2/6,13/08 - Midweek Lent - Mark 11:12-13,20-25

FAITH SHOWS ITSELF IN FORGIVENESS

Faith can show itself in many different ways. Your faith in Christ that is living in your heart can be outwardly seen through your kindness, your patience, your joy, your honesty, your attitude… There are many fruits of faith that demonstrate what is really hidden deep inside your soul. But the most delectable of those fruits of faith, the sweetest, and usually the rarest of those fruits is forgiveness. Forgiveness is a fruit of faith that is sometimes hard to come by. Even the strongest of Christians have a difficult time producing this refreshing and unique act of faith. And so as Jesus began his final week with his disciples here on this earth, he felt it necessary to address this very important subject by means of a fig tree. Our text for tonight is from the book of Mark 11, selected verses:
12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it… 20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” 22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Throughout Scripture a tree and its fruit are oftentimes compared to a Christian and the outward display of his faith. And here Jesus uses a withered fig tree to make the point that fruits of faith are never out of season. And he mentions two specific fruits of faith that every Christian should produce: prayer and forgiveness. Now although prayer is essential in the life of any Christian and our prayer lives need to be continually improved, most of us don’t have much of a problem praying on a regular basis. But forgiveness is the fruit that we seem to hold back, the fruit that we rarely let others taste, the fruit that almost seems painful for us to produce at times - as Jesus’ disciples were about to find out a couple days later.
Although they didn’t know it yet, this object lesson on forgiveness that Jesus taught them on the road out of Bethany was pointing toward a real-life situation that would smack the disciples square in the face. Because just two days after Jesus taught them about forgiveness produced by faith, they found themselves struggling to show forgiveness in the Garden of Gethsemane. Because there, after a lengthy prayer session by the Lord, they were confronted by an angry mob - led by none other than Judas Iscariot. Judas their brother. Their fellow disciple. The man whom, according to John’s gospel, they had thought left the upper room a few hours before to either buy things for the upcoming festival or to give some money to the poor. They didn’t know! They didn’t perceive that Judas was going to betray the Savior! They didn’t understand that he had already sold his Lord for 30 pieces of silver until it was too late! The other 11 disciples must have been shocked when they saw Judas leading that crowd of the Lord’s enemies! They probably felt stabbed in the back by one of their own. And to do it to Jesus of all people! Judas’ Teacher and Friend and God!
For the rest of that night and even well after Judas hung himself that next morning, I would guess that the fruit of forgiveness was not found in too many of those disciples’ hearts. Suddenly, that fruit of faith that seemed so simple to produce while walking from Bethany two days earlier, wasn’t so easy anymore. “And when you stand praying,” Jesus had said to them by that withered tree, “if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him.” That must have been a tough pill to swallow after they understood what Judas had done. I couldn’t blame the disciples if they were still furious at Judas. And hurt. And heartbroken. How could he have done the things he did? How could he have forsaken his Lord who had been so kind and caring and loving and patient with all of them for so long? What motivated him to do it? These questions must have been eating the disciples up inside - questions that were never answered because they did not have a chance to confront Judas before he hung himself less than 24 hours later. But regardless of what Judas had done and despite his reasons why, the Lord’s command of forgiveness still remained unchanged. And it still remains unchanged for you.
The forgiveness you give others does not depend on their attitude towards you. It doesn’t matter if they are sorry for what they’ve done or if they ever will be. The forgiveness the Lord commands you to give to others is supposed to be automatic. You are to forgive them because the Lord has forgiven you. That’s it. No questions. No hesitation. Simply instant and complete forgiveness, disregarding the severity or the longevity or the unrepentant nature of the sin. Free forgiveness is a fruit of faith. A fruit we do not like to produce.
Because we like to hold grudges, don’t we? We like to stay angry at a person. We like to tell ourselves: “I’ll forgive him when he apologizes.” No, that’s not what the Lord says at all. He does not say: “Forgive when he repents or if he’s sorry or when you feel like it.” He says, “If you hold anything against anyone, forgive him.” Period. Because that’s what forgiveness is. Forgiveness means you no longer hold that sin against a person. You do not bring it up in your own mind. And you do not let it affect your love towards him or her. Forgiveness does not mean you have to completely forget what has happened. But it does mean that you unequivocally and immediately cease to hang it over their heads. You put it behind you. You move on. And you love that person like you’ve never loved them before.
Is that the attitude you’ve shown to every person you know? Or are you still holding something against them? Are you angry, frustrated, or upset with someone because of that thing they said or what they did or their pompous attitude? If you hold anything against anyone - that is not being a Christian. That is not right. And that is dangerous to your own faith. Because listen again to what Jesus says, “If you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” If you refuse to forgive somebody of the handful of sins they’ve committed against you, why should the Lord forgive you for the millions of heinous sins you’ve committed against him? Why should he look on you with mercy when you cannot look upon someone else in love? Why should your perfect Almighty God take pity on one of his creatures if you find it below yourself to forgive others? He shouldn’t forgive you at all! He should by no means forgive me. But he does anyway.
The Lord takes pity on me just as he takes pity on you. He does forgive you. Even for those sins of not forgiving the sins of others! And he does so immediately. Without any questions or any demands. The Lord removes every sin from over your head and no longer holds you accountable. He does not let your sins affect they way he acts towards you and he loves you like he’s never loved you before.
The disciples saw that love and forgiveness first hand. They watched Jesus as he willingly let himself be led to Calvary. They witnessed him taking the verbal abuse of the Jewish leaders and the criminals and the soldiers and the crowd without a sound. And they physically heard Jesus ask his Father to actually forgive the people who were nailing him to the cross! That was the ultimate display of forgiveness! Pure and beautiful and unabashed. The same forgiveness the disciples received for their sins. The same forgiveness we receive for ours. He went to that cross specifically for our sins. He came down from the cross specifically for our sins. And he rose from the tomb to prove that the victory over our sins was his. That is the forgiveness the Lord has earned for us. And now he asks each one of us as his children to show that same kind of forgiveness to everyone else.
We don’t know if the disciples ever forgave Judas for what he had done. I would like to think all of them did at some point, because although what Judas did to them was unthinkable, what Jesus did for them was even more amazing. Jesus’ forgiveness is the motivation for Christians to forgive others. And so after seeing Jesus die on the cross for the forgiveness of all their sins, how could the disciples not forgive one of their fellow sinners? How could we not forgive one of ours? That doesn’t mean forgiveness is going to be easy. But it does mean we have all the motivation in the world to forgive. It means that we have the cross to look to and Christ to cling to. And if we have the blood of Christ always in mind - the blood that made our forgiveness possible in the first place - there isn’t any way we can hold back our forgiveness to others. I pray that the Lord continues to fill us with the peace of his precious forgiveness, so that we will always produce the fruit that shows we believe in the one who died to earn it.
Amen.

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood… to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” - Rev. 1:5,6