April 30, 2017

 

Background Scripture: John 10:1-15

Devotional Reading: Matthew 5:23,24

 

The selection of a title for this week’s column was the hardest part. I had thought to use “I’m All Right, Jack.” Back in the 1950s there was a book and movie starring Peter Sellers bearing that title. Sometimes there is also a final two word addition I will not use.

 

The expression “I’m all right, Jack” verbalizes the conviction that the person saying it is okay, but doesn’t care if anyone else is not. I guess it was a defiant way of saying: “Don’t tell me your troubles, I’ve got enough of my own.”

 

I was born in 1930, the days of the Great Depression, to be followed by the beginning of World War II. It is my recollection that in these two decades, the world I was born into and in which I was “growing up” was a more caring one. No one I encountered would have said, “I’m all right, Jack – tough about you!”

 

I realize that memories of the past are often idealized and distorted, but that is what I remember. And today I can’t help seeing the world as more angry, more suspicious, more divisive, more unforgiving, more irreconcilable and therefore more likely to be feeling, thinking and saying: “I’m all right, Jack!”

 

At the age of 87, I’m not likely to see the world become more forgiving and reconcilable. But I pray that you will live to see a day when humankind will be more forgiving and more reconcilable – that is, when the world will respond knowingly or even unknowingly to the Gospel. As a disciple of Jesus Christ I know the Gospel is the antidote to the poisoning of the population of the world – physically, mentally, chemically and spiritually – and by the population of the world.

 

Forgetting and forgiving

 

There are two perspectives of the Gospel that are absolutely essential for Christians and all others. The first of these is forgiveness.

 

Queen Elizabeth, a professed Christian, reigned over England for 65 years, from Sept. 7, 1535-March 24, 1603. For better or worse, Elizabeth said publically what many people still think privately: “God may forgive you, but I never can!”

 

Similar to that is the pronouncement, “I can forgive, but I cannot forget.” The great preacher Henry Ward Beecher commented that not forgetting is just another way saying, “I cannot forgive.” And usually it means we really do not want either to forgive or forget.

 

Not forgetting or not forgiving are optional for people who do not profess to be Christians, but it is a non-negotiable requirement of people who do choose to be followers of the Christ. Heinrich Heine, the German philosopher, bragged: “God will pardon me: that’s His business.” But he overlooked the fact that God’s business includes both forgiveness and judgment. George Herbert reminds us that: “He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven.” Everyone has the need to be forgiven, and the joy of being forgiven is balanced by the joy of forgiving.

 

The second imperative for followers of Jesus Christ is reconciliation. I thought reconciliation was a fairly modern concept and would not appear in the Bible – but I was wrong. There are lots of passages of the Bible that are about estrangement that is overcome and happy relations are resumed.

 

There is plenty of reconciliation in the Old Testament, but there is not a word for it. The Jewish sacrificial system was intended to bring about reconciliation between people and God. There was  estrangement between people – but mostly the Old Testament is concerned with the estrangement between God and His people of the covenant.

 

Reconciliation

 

When we get to the New Testament we find as in the Old Testament, there are many times when reconciliation is inferred, but not named. But in the New Testament Greek word is often used, katallassein, to effect change, particularly to change a broken relationship back into an amicable state.

 

There are a number of ways to communicate reconciliation using other terms: resolution, amicable settlement, compromise, “burying the hatchet” and so forth. It means that two or more sides in a conflict find a way going beyond conflict.

 

To me there seems to be more and more conflict and less and less reconciliation. “Winning “is more sought than negotiation. Nowhere is this more evident to me than in the arena of politics.

 

Politics reflect our brokenness as a society and, for the most part, a denial of Christian teachings. If you are a Democrat or Republican, it is usually under the assumption that the ideology of your party is always the  right one with the undeniable Truth and truths. Any candidate of your party is indisputably the right candidate for any office and any candidate of the other party is undeniably unfit for the job. Your party is always right about every issue, while any candidate of the other party is unfit. Your party alone can save the nation. The other party is unqualified to do that. So, we must fight them without compromise or mercy.

 

But in a democratic republic such as ours, neither party has all the right answers, while both have their share of the wrong ones. Both parties may be wrong much of the time. Human politics, although we act as if they handed down from Heaven, are always tinged with human limitation.

 

I am not suggesting that Christians give up on being Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives, Evangelicals or “those other Christians” – so long as we understand and acknowledge that the teachings of Jesus Christ are the ones that he lived and died for, and rose again to set before us the Way.

 

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.