Forgiven by God

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons, one God, we come into your presence.

We have been in your presence all morning, but we come into your presence very consciously

to be with your children and your people, to be with seekers and skeptics, to be in your presence, Father.

We come to receive from you this morning, to receive grace from you.

Father, we acknowledge that we are always in deep need of receiving grace from you.

And so, Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would do a wonderful work deep in our lives,

that we might be in your presence, that we might receive from you this morning,

and that we might respond to you as we receive in a worthy manner.

And, Father, that might be repentance, that might be praise, that might be new hope,

it might be healing, it might be strength, it might just be, well, Father, you know that there's many different ways

that we have needs, that your grace is sufficient, and we ask that you would help us to receive it with gratitude,

and respond in a worthy manner.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

It can sometimes be a surprise to people who come to the 10 o'clock service that they see,

oh, there's an 8 o'clock service, and they decide to come to the 8 o'clock service,

and discover that the 8 o'clock service is radically, radically different.

There's no screen, no words on it.

You get these little booklets.

And, in fact, we use the 1662 Book of Common Prayer in a booklet form,

but it's the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

It has thee, thou, dost, wast, hast, all that old-fashioned language.

I wear robes as well, and the service has no music, and the sermon is about half the length.

That's the goal.

A little bit less than half the length of the 10 o'clock service.

In fact, sometimes at the 8 o'clock service, I say, I'm going to talk about this.

I don't have time now.

I'm going to talk about this at 8 if you're curious to see how I handle it.

You know, watch the 10 o'clock, the sermon from the 10 o'clock service.

I mention that because what sometimes happens, and in fact happened to me today,

is I always teach people that I'm, when I'm trying to teach them how to preach the Bible

or teach the Bible, that you should begin with something interesting to get people's attention.

And I had a really, really good grabby thing for this sermon.

And I did it at the 8 o'clock service, and I realized after the service that it was the

complete wrong opening for the sermon.

So you're not getting it.

Instead, you get me telling you that I had a good one, but this wasn't it.

But hopefully I've got your attention.

If you want to turn in your Bibles, we're going to look at one of the most famous stories of Jesus.

There are four ancient biographies of Jesus.

Now they're known as Gospels.

And three of the four ancient biographies have different versions of this same story.

So the early Christians, the early disciples of Jesus, thought that this was a very important story.

They all wanted to make sure that it got told.

And so turn with me in your Bibles to Mark 2, verses 1 to 17.

Mark 2:1–17

It's the first story that's the one which is in three of the Gospels.

We're going to look at two stories.

And here's how it goes.

By the way, one of the most common things that we hear in our culture today

is that you need to learn how to forgive yourself.

It's a very, very common thing.

And you would just get a very sympathetic nod.

And it really is very interesting.

It wouldn't matter if you were at a Bridgehead, a Starbucks, or a Tim Hortons.

It wouldn't matter if you went to the best cigar lounge in the region,

the best Scotch lounge in the region,

where the bar, which is the cheapest, nastiest, grungiest, most down-and-out, sketchy bar,

if you said, I'm trying to learn how to forgive myself, people would just nod.

It sort of turns.

It doesn't matter whether you vote NDP, conservative, or liberal.

It doesn't matter if you, like, make America great hats,

or you want to vote for Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or AOC.

It's one of those things that just most people nod their heads at.

And this story talks about this very directly, by the way,

the wisdom or the possibility of this.

So anyway, here's how the story goes.

Verse 1.

And when Jesus returned to Capernaum,

after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

I just sort of want to pause there for a second.

And some of you might remember last week's scripture text,

which came just before this,

is that it ends with Jesus healing a leper.

And after Jesus heals the leper, he says to the leper,

go to the priest, have him certify you as clean,

do the appropriate sacrifices, and don't tell anybody I did this.

And it's not clear in the text whether he actually goes to the priest,

but what it is clear is he does the opposite of what Jesus tells him,

and he goes and tells everybody.

And this just builds Jesus' fame so that it's hard for him to go anywhere.

But some people, and at some point in time in one of the sermons,

I'm going to talk a little bit about why it is that Jesus would tell people

not to tell him.

Like Mark records him saying this quite frequently.

But one of the things we can see here that helps us to understand that is this.

I don't know how many of you lived in small communities,

but Jesus must have come in at night when it was dark,

and he's actually been in this small community in a person's house

for a couple of days before people figure out he's there.

