{"id":380,"date":"2010-09-28T08:37:04","date_gmt":"2010-09-28T08:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/questions-for-jesus-who-can-forgive-sins-but-god-alone.html"},"modified":"2010-09-28T08:37:04","modified_gmt":"2010-09-28T08:37:04","slug":"questions-for-jesus-who-can-forgive-sins-but-god-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/questions-for-jesus-who-can-forgive-sins-but-god-alone.html","title":{"rendered":"Questions for Jesus: Who can forgive sins but God alone?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"Thumbnail<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Picture this scene. I’m in a bar with two friends, Jen and
\nAlice. Alice punches Jen in the face. And then Alice turns to me. And I say, “I
\nforgive you.” If I’m Jen, I’m thinking, “Who are you to forgive Alice? I’m the
\none she punched!”<\/p>\n

It’s this same scenario that Jesus asks us to consider when
\nit comes to forgiveness. He essentially says that every violation of the moral
\ncode–every punch in the face, every injustice, every mean thought, every act of
\nspite and anger–are not just violations from human to human. He says they are,
\nat their core, violations against God.<\/p>\n

For the Jews in Jesus’ day, this concept would have made
\nsense. God created human beings and therefore has a say over human behavior.
\nMoreover, God actually loves human beings, and desires their wholeness. God wants
\nus to flourish. When we hurt one another, we hurt our common humanity, and it
\ncauses separation and animosity to spread from human to human and between the
\nhuman, the one who bears the image of God, and God himself. The way to
\nbegin repairing that separation and healing those wounds is through
\nforgiveness.<\/p>\n

In Mark
\n2<\/a>, a paralyzed man is carried to Jesus. Somewhat out of the blue, Jesus
\ntells him, “Your sins are forgiven.” (I’ve always wondered whether this came as
\nexciting news to the paralyzed man–all he seemed to want was the ability to
\nwalk again.) He and his companions must have been puzzled. Not only was the man
\nnot asking for forgiveness, who is Jesus to offer it? It’s rather like me
\nforgiving my friend for punching someone else. <\/p>\n

The only way Jesus could offer forgiveness for sin is if Jesus is claiming to be God. To be the one who created each of us. The
\none against whom we sin. The one with the ability to heal us and the power to
\nforgive. <\/p>\n

So what does this passage mean for us? <\/p>\n

Our spiritual healing is of utmost importance to God.<\/p>\n

God, through Jesus, has the power and the willingness to forgive sin.<\/p>\n

It is hard to believe. Just as the people in the room
\nwondered if Jesus really could forgive sin, we too have trouble believing that
\nwe need forgiveness and that God wants to forgive us.<\/p>\n

And yet, if we come to Jesus for forgiveness, we begin the
\nwork of reconciliation that can then extend from person to person, to heal the
\nworld. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Picture this scene. I’m in a bar with two friends, Jen and Alice. Alice punches Jen in the face. And then Alice turns to me. And I say, “I forgive you.” If I’m Jen, I’m thinking, “Who are you to forgive Alice? I’m the one she punched!” It’s this same scenario that Jesus asks us…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"yoast_head":"\nQuestions for Jesus: Who can forgive sins but God alone? - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/questions-for-jesus-who-can-forgive-sins-but-god-alone.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Questions for Jesus: Who can forgive sins but God alone? - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Picture this scene. I’m in a bar with two friends, Jen and Alice. Alice punches Jen in the face. And then Alice turns to me. And I say, “I forgive you.” If I’m Jen, I’m thinking, “Who are you to forgive Alice? 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}