This morning I felt led to read from Luke 17, and while there are several interesting stories to reflect upon in that chapter, I found myself drawn back to the first topic that Jesus was discussing, namely forgiveness. Specifically, what I found interesting was the correlation between forgiveness and faith. Here are the verses - Luke 17:3-6 NIV"
[3] "So watch yourselves.
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. [4] Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying 'I repent,' you must forgive them.”
[5] The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
[6] He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you."
Normally, I would not consider verse 6 as a part of the previous discussion, yet it clearly is connected by the request of the apostles, who recognized they needed more faith to forgive as Jesus commanded them. It makes me wonder what issues they were dealing with as a fellowship that caused them to cry out, "Increase our faith!"
This story takes place late in Jesus' ministry, for he is on His way to Jerusalem for his final time (Luke 17:11). The conversations about who was to sit on His right hand were behind them, the offer to call down fire on the town that didn't welcome them was as well. The apostles, still didn't understand that He was going to die (See Luke 18:34) and were likely trying to figure out how this all worked, this new thing that Jesus was clearly starting.
We don't know what the situation really was that caused Jesus to talk about forgiveness, but the language is clearly aimed at at their fellowship of followers - for Jesus spoke of the sin being done by "brother or sister". The Greek word used here is adelphos, and it literally means "of the same womb". The word is used to describe biological brothers and sisters, and later was used as well to describe those who are closely connected in fellowship. Jesus did have biological brothers in His band of followers, and clearly they were also a group of close friends and followers for they went with Jesus everywhere.
So, it seems to me that Jesus is describing one who is in close relationship who sins. I am not going to go into the definition of sin here, other than to say that the Greek word used is defined as having no share in, missing the mark, or path. The sin could be large or small, He doesn't say, but what He does say is that its consistent and persistent.
Jesus defines the interaction as someone sins, you rebuke, that someone repents. What I find very interesting is the Greek word that is translated rebuke, is the word epitimao. It is defined as follows:
1) to show honour to, to honour
2) to raise the price of
3) to adjudge, award, in the sense of merited penalty
4) to tax with fault, rate, chide, rebuke, reprove, censure severely
a) to admonish or charge sharply
The word itself is a conjunction of two Greek words, epi and timao. Epi means upon, and timao means to set the value of something, to honor. What is interesting is how a word so strongly having to do with honor, and value, has been translated multiple times as rebuke! Could this be one of the times that translators put a little of their own theology into their translation? I don't know, and can only question, for I am certainly not a Greek scholar.
I can say that often our understanding of forgiveness and dealing with those who sin, can have a completely wrong perspective. We normally think that this involves judgment, and guilt and punishment, and yet Jesus demonstrates over and over that forgiveness is about restoring relationship. If my goal in going to a brother who sins against me is to restore relationship, which technique would have better results - rebuking or honoring them as someone of significant importance in my life?? I know which way I would like to be approached!
I think that at times we can read verses such as these and think they give us the right to "rebuke" and judge our brothers and sisters, multiple times a day, and that isn't the focus at all. It is about forgiving and restoring relationship multiple times a day!
The word Jesus uses that is translated as forgive is aphiemi which means to send away and forget. The word itself is rich in the definition, as there are many ways its used, but it always has a sense of finality to it. This is what Jesus tells the apostles thy must do multiple times a day.
It is at this point the apostles cry out, "Increase our faith!"
It seems to me they are crying out, "We need faith, NOW!"
I believe they rightly understood that restoring relationship was of critical importance, and they needed help changing their hearts and minds. So often we read this, thinking that Jesus was addressing the apostles as the ones that were doing rebuking and forgiving, not the ones who needed to be repenting! What if Jesus actually meant they were the ones sinning every day, multiple times, and their cry of, "Increase our faith!" actually had to do with their need to repent and change the way they were thinking?!
Wow, that changes this whole story in a hurry! The goal of Jesus' ministry was to reveal the Father and restore us to a place of relationship with Him. He was working and ministering within the relationships He had with these followers, and I believe they understood what He was saying in that context. I know when the Lord speaks to me, it is within the context of how I understand our relationship that He usually speaks, usually calling me deeper into relationship and challenging me to change the way I am thinking (repentance).
He encourages me to recognize my need to change, to ask forgiveness for those times that I choose wrongly, and to press forward deeper into Him. I think this whole story is about us learning to do exactly that, with each other as well. We are called to be joined to the Body of Christ through the bonds of deep relationship. We are all human and all have issues and we must learn how to move past those things in us that cause issues for each other. We are called to ascribe honor to one another, to see the importance of relationships, to ascribe the correct value to our relationships. It is only the context of connection to the Body that we are truly able to fulfill our purpose and God's plan for us, thus forgiveness and repentance are critical to our walk.
We are right to cry out for more faith, more help from Holy Spirit! We are right to extend forgiveness and ask forgiveness to and from one another! No matter how many times a day, nor how deep the wounds are, we are called to relationship with Him and one another and we must learn to walk in intimacy, transparency and humility.
I know I need His help every day! I need faith NOW!
Amen!
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