It tells you something about the character of Jesus

that he didn't say,

I'm here!

Come in with trumpets,

you know, drums,

banging, let everybody know he's here,

draw a big crowd.

Like that's not,

he comes in,

he's actually just spending some time in the house,

and it takes a couple of days before people realize that Jesus is there.

And once they realize he's there,

then the crowds start to come.

They want to hear him,

and I guess they also want to see him do a miracle.

And let's just be honest,

we'd love to see a miracle.

We're no different from them.

It would be on the news,

somebody performing miracles like this.

So a crowd gathers.

But it sure is sort of a sense,

the humility and the self-effaciness of Jesus,

that he doesn't intentionally go out to try to draw crowds

and attract attention to himself.

Verse 2,

And many were gathered together

so that there was no more room,

not even at the door.

And Jesus was preaching the word to them.

And they came,

this is going to describe who they are,

it's four guys.

Four guys come,

bringing to Jesus a man who's paralyzed.

Verse 4,

And when they could not get near to Jesus

because of the crowd,

that's sort of very interesting,

they say,

listen, I got the good spot,

I'm not giving up my spot to let you get in there.

It sucks that your friend's paralyzed.

I mean, that's really the attitude of the crowd.

It just sucks for them,

I'm not giving up my spot.

So verse 4,

They could not get near to Jesus because of the crowd,

so they,

in the houses in those days,

the roof was always flat,

and in a sense it was like a deck.

And so whether it was a ladder

or stairs on the outside,

there was usually a way,

always a way,

to get up onto the roof.

So they removed the roof above Jesus,

and when they had made an opening,

they let down the bed

on which the paralyzed man lay.

Now, just before we see anything further,

you know,

one of the interesting things about this story,

if you think about it for a second,

if let's say we were,

we were in Jesus' time,

or it was just happening right now,

and Mark said,

listen here,

I've written about this story,

what do you think?

And all of us would do this.

They'd say,

you know,

come on,

Mark,

give it some extra colorful details,

like,

like,

surely the people were sort of swearing,

you know,

at the commotion going upstairs,

they were saying,

you know,

you guys,

you know,

keep it quiet,

we're trying to listen to Jesus,

you know,

people are,

they're wrecking the roof,

and probably there would have been people

wanting to go out,

and all this,

all this detail

that we would love to know about,

what was going on in the room

when they're making a big hole in the roof,

and none of it's there.

That's what I mean by,

you see,

it's very interesting,

and it shows our distraction,

like,

the inherent type of distraction

that we have

when it comes to things of God,

that we would be far more interested

in lots of ways

with all this other stuff,

you know,

the,

you know,

the mess,

who's going to clean it up,

all of that type of stuff,

than what,

but Mark sort of ignores that,

he doesn't play to our habit

to get distracted,

because he's driving towards

making a particular type of point

about Jesus,

and by the way,

it must have been Jesus

who stopped people

from going upstairs

and up onto the roof

to stop those guys

from wrecking the roof.

It must have been Jesus,

but we don't say that.

Maybe it wasn't.

Verse five.

So the guy,

they lay down,

they make a hole,

they drop the guy down,

and the guy's now

standing in front of Jesus.

Probably a lot of people

are in a very,

very,

very bad mood,

because they're covered with straw,

covered with dirt.

The homeowners are probably

really furious,

but when Jesus saw their faith,

he said to the paralytic,

son,

your sins are forgiven.

Now,

we want to pause here

for a second.

Here's one of the problems

we have.

If you're a person,

maybe from a,

you know,

a Muslim background

or a Buddhist background,

and you're hearing this story

for the first time,

or if you're just,

you haven't had any real

Christian background,

you're hearing this story

for the first time,

I want to tell you

about a problem

that Christians have

when they're very familiar

with the story.

One of the things

I try to tell people

when I'm trying to give them

encouragement about how to

preach and teach the Bible

when it comes to a narrative

like this,

is never assume

that a response is obvious.

Like,

don't assume,

well,

of course that's what

Jesus would say.

No,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

just a thought experiment.

What would Stalin say?

Kill those guys.

Like,

what would,

what,

no,

no,

I'm going to say

a few things today

for our Muslim friends

who might be watching.

I'm going to say

a few things today

about Christianity

and Islam

and just sort of

give me some mercy

about this.

