Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapter Thirty One verse Thirty Four, “I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sins not more,” (NRSVB). Jeremiah saw a vision that gave him hope for the times to come. He saw the return of the captives back to Israel, a whole assembly of people praising and worshipping God, coming up to the mountain Zion to be instructed of the Lord again. Jeremiah saw God appearing to Israel, as he did when he gave the law to Moses, saying, “I have loved you, Israel, with and everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you,” (Amplified Bible).
God, as the loving Father, is always waiting for the return of his children to come back to him, as the father of the prodigal son waited for his rebellious son to return. He kept on looking out for him and recognised him when he was still far away. The father ran to the son to welcome him. He did not punish him. God knows that the punishment that the lost child suffers while living his life on unrighteous terms, is enough punishment and suffering. The suffering that is suffered, due to living life not adhering to God’s commandments, can be used as a call to return back to the Father’s House. The prodigal son said to himself, I am not worthy to be called a son. I will confess my wrongs to my father, and I will ask him if I may only work as a labourer on his lands. But the father had different plans and reinstated his son, this lost son, back in the family and gave him a place of honour. This is what the loving-kindness of God, the Father, gives to each and everyone of his children who turns away from him, and then decides to come back. God waits for their return and welcomes them with open arms. God forgives and forgets all the wrongs committed against him and his commandments. God brings about new life, hope and a blessed and purposeful future.
The narrative of God’s journey with his people Israel, is a narrative to remind us of God’s patience and his loving-kindness towards the world and her people. He is the perfect father, who wants the best for his children. He does not force them to obey his commandments and to listen to his instruction, he allows them to follow their own hearts and desires, even if that means that they disobey him and leave him. However, his heart continues to ache, just as a parent’s heart aches when the children reject the parent. God still keeps watch over his wayward children. When the children realise that they have been cheated by the promises of the world, when they see the vanity and emptiness of the lives they live, then they remember the joy of life with the Lord and return to him in humility and ask for his forgiveness. In Psalm Hundred and Three verse Twelve we read, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us. As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear Him,” (Amplified Bible).
Jesus Christ came to the world, the perfectly obedient Son of God, and he taught the world and her people about the kingdom of God, and God’s future plans for those who believe in him, and the Son whom God sent to the world. Jesus was rejected by the people, just as God was rejected. Despite the rejections that Jesus suffered, he chose to suffer on behalf of the people. He took all their iniquity on his shoulders, so that all could ultimately live with him and his Father, in the kingdom of heaven. The Apostle Peter taught this wonder truth to the people who assembled together in the house of Cornelius. Cornelius was a captain in the Roman army. He had prayed reverently that God would send word to him and his family to explain the teachings of Jesus. The Apostle Peter was instructed, through a vision, to go with the God-fearing soldiers who were sent by Cornelius. Peter went to teach of Christ’s love to the Roman believers in Joppa, the church grew and Cornelius and his family were all baptized as believers. Peter taught, as we read in the Book of Acts, Chapter Ten verse Forty Three, “All the prophets testify about Jesus that everyone who believe in him receives forgiveness of all sin through his Name,” (NRSVB).
Father, we thank you that you have sent your Son to earth, for us. We thank you that we can ask you to forgive us our trespasses in the Name of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, and who was raised from the death, so that we can live in the Kingdom of Heaven, Amen.