Living Out the Power of Good Friday and the Freedom of Easter
In my natural health doctor’s office hangs a framed word picture on a simple 8 ½ X 11 paper. The faded print contains one word: “Forgive,” written in the shapes of once colorful jewels. It’s not particularly aesthetic, yet clearly reflects my doctor’s understanding of how precious and valuable forgiveness is. By displaying this print, she openly shares its message with all her patients. She aptly directed my attention to it on occasion, stating how forgiveness plays a significant role in one’s health and healing.
I’ve thought a lot about forgiveness during Holy Week, how Jesus is the ultimate example of what it means to forgive. He forgave the sins of the world at a great cost: betrayal, denial, and abandonment by his closest friends; a forced death sentence by jealous religious leaders; ongoing abuse, assault, mocking, insult, and ultimate death by Roman soldiers; and grievous separation from His Father.
He exemplified forgiveness through His life and suffering. As He hung on the cross, he prayed for the jeering spectators, asking God to forgive them because they did not know what they were doing by killing the Son of God (Luke 23:34). He forgave the thief who hung on the cross next to his, in a deathbed confession of sorts (Luke 23:42). Throughout His ministry to the diseased, to those lacking in faith and on the fringes of society, He repeatedly declared, “Your sins are forgiven.” Forgiveness was the greatest gift He offered, both to them and us.
Jesus spoke of the crucial importance of forgiving others, using the Heavenly Father as our highest example. As we offer others forgiveness, God will forgive us; if we do not forgive others, He will not in His mercy forgive us (Matthew 6:14-15). Such weighty words! The apostle Paul also instructs us to reflect the forgiveness that Jesus demonstrated on the cross. He said, “Forgive each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).
How can we possibly forgive like Jesus? He sacrificed Himself to forgive the weight of the whole world’s sin. Yet, I struggle to forgive a neighbor, friend, or family member who has hurt or offended me. Jesus told a parable about a king canceling a massive debt, a direct reflection of Him completely removing the burden of our sin. In response, are we then prone to forgive others from the heart, like our Savior has forgiven us? (Matthew 18:23-35). We may desire to live out forgiveness like Jesus, but how do we forgive every wrong done against us, every relational offense? Every betrayal, denial, insult, attack, judgement, abandonment?
The Bible does not make light of relational pains or the deep wounds they produce. Psalm 55 addresses the confoundment and anguish felt by the betrayal of broken relationships from close friends and companions. The prophet Jeremiah refers to having “wounds as deep as the sea” and questions, “Who can heal you?” (Lamentations 2:13b). The depth of relational division (yes, even within the church) and inability to work towards mutual understanding, validation for pain, and inner healing, causes us deep personal suffering. David’s only recourse was to call out to God in trust, and to encourage us to cast our cares on Him and believe He will sustain us (Psalm 55:16,22).
I have come to realize that our deep, festering wounds can only find true healing in the very wounds of Jesus. His sacrificial wounds alone can fully heal ours.
When Jesus shared a final meal with His closest friends, He expressed the longings of His heart with a commanding invitation: “Take and eat; this is my body….Drink from my cup.” He directed them to accept the sacrifice of His body crucified and blood spilt for them, His closest friends, “for the forgiveness of (their) sins” (Matthew 26:26-28). Jesus bore great physical wounding so our wounded souls could be healed: His body mangled with whips, fists, and slaps; His head punctured by a thorny crown, His hands and feet pierced by nails, His body hung heavy upon a cross, His side thrust with a spear. The true Passover Lamb calls us to embrace all He did on our behalf. He endured the cross and bore each wound in love, so we can know the healing and freedom that His forgiveness brings. For the power of forgiveness is God’s glory displayed through the wounds of His Son.
Forgiveness is directly tied to freedom. Even within the complexity of relational brokenness, true freedom can occur. To forgive those who have hurt us does not make their actions right or excusable. But, our forgiving them makes us free. We will experience freedom by the very act of releasing them to God. “The first and only person to be healed by forgiveness is the person who does the forgiveness….When we genuinely forgive, we set a prisoner free and then discover that the prisoner we set free was us.” (Louise Smedes)
Granted, it is easier to forgive a wrong that occurred in the past than an ongoing painful situation or relationship. Jesus told Peter there is no cap on forgiving others. We are called to forgive on a continual basis without keeping a record of wrongs. It’s an offering of ongoing redemption; a continual commitment to love and forgive like Jesus. In so doing, we live out the New Covenant command Jesus gave at the Last Supper, to “Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12). Forgiveness calls us to intentionally forgive others by laying down our lives in love for them, just as Jesus laid down His life for us and continually forgives and loves us.
When trust is broken with someone and it feels difficult to forgive, remind yourself that your wounds reflect those of your Savior who graciously forgives you. Ask God to help you forgive the painful actions or stinging words that feel inexcusable. Ask Him to loose the weight on your heart and replace it with His love. For, to release relational wounds, painful situations, and hurtful persons to God, He will indeed set us free. It is His transformative work alone that will heal us from our woundedness.
We strongly reflect God when we forgive in love. We put Him on display with the winsomeness and attractiveness of forgiveness to heal our wounds and relationships. Through the Holy Spirit’s power and guidance, we can live with hearts bent towards forgiveness and freedom.
Good Friday beckons us to intentionally step into the shadow of the cross to find forgiveness exemplified in pure, redemptive love. And Easter Sunday’s empty tomb resonates with a song of victory and hope and freedom. Boldly join its chorus of ongoing transformative love, knowing His wounds were willingly borne to heal the wounds of the world.
The true beauty of forgiveness far exceeds the value of jewels. May it sparkle in all the brilliance of ongoing redemptive love in our lives, in our words and actions and hearts.