I don't mean any disrespect,

but I want to throw out

some,

there's some puzzles

and riddles

in this text

in terms of the contrast

between Christianity

and other faiths.

But if you think about it

for a second,

what would Muhammad say?

Muhammad would probably say,

well,

it's Allah's will.

It is the will of Allah.

That's what he would say.

He wouldn't say,

son,

your sins

are the will of Allah.

What would Buddha say?

Buddha was obviously,

from the records of him,

he was obviously a man

who did have great compassion

and that part of his way

is the way of compassion.

But he also emerges

out of a Hindu worldview

that he might very well

have just said,

well,

may I,

you know,

I can help you

with some water

and he might say

to his disciples

it's important

to show compassion.

But at the end of the day,

it's as a result

of the sins

in this life

and the sins

in previous lives

that have now

brought this state,

karma has brought

this state

upon this particular person.

And really,

what you can do

is use this

as a time

to illustrate

to the man

and to others

the importance

of following

the way

so that you

will no longer

be caught up

in the cycle

of death and rebirth

and having all these

karmic penalties

come to you

to begin to try

to break that cycle

by having enlightenment

and, you know,

achieving nirvana.

That's probably

what something along the line

that Buddha would say.

What would a politician say?

What would a therapist say?

You see,

part of the thing

which we don't quite get

when we see this story

is the,

Jesus is going to

relate to this man

in a profoundly

compassionate way.

And whether our culture

wants to acknowledge it

or not,

it's as if

in around the years,

depending on how you count it,

27 to 30

or 30 to 33,

that's the time

that Jesus'

teaching ministry

went on

and culminating

with his death

upon the cross

and his resurrection

which launches

this Christian movement

Jesus is like a bomb

that blows up

modern thought.

And much of now,

2,000 years downstream,

we just assume,

we just assume

that the proper response

is to show

some type of compassion

towards him.

But that's not

an obvious response.

Once again,

what would Stalin say?

It's not an obvious response.

In a sense,

our whole response

to this

is formed by stories

like this,

the compassion of Jesus.

But he says this

very,

very odd thing.

Son,

your sins

are forgiven.

men.

We,

last Sunday

at the 8 o'clock service,

we had a street person

come to be part

of our service.

And,

in fact,

Shane happened

to be there

and I said to Shane

when I came in,

could you just

keep an eye on him

because I wasn't sure.

You see,

as soon as I came in,

he told me

that he was

the second coming

of Jesus.

That's the first thing

he told to me.

He's the second coming

of Jesus.

And,

and so I just said

and he was wandering around.

He signed his name

three times in the book.

Actually,

one of the times

he signed his name

was Zeus

as well,

actually.

But,

you know what I mean?

Like,

he was very,

very,

very,

like,

clearly mentally ill

and having a psychotic episode.

And,

and so I just asked Shane

if he could keep an eye

on him

in case he was

very disruptive.

Now,

as it turned out,

he wasn't disruptive.

He sat there.

He did a few little odd things,

but he sat there.

I mean,

he told me a second time

when I gave him communion

that he was the second coming

of Jesus

and some other things.

And,

and I just listened to him

for a few seconds

and I said,

I'm really sorry

you have to sit down.

And he did.

So it was all fine.

But the fact of the matter is

is that that fellow

was clearly mentally ill.

He either thought he was Zeus

or he thought he was

the son of God.

So,

that's the offensive

and shocking thing

about this text

which we have to get into it.

You see,

once again,

partly what happens

is when we read the text

we say,

well,

that's just religious language,

just religious language,

just religious language.

No,

no,

no,

no,

no.

Just think about it

in real life.

This is a story.

Remember the very,

one of the early sermons

on this,

I said that one of the things

which is very unique

about Mark's gospel

compared to the secular literature

or the pagan literature

of the day.

I shouldn't say secular.

There would have been no idea

of secular in those days.

But in the pagan literature

of those days

is that he uses fact-type language

all the way through.

He emphasizes the fact-ness

of what he's talking about.

And just as,

I didn't ask,

but I know that all of the other people

at the 8 o'clock service,

they all would have instantly recognized

that this man was mentally ill.

And he talked to several of them.

They all knew he was mentally ill

and all of us were reacting appropriately

to him as a mentally ill man.

Trying to act with compassion to him.

Gentleness.

We didn't tell him to leave.

We didn't do anything like that.

We tried to act with him.

