February 2025 - The Preacher's Diary

FORGIVENESS – Series 9 Part 1

February 27, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

Repent and Return

Some people are near impossible – if not impossible – to please or reform, even when they are the guilty ones. That is implied in Paul’s remarkable admonition in Romans 12:18, to “live peaceably with all men,” but to do so “as much as” lies within one’s ability. In other words, be notified that you will not succeed to win the peace in every case or with every person, no matter how much you try. You should not blame yourself for such folks, for trying much but not succeeding. Even if you died trying to please them, your carcass still won’t soften them. They will ever find fault. That is probably also why St Luke adds the “if” clause in his scriptures on forgiveness. It might seem a humbling act to return and request forgiveness, but the action is the offender’s important part of the ‘investment’ into the peace process. It is no cheap investment.

FORGIVENESS – Series 8

February 25, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

Requesting Forgiveness (Chapter 7)

Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them. – Bruce Lee

Say Something

There is an element of choice in matters of forgiveness: choice in requesting forgiveness, choice in dispensing forgiveness, and choice also in receiving forgiveness. To the extent that the forgiveness offered may be rejected, it is also up to the trespasser to request or not request forgiveness. In the Holy Bible, requesting forgiveness is the common path to receiving forgiveness. For example, in the Genesis 50:17 account, the brothers of Joseph asked for it; they said something; they “spake” something, specifically asking Joseph to “forgive” them. In response, the request was granted in the language of tears. They did not speak in ‘signs’ that the other was meant to ‘understand.’ A resort to ‘sign language’ when verbalisation is possible could be indicative of a heart too proud to admit its error; a heart seeking something else in the name of ‘peace.’

FORGIVENESS – Series 7

February 23, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

The Trespass of Brethren (Chapter 6: pp 63-77)

An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. – Proverbs 18:19, New Living Translation

Better a thousand enemies outside the house than one inside. – Arabic proverb

Exploited Kisses

Some trespasses are harder to forgive or forget, because they come from “brethren,” from people who sit with us, eat with us, live with us under the same roof; members of the same sworn team, or children of the same Father. That was what Joseph faced: “the trespass of thy brethren.” Those were not just “brethren,” they were “THY brethren,” his own blood brothers. That is what sometimes makes it worse: “thy brethren” – in their plural number against your singular self; in their malicious majority against your defenceless minority; in their conspiratorial unity against your voiceless innocence: “thy brethren.” Jesus was betrayed by one whom He called a “friend” (Matthew 26:50), one who exploited the lovely language of a kiss to betray his Master (Luke 22:48).

Forgiveness – Series 6

February 15, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

Chapter 5 (pp. 51-62)

Horizontal and Vertical Breaches

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. – Luke 10:27

Trespasses and Sins

A trespass might not always be a sin. Sometimes, however, sin could result from a trespass. By “trespass” here is meant sin against a person, and by “sin” is meant trespass against God. (You must be wondering what strange ‘dictionary’ this is.) Trespasses are committed against fellow humans, and sin against God. When the brothers of Joseph had the chance to meet him and address their regretted past, they confessed to both “trespass” (against Joseph) and “sin” (against God), but the trespass before the sin.

Forgiveness – Series 5

February 6, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

Chapter 4 (pp. 47-50)

Trespass or Offence?

So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. – Genesis 50:17

According to the passage above, there are two actors and one factor in the matter of forgiveness. The two actors are the trespasser and the trespassed; the one factor is the trespass that connects the actors. One ‘actor’ is essentially passive, being merely a recipient, but an actor all the same, as a character in the narrative – a character in the actions and responses defining the offence.