Forgiveness...

Most parents have experienced the moment where a beloved child shouts in anger that they no longer love us.  Usually, it is thrown out by a young child in the midst of a temper tantrum, because they are not getting what they want at that moment.  More rarely, it comes from an adult child who is angry and unforgiving, and the path to reconciliation is more painful and much more difficult.  No matter the trigger, although we still love our child unconditionally, they are not experiencing that love, because they have rejected us at that moment.

Although God offers us his unconditional love every second of every day, we cannot live it when we are rejecting him.  We must recognize his offer of grace, accept ourselves as flawed, and trust in his word to experience God's redemptive love.  When we ask God to heal the wounds, both that we feel, as well as those we have caused, we also feel God's love for us in full measure.

When Jesus spoke from the cross, he spoke in love.  While the crowds jeered and the soldiers cast lots over his clothing, Jesus was caring for the condition of the aching souls around him.  His first words from the cross reflected that unconditional love.  His second statement went even further.

In Luke 23:43, Jesus, speaking to the criminal hanging beside him, said,
"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."  (NIV)'

This bold utterance was not made casually, nor in ignorance.  Jesus knew fully well with whom he was speaking.  The men being crucified with him that day may have been highway robbers or bandits who wreaked violence upon innocent travelers.  There is some speculation, based on the exact wording in the Greek text, that their crimes may have been for sedition or rebellion against the Holy Roman Empire.  Jesus was considered a rebel, even a revolutionary.  The fact that these men were crucified with him may indicate they were subversives of some kind.

But we aren't told, because those details are not important.  When Jesus made his promise, it was not about the crime, but the condition of the heart of the criminal hanging beside him.

This man, who had been sentenced to die, reached out to Jesus.  He did not ask to be saved from the cross, or more importantly, from the way he had lived his life.  He accepted his wrong doing, he admitted to the purity of Jesus and recognized his own unworthiness. He repented for rejecting God, and asked only to be known to God once again.

His repentance was the act of reaching out to God.  Asking for forgiveness was accepting God's loving grace.  Unconditional love comes with complete forgiveness.  That is why Jesus came to the cross, and why he offered full pardon to a criminal who was under penalty of death.

One criminal went to his death bitter and unrestored.  He is the angry toddler, mad at God for not giving him his way, and paying the ultimate penalty for his willfulness.

The other criminal will spend all of eternity in the presence of God, redeemed by the blood of the Savior who was hanging beside him.

They are us, and we are them.  Our God is a loving and merciful God, waiting to bestow his grace upon us, if only we will open our hearts to him.  He is anxiously waiting to hear that we no longer reject him, and our hearts are open to his merciful salvation.

Today I am grateful for forgiveness.  It is the extension of God's unconditional love for us, undeserved and unearned, but given to us because we are loved so completely.