Devotional:Forgiveness Is For Winners

Luke 23:32 tells us after Pilate had delivered Jesus to be crucified, he was led to a place called the Skull.  A great multitude watched as he was nailed to the cross it was there amidst his pain and suffering with criminals on his right and left Jesus cries out the first of his seven last words.  “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”  

There Is A Word From The Lord And I am Pleased To Share It With You I A Brief Teaching Entitled Forgiveness Is For Winners

Greater Bethel has joined the interfaith council in reading Isabel Wilkerson, book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.  And in that book Sister Wilkerson  quotes the writer Roxane Gay who says that “Black people forgive because they need to survive.” 

Gray goes on to say  “We have to forgive time and time again while racism or white silence in the face of racism continues to thrive. 

We have had to forgive slavery, segregation, Jim Crow laws, lynching, inequity in every realm, mass incarceration, voter disenfranchisement, inadequate representation in popular culture, microaggressions and more. We forgive and forgive and forgive and those who trespass against us continue to trespass against us.”​

Jesus died on the cross to forgive us of our sins.  Considering the suffering Jesus endured, and the survivalist nature that forgiveness has come to be for black people in America. I ask the question is forgiveness while ordained by God is it only a defensive tool of the oppressed?  Giving by Jesus to God’s people to keep them from being beat down some more after they have been beat down?  

After all, do we see the powerful ever ask for forgiveness?   Has Trump asked for forgiveness for falsely questing Obama’s citizenship? Has he asked for forgiveness for saying the 2020 election was rigged, or the many lies he has told, or for what he doing what he is now doing to the capabilities of our government, the integrity the juridical system or the recking of our economy?  

Black and other oppressed people forgive time and time again. So, I must ask again, and this time more clearly is forgiveness for suckers is forgiveness for losers?  

Jesus while suffering on the cross saying, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Demonstrates that forgiveness is for winners.

So that football team that we all root for has a play book.  An offensive and defensive game plan designed for victory.   My brothers and sisters I contend Jesus’s by asking God to forgive the very folks who were causing his death provides us with an effective playbook for dealing with ravages of the Trump administration.  

This is Jesus’s playbook in three plays:   

Play One: Forgiveness gets us right with God 

Jesus says in Matthew 6:14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 

Play Two: Now that we are right with God the Lord will give us the courage to get into some good trouble 

Good trouble is about challenging unjust systems standing up for the least the lost the marginalized and the disenfranchised.    

The Bible is filled with people who got right with God and then caused some good trouble. 

Esther risked her life to speak up against a decree that threatened the Jewish people.

Prophets like Amos and Isaiah were not afraid to call out the wealthy and powerful for their greed and injustice. 

Even flawed figures like Ruth, David, and the disciples were used by God to bring about positive change. 

We can get into good trouble by not checking out of the avalanche of bad news and executive orders but to say informed.  

We can get into good trouble by encouraging our bothers and sisters du

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