Matthew 7:1-12 – The Father’s Forgiveness

I’ve been told for most of my life that God’s love is unconditional; I think that’s probably true. But I also think we can misunderstand what that means. Certainly, any sort of sin that we have committed, or will commit, is covered by the blood of Jesus and is forgiven by the Father. He seems to put no conditions on his forgiveness other than that we must look to the cross for our salvation.

This act of looking to the cross was foreshadowed in the Old Testament when, as a result of the Israelite’s complaints against God, God sent fiery serpents to bite the people so they would die. But the LORD told Moses that if he would craft a serpent and place it on a pole then the people would have only to look at the serpent and they would be saved (Numbers 21:4-9). If we take just a moment to think about this we should see the divine irony involved here; the very thing bringing death is what Moses put on the pole to bring life.

Jumping forward a few thousand years we find the same irony on the cross in Jerusalem. Jesus, who became sin, was hung on the cross so that when we looked at Jesus we would be saved. By looking at sin we are freed from sin’s death. I call that another case of divine irony. But Jesus’s work on the cross is not the only irony employed in scripture. As I scanned the Gospels, I found the following phrases:

• If anyone would be first, he must be last.
• Whoever would save his life will lose it.
• Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
• When he is killed after three days he will rise.
• Many are called, but few are chosen.
• Love your enemies.
• When you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
• In anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my Heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

These last two phrases may not seem ironic, but if you think of them as saying, “If you want forgiveness, you must give it away,” then you may see the irony. They repeat a message given us in the Lord’s Prayer. We are told to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.” I’m sure some Israelites didn’t look to the fiery serpents on the pole, and guess what? They weren’t saved from their snake bites. (Interesting that it was a snake, don’t you think?) I mean, in the terms of some modern sports figures I just wanna say, “C’mon man! Just look at the pole!” But no, for whatever reason, they wouldn’t, and they died.

God offers forgiveness to everyone, but there is one little condition attached to it; we must look to sin incarnated on the cross before we receive forgiveness. Odd how some find that a terribly difficult act. I want to just say, “C’mon man! Just lift your eyes to Jesus and receive his forgiveness!”
But I think there is another condition attached to his forgiveness. Jesus and the Father want us to become like Jesus; they want us to offer forgiveness to others as well. In fact, Jesus goes so far as to say that if we don’t offer forgiveness to others, then our Father will not offer it to us.

Woah! Wait a minute. I thought the Father’s forgiveness was unconditional.

Yeah…he forgives anything. But his forgiveness has two conditions; 1) we must look to him to receive it, and 2) we must offer it to others.

Are you saying I can’t just meet condition number 1? Are you saying that if I don’t meet condition 2 then I am not forgiven?

Yes, both of those things are true, but no, I AM NOT THE ONE SAYING IT, JESUS IS.

So much for unconditional love!

Yes and no. He forgives everything, but…

Yeah, I got it. But what about Bob? Do I have to forgive Bob?

Yeah, you do. Even if there was a line of horrible, no good, very bad people and he was the worst—the last in line—you’d have to forgive Bob. Otherwise, (it seems that) Jesus indicates that forgiveness from the Father is under question. I think The Sermon on the Mount might help explain this a bit more. Read Matthew 7:1-12 and you will find all sorts of different ways Jesus talks about forgiveness. He tells us,

• Don’t judge, or you will be judged by the same judgment you pass.
• Remove your own sin before you try to address your brother’s sin.
• If you know how to give good things to others, then doesn’t it make sense that our Heavenly Father will give good gifts?
• Whatever you wish someone would do to you, do it to them.

The Father’s forgiveness cannot stop with us; it must flow through to others. Think of it like the manna in the wilderness. God promised to sustain the Israelites, but there was one condition; they had to use it that day and not save it for the future. Without pushing the parallels too far, I think it is safe to say that the forgiveness offered by the Father must be passed on to others, otherwise, it will spoil and do us no good.

Now, I’m not so naive as to think everyone agrees with me on this issue. Many say that God’s love and forgiveness ARE unconditional. And maybe they are right. Maybe when God forgives us he’s okay with us holding grudges against others, judging others by standards we can’t live up to ourselves, demanding that others treat us well while we treat them like crap. Maybe God is okay with those kinds of people being citizens of his kingdom here on earth.

But then again, maybe he isn’t.

Maybe God wants us to be holy as he is holy. Maybe God wants us to be like his son Jesus. Maybe he wants us to reflect the Father’s glory into the dark places here on earth. Maybe Jesus really meant it when he said, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Maybe, just maybe, he meant it. Wouldn’t that be ironic?

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