You all know he's mentally ill.

Only mentally ill men

say something like,

son, your sins are forgiven.

Right?

That's a mentally ill thing to say.

So now you're having to go,

whoa, okay.

Even most,

you know,

maybe Richard Dawkins

or some very,

very,

very hardcore atheist

would be prepared to say,

yes,

George,

Jesus was mentally ill.

I'm so glad

a Christian finally,

I'm not saying he's mentally ill.

I'm just saying,

you think about it,

that's a mentally ill type of thing to say.

That's how we would all respond to it.

Now,

in his time,

they,

his hearers

don't respond to it

as mental illness,

although they might have

if you heard all of the things

they wanted to say.

In fact,

if you read the Gospels,

you'll find out that

there are in effect,

and I can't remember

if it comes up in Mark,

there is a time

when basically

all of Jesus' family

is concerned

that he's mentally ill

or that he's consumed

with demons

or something.

They know,

they come to think

he's not right.

You see,

one of the other reasons

to believe

that Jesus actually did

die on the cross

and rise from the dead

is that the historical evidence

shows that his family

thought he was mentally ill

or something was wrong,

that at his death,

only his mom was there,

none of his brothers or sisters,

and yet we know

that after the resurrection

of Jesus,

that at least

his brothers and sisters

also came to believe

that he was now

God,

the Son of God.

It's actually part

of the historical record

to believe

that something like this

actually happened.

But look how the story

continues in verse 6.

Now some of the scribes

were sitting there

questioning in their hearts,

why does this man

speak like that?

Notice what they say,

why does this man

speak like that?

He is blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins

but God alone?

I mean,

that's,

by the way,

what we could say

to the mentally ill fellow

who was here with us

two Sundays a week ago.

You know,

only God can forgive sins,

dude.

Like,

you can't.

You're a man.

Um,

verse 8,

and immediately

Jesus,

perceiving in his spirit

that they thus questioned

within themselves,

said to them,

why do you question

these things

in your hearts?

Which is easier

to say to the paralytic,

your sons are forgiven?

Or to say,

rise,

take up your bed

and walk?

Now just sort of

pause here.

On one hand,

it's equally easy

to say both.

And I'm sure

if I'd given

that fellow,

sorry that Ross

is sitting there,

it's not Ross,

it's the,

there was another person,

in fact,

you were at church

last Sunday,

in fact,

actually,

you saw that fellow,

I think.

He might have even

talked to you.

But he was sitting

right there in that seat,

the very front seat,

as close as he could

to be to me

when I had the,

when I was doing

the communion,

right?

I mean,

I'm sure if I'd let

him speak,

he would say,

son,

your sins are forgiven

and stuff like that,

right?

So,

you know,

on one level,

it's easy to say

stuff like that.

It's a sign of mental illness.

And even if it's not

a sign of mental illness,

even if it's some type

of a poser,

some type of person

who's figured out

that he's got some

very,

very gullible people

and he can make

very,

very extravagant claims,

and,

but he knows

that he can't really do it.

He's just talking.

That talk is cheap,

but healing a man

who's paralyzed,

well,

that's an indicator

of something.

So,

verse 10,

but that you may know

that the Son of Man

has authority on earth

to forgive sins,

Jesus says to the paralyzed man,

verse 11,

I say to you,

rise,

pick up your bed

and go home.

And the man rose

and immediately picked up

his bed and went out

before them all

so that they were all amazed

and glorified God,

saying,

we never saw anything

like this.

We never saw

anything like this.

So,

you see,

here's the thing

which is going on

in the text.

Just like the mentally ill man

from last Sunday

didn't say to me,

I'm going to tell you

about the Son of God.

He didn't tell me,

I'm going to tell you

about Zeus.

Jesus just says,

your sins are forgiven.

He's not like me

during the absolution

where I pronounce

what God has done.

Jesus doesn't pronounce

what God has done.

Jesus just says it.

And it's the same thing

with the healing.

Jesus doesn't pray

for healing.

He just says,

he just says,

just like God would.

In a sense,

what we would do

when we pray

is we would pray to God

and say,

God,

could you heal this man?

And when we pray,

what we're hoping

is that God,

in a sense,

up in heaven,

hears our prayer

and says,

okay,

man,

stand up and walk.

And what you see

here with Jesus

is what you hope

God would do

when you pray to God.

Jesus is doing

something that only

God can do.

