Jesus Forgave The Undeserving

What Did Jesus Do?

And he said to her (A woman “of the city, who was sinner”),
“Your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 7.48

The Lord's forgiving of a woman with a bad reputation did not sit well with Simon, the Pharisee, in whose home the incident took place, because, well, she was so undeserving of forgiveness. Of course, Simon and the other guests thought it rather impudent for anyone other than God himself to presume to forgive sins. But then, they never really got Jesus. When we get Jesus, we realize that his forgiveness has nothing to do with anyone's deserving it, which should make us personally eternally grateful if we are honest with ourselves about how richly we don't deserve to be forgiven.

Just yesterday my latest copy of Sports Illustrated arrived, and it had a column debating whether or not Tony Dungy, a former NFL player and coach, and current football analyst (It's a ball, of rather unique shape that variously gets carried thrown, and kicked around. What's to analyze?), deserves to be castigated as a self-righteous wag (SI's verdict was “No.”). Perhaps the trouble with Dungy is, SI wondered, that his virtue (Which he doesn't go around shoving in anyone's face) makes others uneasy. I don't want to digress too far into Tony Dungy, but there was a line in the column that asked “Does Michael Vick deserve forgiveness?” Dungy's answer was “Yes.” But I don't agree. Vick doesn't deserve forgiveness. I don't mean to sound like old Simon, because I am probably a worse sinner than Michael Vick (I know he's a much better football player than I ever was), but, the thing is, no one deserves forgiveness.

You see, I don't believe it really is forgiveness if we deserve it, earn it, or should in anyway expect to be forgiven, or demand forgiveness. Understand this, if any of us truly deserve to be forgiven, than we would have no need whatsoever for a Savior, and his death on the cross would be for naught. Think about it, where's the grace in the salvation of the deserving? Do I “deserve” to be forgiven? Absolutely not! Am I forgiven? Praise God, I am!

I hope you can accept this teaching, because if you have any sense at all that you must do something, anything, to deserve forgiveness, you are carrying around awful, and totally unnecessary, burden that you will never be able to unload. In Christ God has, as it says in Psalm 103 verse 12, removed our sins as far away as east is from west. If the Father has, through the Son, so far cast away our sins, what are we doing trying to hang onto them. It is as if, having someone unlock our shackles, we lock them back up and continue to shuffle along through life.

You see, understanding that we are forgiven by the grace of the Father through faith in the Son by the working of the Holy Spirit in us should be the most transforming truth we can ever learn. Think of it this way: You are on “Death Row.” You know you are guilty, and deserve to die for your crimes. The State knows it too, which is why you have been convicted, sentenced, and now wait for your execution. Then one morning a man walks up to your cell, unlocks it, opens the door, tells you that you have been forgiven, “Go, and sin no more.” And, when you step out of that cell on Death Row, you are not the same person you were. The transformation is complete—from guilty sinner to forgiven saint! I remember when it happened to me. Overnight, acquaintances said, “You're not the same person I met yesterday.” My own children asked my wife what had happened to Dad, he wasn't the same. When the undeserving receive forgiveness it changes them completely from the inside out.

Hoping that you have already experienced this, I have a request to make; and know that I ask nothing of you that I do not ask of myself. It is not a big thing, yet it is huge. It is not hard, yet it is perhaps the most challenging thing we could ever do. I make this request in the name of Jesus because, well, it is what he desires from his disciples. In fact, it is implicit in the prayer the Lord taught his followers to pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” (Matthew 6.12) Think of someone who has hurt you, cheated you, lied to or about you. Now, undeserving though they are, forgive them. That's what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4