On Thursday morning, Joel Beckrich was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison for the murder of Nancy Everson, the mother of Grant Everson, who had planned the murder of both his parents. Grant’s father, Tom, survived the attack but has struggled, for obvious reasons, during the trials for the murder of his wife. The Minneapolis Star Tribune story included this sentence in Friday morning’s edition: “[Tom Everson] said he doesn't hate Beckrich but also doesn't have the power to forgive him.”[1]
I can’t imagine what Tom Everson must be going through this Christmas, but I know it must be horrible. Any pastor worth his or her collar would never question Tom Everson saying that he doesn’t have the power to forgive. For us, forgiveness is a work of years, a practice developed over time through dedication and commitment. Forgiveness is not a one-time thing.
All too often, we think that forgiveness needs an act of repentance before it works. At the very least, “I’m sorry” seems to be a minimum requirement – after all, without both parties acknowledging that sin has happened, there’s no point to forgiveness, is there? How can you forgive someone who isn’t sorry in the least for what they’ve done to you?
But today’s readings from Zephaniah and Philippians paint a very different picture. Not once does God demand repentance through Zephaniah or Paul before forgiving sins and rejoicing over their forgiveness. God does not stand over Israel like a scolding mother, demanding that the people “say you’re sorry and MEAN IT!” Read these verses again:
“The Lord has taken away the judgments against you…the Lord will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near...”
God is not after an apology here, though if anyone is due an apology from us it would be our Creator. You and I know far too well how easily we stain the lives God has given us with sin. It’s not a matter of apologizing to God – in our case, it would first be a matter of knowing where to start.
But God doesn’t demand an apology – God does something far more reckless. Instead of standing with arms crossed and one foot tapping, waiting for the stammered apology of sinners who know they’re in the soup, God does what God wants to do: God forgives. No apologies. No conditions. Nothing but a promise: “I will rejoice over you with gladness, I will renew you in my love; I will exult over you with loud singing.” And if God does so, just because God chooses to do so, is there anything preventing us from doing the same thing toward God?
This Third Sunday in Advent is traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday – a Sunday for rejoicing. You’ve already heard our children rejoicing over the coming of Jesus. But the miracle of Christmas is far more than carpenters and virgins, shepherds and kings and a baby in a stable. The miracle of Christmas, the miracle over which we rejoice again today, is the birth of forgiveness itself: Jesus Christ, the anointed Forgiver of God. In Christ forgiveness took on flesh and bone and walked the earth. Jesus created a community grounded in his Father’s everlasting love, and the Holy Spirit works to maintain that community of forgiveness today. Therefore, we rejoice: for God has come near in forgiveness and we are made whole again.
So I say to you, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Some of you haven’t been with us in a while – but I’m glad you’re here today, to hear again about the coming of Christ, the coming of forgiveness. Come back again soon, and bring your kids – because you won’t hear the message of God’s forgiveness anywhere else. But most importantly I tell you this: Rejoice! Some of you have been here every week – but maybe you haven’t heard this word of forgiveness for far too long. You’ve begun to look at everyone around you as if they weren’t worthy of forgiveness. Maybe you look at yourself as if you weren’t worthy of forgiveness. I’m glad you’re here today to hear about the coming of Christ, the coming of forgiveness. Rejoice! Some of you come carrying heavy burdens of grief, or perhaps someone has sinned against you and has not asked for forgiveness. You don’t have the power to forgive – yet. You will: trust in Christ and his promises. Forgiveness is coming – Rejoice! Some of you have sinned greatly against another, so greatly you’re afraid to ask for forgiveness, and so you’re living apart from your sin as if you could run away from it forever. Forgiveness is coming – Christ is coming – rejoice.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.”
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