And so,

what you see here

is it's an indicator

of the fact

that Jesus,

when he says

your sins are forgiven,

that that is,

he can actually do that.

Now,

there's a couple

of things here

about this.

Like,

I think if you said

to most Canadians,

you know,

you can come to Jesus

and your sins

are forgiven.

And I think

most Canadians

would say,

I need Jesus

to forgive my sins

like a fish

needs a bicycle.

Like,

okay,

that's what you're selling,

this is how much

interest I have in it.

In fact,

actually,

probably if you got

into it,

you'd say,

you know what,

what I'm really

trying to learn

is how to forgive myself.

Like,

if Jesus could give me

some advice

about how to forgive myself,

well,

that would be

an interesting story.

Because that's what

I'm really trying to learn.

I'm trying to learn

how to forgive myself.

And,

in fact,

I think for most Canadians

they'd say,

you know,

don't you think

it's a lot more important

to learn how to forgive yourself

than,

I don't know,

be forgiven by God,

by Jesus?

Well,

here's a couple of things

just to consider about it.

Before I was the

rector of Church of the Messiah,

I was in a rural church,

non-rush hour traffic,

be about a two-hour drive

to where I lived,

two hours and a bit drive.

It was on the,

I lived on the way

to Algonquin Park.

So you'd go down

the Trans-Canada Highway,

Cobden,

you'd turn left,

and you'd,

you know,

another 20 minutes

or so on the road

on the way

to Algonquin Park.

You come to Eganville

and I just lived

one block over

from the one set

of lights in town.

And I looked after Eganville,

I looked after Killaloo,

and I looked after

two other little spots

that nobody's ever heard of.

They used to be

sort of communities,

but now they're just

a sign on the road,

Tremor and Clontarf.

And,

but in that big geographic area

that I looked at,

and if I was to go

from Arnold Theobig's house

at one end

to Delmer's house

at another end

and I kept to the speed limit,

it would have taken me

about 70,

75 minutes to drive

from one into the other.

So I covered a lot of land

but not many people.

A lot of deer,

a lot of cattle,

not many people.

But within that area

there was a First Nations reserve,

and that First Nations reserve

had been originally evangelized

by Roman Catholics.

There was an actual

Roman Catholic church

on the reserve,

and so I didn't have much

to do with people

who lived there,

but I did have something

to do with several of them.

And one of the people

that I had to deal with

was part of our church.

He got in some trouble

with the law,

which is neither here

nor there.

I actually thought

he was innocent,

but that's neither here

nor there.

And so he asked me

if I would support him.

He had to go to

appear before the judge

for the first go-around.

And so he asked me

if I would sit with him

in the crowd

waiting for his name

to be come up,

and I'd buy him a coffee,

and then afterwards

we'd talk,

and I'd pray and all that.

And I said, sure.

It was a very interesting

experience to sit there.

So first of all,

I said to him,

you know, the thing

that you did,

I almost said his name,

we'll just call him Bob.

He said, the thing you did,

Bob, you could go

to the tribal,

there was a tribal justice

system set up

to deal with this.

Why didn't you go to that?

Now, by the way,

I'm not, just time out,

I'm not making

any political comment.

I never followed him.

I have no idea

whether he was telling

me the truth.

But what he said was this.

He said, no, no, no.

He said, guys like me

on the reserve,

we never go to

the tribal justice system.

I said, you never go there?

He said, no, no, no.

He said it's controlled

by a couple of powerful families.

And the way it works

is they give themselves

a pass,

but for people like me,

they're going to be

very hard on me.

And I get a better deal

with the white judge.

And I said, really?

So I never followed up

on that.

I have no idea

if it's true.

But that's what he said.

He said, yeah, yeah,

it's powerful families

that control that.

My family is a very

low-status family.

They don't like my family.

I would get hard.

I'd be treated very hard.

I'm going to get a better deal

with the judge.

I said, well, that's interesting.

And then as I sat there,

the second thing

that was really interesting

is that as each of the lawyers

stood up to help

the different client,

he gave me a prairie

about the effectiveness

of the lawyers.

He'd say, that lawyer

never returns his phone calls.

That lawyer has a serious

alcohol problem.

That lawyer is lazy.

That lawyer is lazy.

Is this that lawyer?

Is this?

He knew who all the lawyers were.

At least that's he claimed to.

