23rd Sunday Vindication with Love and Forgiveness

This past week amid all the other news the Governor of West Virginia announced the pardon of the Martinsville 7. A group of black men accused of a rape 70 years a go and executed for this. The Governor said that the bias in the trial was overwhelming, thus a fair trial was not possible.   Also recently the Governor of Colorado pardoned a man who had been likewise executed decades ago; a man with limited mental comprehension that the police forced into a confession.

Ideally our justice system bases itself on objective facts. The facts of the case, as Joe Friday always wanted, condemn or vindicate a person.  Sad part is that it does not always work. Innocent human beings have been executed in the name of justice. Innocent human beings have been incarcerated because of bias, evil and sin. And yes, conversely, guilty are let go because of the same reasons. But at least they get to live...

Vindication means to clear of suspicion and blame; to be shown as true.

The supposed wronged person seeks this or others seek it for them. We can again see this in our movies and literature. Luke wanted to prove that his Father, Anakin, or Darth Vader, was a good person still. Mr Darcy worked to prove himself a good man to Lizzie.

Groups work to vindicate those on death row wrongly accused and wrongly convicted.

We believe God is a God of justice. This is a truth. Funny, often people equate God’s justice with their own sense of justice, one of black and white, of condemnation and punishment. Scripture and more importantly the Son of God reveal otherwise.

Isaiah speaks of the Vindicating God; not with violence but with healing and restoration.

Jesus lived this out; healing those who were rejected; forgiving those condemned; welcoming those who had been outcast. Jesus’ work was to break forth the Kingdom of Heaven, to restore a world; to lift up all people and make all people see each other as brother and sister. Jesus never came to condemn the world, but to save it.

The greatest crime, we believe, was the arrest, trial, execution of Jesus. Humanity exacted its own sense of justice. God’s response to this crime… the Resurrection.

Jesus’ resurrection reveals God’s justice: God’s capacity to forgive. God did not exact revenge, nor punish anyone, the Father gave the Beloved Son back to us, to save us.

Contemplate that for the rest of our lives. God forgave us this great sin, we can be confident God will forgive all the other sins we may have done.

Too often I hear people speak of a vengeful God. So scared God is out to get them, to punish. It is a fear, and not the good kind of fear. And then that translates to others. If God is vengeful, then “I” can be vengeful; I can punish others who hurt me.

Look at the violence, the loss of life this perpetuates. Look at the divisions that exist between people who once were friends, even married, between family members. Look at the stupidity of our own political divisions in this country. Look at the stupidity of the division within the church.  The violence and stupidity of the gossip and lies, the passive aggression, the trolling we do; the heinous posts on social media. 

What do we pray….”Forgive us our sins, our debts, our trespasses, as we forgive those who sin, trespass against us…”

Every time Jesus healed he restored a person to community; he declared that person a human, with dignity and worth. Jesus vindicated them. Not based on facts, but love. By choosing to believe therein is the capacity to be a good person.  Forgiveness vindicates. When we accept God’s forgiveness, then we accept God’s love; and we can live more free.  When we forgive we act as God’s child, we work to see the good in that other, and then we also can live free.

Does this mean that we just let sin and crimes go? No. We need justice, and restitution, and there are times we need to protect. Yet, we also must work to restore those who have done crimes. We are called to heal and to restore; not negate, demean and treat them worse.

And yet day to day; not the crimes, but the little hurts we experience. What can we heal? How can we heal with forgiveness? Can we begin to look at the other with love and see the person that is there?

We, if we call ourselves as disciples of Jesus Christ, as we eat and drink of his resurrected body, the sacrament of forgiveness, the sacrament of love, we must end the hurt.  We must, in the name of Christ, forgive, heal and restore.

I have heard wonderful stories of people who have been really truly hurt by others, and they shared how when they forgave they found peace.  I also experienced the opposite. People who have held onto every grudge, every infraction, every perceived slight...and they were literally sick because they held it in. They were stunted in their relationships because they would not let go.

Forgiveness is Life. Jesus reveals this.  Let’s live and bring others to life.