Forgiveness and Mercy and Yom Kippur

FORGIVENESS AND MERCY AND YOM KIPPUR

John the Baptist was the messenger that had been sent by God to prepare the way before Jesus, preaching repentance and the forgiveness of sins that would come through Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world 
Luke 7:29 When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, and were baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.

One of those Pharisees who had rejected the teaching of John the Baptist that day afterwards invited Jesus to his house for a meal where there were many guests, and among them was a woman of ‘the city’ who was one of those who had repented and been baptised along with some of the other guests. Such dinners of hospitality were often open and public for the Jewish community with both local and regional guests and where many topics of the day were discussed.

Luke 7:36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

The Pharisee that had invited Jesus to his house and many of the company that were there would have rejected the call to repentance and the offer of baptism from John and there would have been an awkward division in spirit between those who had accepted John’s teaching about Jesus and those who had scorned it. Nonetheless because of the growing reputation of Jesus as a prophet and a teacher, as well as the reports of his working of signs and wonders there was due respect given to him by the host and by other guests that were there.
When the woman began to wash and anoint the feet of Jesus the Pharisee whose name was Simon said to himself, either by muttering or just by thinking silently, that Jesus’ behaviour was scandalous, and as the host, he was aware of the other guests who were also looking askance at the spectacle. Whether or not Jesus heard Simon mutter or whether he simply perceived the obvious disapproval in his spirit it does not say. Jesus broke in on the awkward moment with a tantalizing hypothetical for Simon about two people having debts cancelled, with one debt ten times larger than the other and asking Simon which debtor would have the greatest love for the moneylender. 

Simon was compelled by logic to give the correct answer and Jesus uses the situation contrasting Simon’s lack of courtesy and honour to Jesus as his guest by ignoring him, compared to the sinful woman’s extravagant act of loving appreciation and gratitude. 
The woman continued to wash and anoint the feet of Jesus with an outpouring of gratitude and love that were sentiments born out of her transformed soul. Her extravagance in honouring Jesus with such a greeting of love outshone the Pharisee’s unceremonious welcome to Jesus as his guest and she was able to now acknowledge Jesus as the forgiving Messiah God that John had proclaimed him to be. 
Some guests asked the question who is it that can forgive sins because only God can do that’, but Jesus then brings home his point that the women who had sinned so much and who was forgiven so much had also loved so very much in return. 
The woman is traditionally believed to be Mary Magdalene because in the verses directly following the above account, Mary Magdalene who had seven demons cast out from her is mentioned along with two other prominent women in the community who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities and they as well as others provided for Jesus and his disciples out of their means.

In this outstanding story of contrasts, we see the extremes of utter sinfulness and utter forgiveness which are only possible in the expansive love and mercy of God. And in this mighty comparison we have the major point of the story which is that God has always desired oneness with us as his sinful creation, and yet sin has separated us from him. 
But sin has not separated him from us. He pursues us relentlessly into our repentance and faith because forgiveness and mercy are always on God’s mind and heart. Jesus lived forgiving and he died forgiving - Forgive them father for they know not what they do.

From the moment Mankind first sinned it was God’s loving and determined intention to make us aware of his forgiveness for our sinfulness. Our yes to that resolute appeal is our repentance. Sinfulness was Mankind’s wilful self-determination to pursue its own self-interest, expressing its independent mindset of separation from God. 
God formalised his commitment to bridge the gap of separation that sin had caused between humanity and himself by making a Covenant of partnership between himself and the nation of Israel, and Israel became the test case for all of humanity. 
The Old Covenant was all about sin and forgiveness through a ritualised structure of blood sacrifice being made as an offering for their sins, and instruction in wisdom and righteousness being given to them though the Law so that they would know explicitly what sin was because of the Commandments that they had to obey, but never could and never did. That Covenant also offered many blessings for obedience and a Promised Land for an inheritance.

This arrangement was as close that God could get to bridging the gap that sin had caused. It was not perfect because it was only in the strength of the human will that people could try to stay in line with what God had commanded, and no one could ever manage to stay in alignment with God’s requirements.
But day after day sins were committed and day after day the sacrifices were offered, and day after day sins were forgiven. this went on for fifteen hundred years. Many were able to draw close to God over that time, but no one throughout that time could ever achieve the oneness with God that was his eternal purpose.
The day after day sacrifices were offered to obtain forgiveness for explicitly known sins but there was another kind of unclassified sin called ‘unintentional sin’ and this also marred the conscience because people knew they were falling short and were not sure of what sacrifice brought them forgiveness. This kind of sin required not so much forgiveness but mercy and such was the mercy of God that he instituted a special day once a year called the Day of Atonement for the cleansing of all the unintentional sins of all of Israel. (Hebrews 9:7 the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people)
Unintentional – agnoema – shortcoming - error. a sin of ignorance or thoughtlessness.

These sins were offered up by the High priest on behalf of all of Israel and the blood of the sacrifice was offered with the sprinkling of blood seven times on the mercy seat upon the Ark of the Covenant (Leviticus 16), ‘seven times’ speaking of the fulness of mercy on offer from God. ‘Seven times’ is also a Biblical code for events that occur in the end time fullness of time and Jesus told Peter to forgive seventy times seven times, so forgiveness and mercy are both to be an emphasis in God’s end times purposes. 
That was the greatest day in their year (Yom Kippur) and it speaks to us not only of the abundance of God’s mercy upon their ‘sins of ignorance’ but it speaks to us of God’s mercy upon us today where we unwittingly keep falling short while intending to be faithful. It shows God’s eternal purpose for us as his children to know oneness with him through our faith in Jesus who is our atonement (however you wish to pronounce it). 

The new Covenant tells us that the Law is now written on our hearts, so the Holy Spirit can now clearly show us what sin is and reveal how great God’s forgiveness is and to turn our hearts away from sin and turn our hearts towards God (repentance). We do not have to offer sacrifices all the time because of the one sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary.
The New Covenant also tells us that our sins and our iniquities he will remember no more! It also tells us that he will have mercy on all of our unintentional sins of ignorance, our constant falling short that puts us out of alignment with his perfection. Our Day of Atonement is all day every day. We still have sin within us in our humanity and God still closes the gap of separation by giving us the bridge of forgiveness and mercy. We often walk across the footpath of the bridge of forgiveness with a heart of repentance, but we mostly move along a moving footway of mercy for our unintentional sins. We all need that moving footway all the time and we all need to be consciously aware of its gracious provision all the time.

So this story about Mary Magdalene had to be extravagant and emotional because it is a story of God’s most determined intention for our lives, that we are at one with him and with peace in our hearts. Only by knowing this inner peace can we possibly love him back, and Jesus sealed that reality for Mary by telling her that her faith had saved her and that she could go in peace – the peace of oneness with Jesus. 
So if you feel at any time that you need to be closer to God than you are, remember God’s bridge of determined love for us. It is still about sin and forgiveness and mercy but it is God’s bridge, and it is for us to move confidently across this bridge of his grace into his Kingdom life where all things are made new.