Will He Forgive Us?

Continuing with my thoughts about the Sermon Seminar - I didn’t want to forget to mention the sermon point that Dr. Fred Craddock made during his presentation on Monday evening – it was for me an especially poignant moment as he voiced his rendition of the disciples sleeping whilst Jesus lay on the ground pleading in prayer with every ounce of his heart, “throwing himself to the ground” as Craddock read in Mark's account.

Dr. Fred Craddock in his seemingly intentionally slow, soft, and southern tones ventured as to what the disciples might ask him once they woke up and what would he tell them – would he, the reader, the audience privy to the garden scene tell the slumbering disciples what really happened or would we divert the reality and make the blow softer, less harsh? But more than wanting to know the details of the moment of Jesus’ most needy time the disciples, Craddock believed would want to know whether or not Jesus could forgive them – forgive them for not being there in his desperate time of anxiousness and concern? Jesus their master and Lord asked them to watch and pray – he needed them to give him emotional, mental, and spiritual strength and they did not, in deed Craddock believes they could not because seeing Jesus this way seemed in their minds to take away the look and confidence of the King they believed he owned and truly was.

Will he forgive us? This was profound for me because this fear and question daily comes into my head and heart - “Will God forgive me for forgetting him and for not being aware of his precious people and taking time to meet the needs of those around? Will he forgive me for my daily wastefulness? Will he forgive me for not getting it – like the disciples didn’t get the parables or his purposes in sending Jesus to die and be raised again? Will he forgive me for thinking I know when I understand absolutely nothing? Can I be forgiven for falling asleep at the pinnacle of the story?

And the answer I know but wait to hear is “yes” and how do I know it is “yes”? . . . because as Dr. Craddock infers in this rather dramatic Mark-like presentation - just as the disciples might have been thinking this we, the audience, read and are present for the rest of Mark’s telling of his story of Jesus. We are there when a young man in glowing white clothes tells the women (followers of Jesus) who come to the tomb looking for Jesus to “Go and tell” the disciples and Peter (the one who betrayed him) to come meet him in Galilee. As we gather information from all the links in the story we can be assured that Jesus still, in my estimation, believes in these ones (chosen yet fallible) and believes they along with the help of the Spirit will carry out the work he left to them and left at this point to us and more poignantly – left me to carry out.

Though the women fled full of fear as they came back to all that had happened and thoughtfully pursued the actions and words of Jesus they had experienced - it is this reader's belief that they, too, heard "yes, I forgive and love you - now come follow me".

I am forgiven that I might forgive others. I am rescued that I might rescue others just as Jesus thoroughly rescues and forgives me as I journey towards Galilee.