I have no idea

whether he was accurate

about any of it.

But he'd said, don't worry.

I, you know, me and my family,

we know about all the lawyers

in the region.

We have the best lawyer.

I have the best lawyer

that you can get.

Now, I'm saying all of this

because, you see,

what would you say

if he not only knew

about the lawyers,

but if it was a situation

where there were quite a few

different judges

and he was able to sit there

and tell you,

well, that judge

shows favoritism to the cronies.

That judge is racist

and that judge takes bribes

and that judge

has a serious alcohol problem.

And, you know,

that judge isn't very competent,

doesn't like me.

And if you heard that,

you wouldn't want to go

before that judge, would you?

You'd be very careful.

You sure wouldn't.

You'd want to try to figure out

the good judge,

not the judge that has

all those other major

character flaws.

Right?

That's what we'd all want to do.

But,

here's the problem.

You say you want to learn

to forgive yourself.

Do you show favoritism?

Do you show any prejudice?

Are you easily bought off?

Do you get distracted?

Do you only care about justice?

Yes.

If you didn't answer yes

to all of those things,

then why do you think

you can forgive yourself?

Like, if you wouldn't trust

another judge to do that,

why would you trust yourself

to forgive yourself?

Like, don't you think

it's always tainted?

And just think for a second.

Like, one of the things

that I had to do,

I would still do it

if somebody comes to me

and they want to be remarried

after divorce.

Let's say a 30-year-old man

comes and he wants to be

remarried after divorce.

And I'd talk to him

about a little bit of things.

But let's say I discovered

that that 30-year-old man

had a wife

and he had four kids.

And the wife

was a stay-at-home mom

and this man wants to marry

another, like a 23-year-old woman.

And I'd have to ask this man

this question.

That's why I've asked

this question to guys.

How do you think

you're going to be able

to fulfill your financial

responsibilities

to your four kids

and your first wife

and marry this young woman

who you're obviously

going to want to have kids with?

Do I like asking that question?

I am very Canadian.

Those of you who know me,

I hate conflict.

I am sleepless

for nights before it.

But I've had to look

guys in the eye

and say,

how are you going to

fulfill those obligations?

This is separate

from whether there was

a valid reason

biblically for his marriage

to break up

and being remarried.

The fact of the matter is

is if you sire those kids,

you've got a responsibility

to those kids.

You've got a responsibility

for your kids.

So here's the point

of the story.

The wife

with the four kids,

she hears

that her husband,

who now wants to marry

another young woman,

and maybe he's been

the one responsible

for the breakup

of the marriage

he's had in the fair.

What would she say

if she heard him say,

I've learned

to forgive myself?

That wife would say,

she'd go explosive,

she'd go ballistic,

what do you mean

you forgave yourself?

Like, she'd say,

what a jerk.

She'd probably say

something stronger.

Well, why is it

that we as Canadians

want to learn

how to forgive ourselves,

but we can't sort of

get our minds around

these types of

particular problems?

You see,

one of the things

which is always

talked about

at the end

of every presidential cycle,

it was talked about

with Trump,

it was talked about

with Obama,

it was talked about

before that,

it will be talked about

with Biden,

is that every U.S. president,

the last week or so

before they step away

from office,

they give a whole pile

of presidential pardons.

Get out of jail

for free cards,

you're completely

and utterly pardoned.

And those of you

who follow such things,

sometimes they're good.

There's been a miscarriage

of justice

somewhere along the line

and just because

of the angularity

of the law,

it can't actually

be rectified,

but there's been,

you know,

evidence and all

and so sometimes

you go,

that's a real,

that's a good use of it,

that there's been

an injustice corrected.

You know,

and sometimes it's just,

you know,

for whatever reason

there's been some

press reports

about this person

or that,

but always he lets off

his cronies,

right?

Always.

I'm not making

a political comment.

Trump did it,

Biden did it,

the president

after Biden

will do it.

It's a human thing.

They let off

their cronies

and there's always

a whole stuff

in the paper

about the fact

that he just

let off his cronies

and if you happen

to be pro-Trump,

you think,

yeah,

yeah,

you know,

they shouldn't

have been punished,

blah, blah, blah,

way to go Trump.

But you know,

and they're going

to do the same thing

with Biden.

You know,

the people who

were mad at Trump,

they're going to say,

way to go Biden,

you know?

