The Forgiveness Provision

There is more than one way to mess up when we are dealing with people. We can be unaware that what we have done is harmful or offensive. We can fail to do what we know we should but forget to take care of it or not consider it important enough to worry about. In selfish moments, we know better but don’t care enough to restrain our impulses. We call them sins of ignorance, sins of omission, sins of commission. They are alike in their negative effects and our need to do what we can to reverse their effects.

Sometimes the effects cannot be reversed; that is especially where forgiveness comes in. Sins are against other people and against God, “against heaven and in your sight,” as the prodigal son says to his father (Luke 15:18, 21). Forgiveness means we can turn around on this one-way, dead-end street

That provision harks back to Christ’s death for our sins and resurrection for our justification (Romans 4:25). The eucharist reminds us of how helpless we are in our guilt because not having sin held against us lies wholly in the hands of the others, the ones we have sinned against. They are the ones that have do the forgiving beyond any change of heart on our part.

The bread and juice symbolize this provision through Christ’s body and blood. We observe them periodically together to refresh our awareness of this crucial aspect of Christian living.