you to see the mantra below: God forgives! Let us repent! God begins the change we need. Our response can be liberating. Repentance is liberating and brings happiness! Happiness is not the result of winning, defeating others, or having more than our neighbor, etc. Happiness is the result of loving well (see above) by modeling a Christ-like life. Happiness is found in good relationships, not in riches.
The Gospel of this Sunday is about the sinful woman whom Jesus does not condemn. Instead, he commands her to not sin anymore. He respects her and sees her goodness such that he finds a way to protect her from those who think that she deserves their punishment and God’s. Jesus sees another way. Forgiveness leads to change.
God forgives! Let us repent!
Peace, Fr. Andy