And all the people

who voted for Trump

said,

how come you guys

didn't like it

when Trump did it,

but now he,

like,

that's just human nature.

That's just cronyism.

And in a sense,

when you want to learn

to forgive yourself,

it's cronyism

to yourself.

Now here,

you have to be

very careful.

You see,

one of the things

which is going on

in Jesus' words here

is there's a profound

mystery.

There's a riddle

which he's posing.

And the riddle

is this.

Why is it that

when Jesus says this

to the young man,

he's not just guilty

of cronyism?

Like,

why is Jesus

not like Trump?

Why is Jesus

not like Biden

and Obama?

Why is it not

just cronyism?

See,

the fact of the matter

is,

is that true forgiveness

has to honor justice.

And that's why

for true forgiveness

there always has to be

a cost that's paid.

Very,

very obvious

when it comes to

things like money.

Somebody,

I lend somebody

$10,000

expecting to get it back

and then something happens

they can't get it back.

If I forgive the debt,

let's say they only

were able to pay me

back $1,000,

I forgive the debt,

I'm writing off

the $9,000.

Well,

who pays that $9,000?

The $9,000

is still gone.

Like,

I can't call up Trudeau

and say,

Trudeau,

I've just forgiven

somebody $9,000,

could you send me

a check to cover it?

Like,

if I forgive somebody

the $9,000,

I pay that cost.

If you forgive me

a debt,

a financial debt,

you absorb

that cost.

And that gives us

a window

in all forgiveness.

That if somebody

has wronged you

in another type of way

and you,

you might have

a profound desire

to publicize

to everybody

how bad they are.

Or you might want

to have them,

you might want to do

some other type of thing

so that they really

suffer in some type of way,

that there's some

satisfaction that you

can get

to see that there's

some suffering

or some other types

of, you know,

or other legal

or other consequences

that happen to them

so that there's some type,

you have at least

the beginning of some

type of a sense

of balance.

And if you forgive them,

then you have to pay

the cost of that

within yourself.

You have to pay

the cost of the fact

that they will not

have that type

of punishment

that you think

they deserve,

that you just have to,

in a sense,

you have to,

in a sense,

swallow that

in some type of way.

There's always

a cost to forgiveness.

By the way,

for our Muslim friends,

this is one of the

profound weaknesses

in Islam.

Just give me some grace.

It's a profound weakness

in Islam.

Because in Islam,

Allah just,

he never pays a cost

to forgive.

It's hard not to see

that what goes on

with Allah

is any different

than cronyism.

Where he lets some

go free and others

have to suffer

his punishment.

You see,

the mystery

which here,

which happens,

is that Jesus

is setting up a riddle.

When he says,

son,

your sins are forgiven,

he's also pointing us

to the fact

that justice

is going to be met

in that young man

for whatever

that young man

is responsible for.

That this is one

of the things

preparing us

for the cross.

That when we see

Jesus dying upon

the cross,

what we see

is that Jesus

takes the place

of that young man

in a sense

what that Jesus

is saying.

And it's only

if he's God

that he can stand

for every single

human being.

It's only if he's

both God and man

that he can stand

for every single

human being.

And so for whatever

things that that young

man has done

which is wrong,

whatever demands

of justice

that that should be,

if you took the

accumulation of all

of those types

of things,

and you would say

if you knew

all of those

things that that

young man had done

and became an old

man and everything

that you would think

there has to be

some consequence.

There has to be

some consequence.

There has to

justice demand

some consequence.

That when Jesus

dies on the cross

that's what John

means when he says

behold the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

That Jesus in a sense

is saying

I will take your place

young man

and all of the

demands of justice

I will take your place

they can come on me.

No I don't.

I know you don't

deserve it.

No I know

I don't have to do it.

It's not a matter

of you deserving it.

It's not a matter

of you have a right

for this.

It's not a matter

that I have to.

It's not a matter

that I'm weak.

I am strong.

I am the one

who can heal

paralyzed people.

I am the one

who can heal

the leper.

I am the one

who can still

the storm.

I am the one

who can walk

on water.

I am the one

who can feed

five thousand

men.

I am strong.

I am doing this

of my own free will.

I see your profound

need and broken.

I see your profound

need and brokenness

and I know you can

never fulfill the

demands of true

justice if your life

was seen with

perfect moral clarity

and God sees your

life with perfect

moral clarity

and you can never

deal with that

without being

unmade.

need.

