FORGIVENESS – Series 4

Costly Offences

Get what start the sinner may, Retribution, for all her lame leg, never quits his track. – Horace
Punishment is justice for the unjust. – Saint Augustine

Offences might be inevitable, which does not excuse the agent through whom they come.   Offences might be inevitable, yet they do not bless the one who grants them a passage.  Jesus prophesied that the love of many would wax cold in the last days because iniquity would abound (Matthew 24:12), yet it does not exonerate the one who commits iniquity in apparent ‘fulfilment’ of that prediction.  It had been prophesied that Jesus would die for the sins of the world, but it was never said that he would be blessed who became Satan’s tool for that condition to the Son of God.

Peter was the first target of Satan in that diabolic regard, but he was not going to commit himself to that evil assignment.  Each time he fell, he got up (Matthew 26:74-75).  Even when the enemy overwhelmed him to the point that Jesus apparently called him ‘Satan,’ Peter never gave up (Matthew 16:23).  When Satan failed with Peter, he found Judas; “then entered Satan into Judas” (Luke 22:3); so did Judas go missing on Pentecost Day.

n this side of eternity, somebody is bound to be offended by somebody, and themselves offend somebody else.  Only in Paradise will there be no more offence or trespass.  Fathers offend sons, children offend parents, mothers are grieved by daughters-in-law, pastors have issues with members, and many members are injured by pastors; bosses step on sore toes of subordinates, and not a few subordinates severely injure their masters.  We are always offending or being offended by someone.  But common as offences are, they can be very costly at times, and those who transport them risk the penalty for conveying contrabands.

The ‘coming’ of an offence has nothing to do with how carefully one lives one’s life to ensure peace with everyone else.  Even holy angels were once threatened with homosexual rape by mortals in Sodom (Genesis 19:5).  It was not their indecency that attracted the threat.  Jesus Himself, the very holy Son of the very holy God, had issues, for no fault of His own, with people who vehemently moved a raucous motion for His speedy public execution (Mark 15:13-14).  The coming of troubles has little to do with how well one lives one’s life to avoid them.  Even in Heaven where God is King, the Bible says, “And there was war in heaven” (Revelation 12:7).  Did war break out because of an error in God? No.  The presence of troubles is not always the indicator of how well one has managed or mismanaged a relationship.  Sometimes it is the outcome of inevitable interactions with others who live by a different code, who have little respect for one’s relationship laws.

The other side of the coin is that, even though troubles might be inevitable, how we handle them could be crucial, whether as victims or as agents of the distress caused to another.  According to Jesus, it is a terrible woe to be the instrument of offence, especially against one with the innocence of a child.

Offences may be inevitable, but that does not excuse the agent through whom they come.  The Bible says that offences are sure to come, but it does not bless those who offer themselves as the ‘vehicle’ for their painful coming.  If an item is classified ‘contraband’ in a country, not only will it be confiscated and destroyed if found, the carrier or transporter will also be in trouble.  The same goes for ‘registered’ couriers of offences, no matter their excuse for frequently hauling pains.  Jesus was going to go “as it is written,” yet that did not excuse the agent who was going to be found by Satan to play the role.

It might be easy to get pardon for a trespass, but that does not always erase the woe activated by trespassing.  It might be easy to get pardon for a trespass, but the pardon does not always shield from the nemesis that the woe brings.  Some people take advantage of others because, “After all, I will apologise and she will forgive me”; or “He is a priest, who cannot afford not to forgive.” They act as if forgiveness were their spiritual right, an entitlement, a licence to keep sinning at least for 70 x 6.5 more times.

A holy person might give pardon unasked, yet a woe might still have been invited for being the instrument of pain to another.  It is a cosmic law.  Jesus held no bitterness against Judas His betrayer, but that did not shield the betrayer from the self-attracted cosmic justice that promptly drove him to a reprehensible early grave, while Judgment Day still pends (Acts 1:20; Luke 22:48; Matthew 26:24, 48-50; 27:5).

Miriam was the elder sister of Moses.  With Aaron her brother who was the high priest, she backstabbed the younger Moses, their leader.  Did Moses get angry at them?  No, he was not even aware.  In fact, when he found out, he chose rather to intercede for them; but then, the woe had already been activated.  In Miriam, it became instantly apparent in the form of leprosy that could not be concealed.  That condition in that Women’s Leader and Worship Director in the International Deliverance Ministry of Moses, grounded the entire camp of Israel for seven days while she endured the scourge.  The nation could not move one inch forward in their journey to the Promised Land while the woe took its course for seven days.  Miriam was forgiven by Moses, but that did not shield her from the woe that she attracted to herself and her community by being the instrument of offence against another.  She received earthly pardon, yet she still faced the consequences from Heaven (Numbers 12:1-16).  Injuries might get healed, but sometimes healed injuries leave very ugly scars that one is not proud to display.

The world is getting increasingly concerned about environmental pollutions, and agencies have sprouted up around the world to address aspects of that concern.  Every now and then, there are international talks about air quality, the health of the ocean, plastic pollutants, the soil, and so on, but how much have we also cared about the pollutants that come to our emotional and relational spaces from offences so often fired from septic souls?  I find something strange in Matthew 18:7:

Woe unto the world because of offences! for it MUST needs be that offences come; BUT WOE to THAT MAN by whom the offence cometh! (Matthew 18:7).

According to the passage above, offences bring a woe not only upon “that man” by whom it comes but also “unto the world” of that man.  In other words, offences are pollutants that affect not only the trespasser but also others in their space.  If you shared an office or a living room with someone who is always griping, nagging, cursing, attacking, yelling at others, making trouble with subordinates and superiors, their relational atmosphere will doubtless be toxic to the soul, even if you were not the target of their assaults.

If that polluting neighbour or family member should have an emotional breakdown arising from their accumulation of inner toxins so often spilling over to others, you will not be at peace while they are in that condition.  Thus, they bring a woe not only upon themselves but also upon their ‘world.’  We sometimes sanction bullies not because we are the victim but because they ‘pollute’ the general atmosphere in ways that can no longer be tolerated.  If that bully were your teammate or child, who consequently gets into trouble with the law, you could be called upon for explanations, if not also indicted as an accomplice.  In that way, your innocent world also gets ‘woe-d’ by offences that did not emanate from you.

If you have ever dealt with habitual offenders, you know how they put everyone on edge.  In their atmosphere, everybody is careful what they say and do, because anything could be taken to mean something else; words are sparse, actions are cautious, and even gifts are suspect.   Their ‘world’ is far from being called “blessed,” despite how palatial that world might seem.  They release such negative energy that nobody feels safe with them around.  Strangely, such offenders might seem to enjoy it, sometimes taking it for power.  They are polluters of the inner space.

The prophet Joel presents the point graphically through the metaphor of environments withering from the scorching heat of joy-killers.  The prophet opens the curtain to a scene of arid desolation: languishing fig trees, dried vines, withering palms and apple trees, etc., all because “joy is withered from the sons of men.”  In other words, when joy begins to wither in a place, even the natural world of plants and animals and other humans gets affected negatively in widespread ‘withering’ ways that cannot be concealed.  It has been the subject of some research how negative or positive human emotions affect other lives in that environment, in chemical and biological ways.  In other words, as science and the prophet cited below would seem to suggest, a withering environment sometimes points to toxic emotions in that environment.

Offences are toxic pollutants that affect not only the offender but also their ‘world.’   On the contrary, according to Solomon the Wise, a happy soul is self-therapy.  In other words, they heal their own souls who sow joy, but it is slow suicide to carry offence.