So I will take

your place.

And that when you

see Jesus dying

on the cross

what you are seeing

is the cost

of forgiveness

being borne

by God himself

for undeserving

people like you

and me.

And it's

powerfully

illustrated by

the symbol

that as Jesus

dies

the veil

which separates

the holy

of holies

from the world

is torn

from top

to bottom

to show

that the cost

of true

forgiveness

has been

paid.

Now the next

story is very

important to bring

this home to us

in a powerful way

because you see

we all say that

and believe that

and like that

for a moment

but there's

something about

the way

our brains

are wired

just that

our brains

are wired

that we

almost instantly

sabotage

the radicalness

of what this

is that Jesus

is doing for us

with his life

and death

and resurrection

and we see it

if we look

at the next

story.

And what we

see in the

next story

is why

what human

beings need

what you

and I need

is not to

learn how

to forgive

ourselves

I do not

have to

learn to

forgive

myself

I have

to learn

I have

to ask

God

to make

what Jesus

has done

for me

on the

cross

to be

more real

for me

because I

slip into

a different

way of

thinking

too quickly.

Look at

what happens

in verse 13

and Jesus

went out again

beside the sea

and all the

crowd was

coming to him

and he was

teaching them

and as he

passed by

he saw

Levi

the son

of Alphaeus

sitting at

the tax

booth

and Jesus

said to him

follow me

and Levi

rises and

follows him

now just

those of you

who aren't

familiar with

stories like

this in the

context

if you watch

a second

world war movie

set let's say

in occupied

Holland

and you

see Dutch

people

if you're

watching a

second world

war movie

now set

in Holland

during the

occupation

by the

Nazis

usually what

is going

to be

involved

is some

heroic

and there

were very

many heroic

Dutch

people who

resisted the

Nazis

tried to

protect the

Jews

did what

they could

to undermine

the Nazi

regime

but there

were also

Dutch men

and women

who supported

the regime

who helped

the regime

right it was

Corrie Ten Boom

and her family

and her mom

her sister

and her dad

died in a

concentration camp

for hiding

Jews but they

they were found

out because

neighbors reported

them so

when you

watch a

second world

war movie

and you

see a

Dutch man

or a

Dutch woman

working for

the Nazis

that's what

a tax

collector

is okay

they're

they're not

they're not

only they're

not only going

to be

constantly guilty

of graft

and injustice

and a whole

pile of other

things but

they work

directly for

the imperial

forces oppressing

the Jews

over the Jews

so that's what

a tax collector

so Jesus

sees a guy

like that

a guy

like a

Dutch person

helping the

Nazis

and he says

follow me

and the guy

follows him

you go

on one level

you go

wow

like wow

but now

you're going to

be concerned

with the very

next story

look what

happens next

verse 15

and as Jesus

as he reclined

a table

it's actually

very interesting

the Greek

it's not sure

whether it's

Jesus' house

or Levi's house

you can't actually

tell in the Greek

whether it's

Jesus' house

that he's renting

or staying in

or whether it's

Levi's house

but so I'll just

say and as he

reclined a table

in his house

many tax collectors

and sinners

were reclining

with Jesus

and his disciples

for they were

many who

followed him

look at that

for there were

many of these

sinners

and tax collectors

who followed

Jesus

and the scribes

of the Pharisees

who aren't

following Jesus

the scribes

are like the

experts in the law

when they saw

that he was

eating with

sinners and tax collectors

they said to his

disciples

why does he

eat with tax collectors

and sinners

now here's the thing

about us

one of the reasons

that we would side

we would say

whoa that's terrible

what they're doing

well the reason

one of the reasons

we say that's terrible

that he's doing that

is because

we've been formed

by Jesus

and also partially

because we like

the idea of

going against

the moral majority

but here's the thing

and I'm making

no political comments

you can pick your thing

Jesus is having

a party

with everybody

wearing

make America

great hats

with big pictures

of Trump

behind them

or

all the trans

activists

are together

and Jesus

is in there

having a party

with them

now

pick your politics

for those of you

of one group

you'd say

how could Jesus

be with a whole

pile of

make America

great people

like what's he

doing

with sinners

and for the rest

of us

we're going

what's he doing

with all the

trans activists

having a party

with them

Jesus says this

in verse 17

and when Jesus

heard it

he said to them

those who are well

have no need

of a doctor

but those who are