All the way back, from the time of Abraham, God has promised that He would deliver His people from their enemies.
And, as we start this Great Lent, we can’t help but be excited! We are excited because, through the Resurrection of Christ, through the Pascha that awaits us at the end of this Fast, we too are made inheritors of this promise. Because of Christ’s death on the Cross, we are now welcomed, we are now invited into the same covenant of Abraham, the very same promise of Israel. A firm and assured promise to deliver us from our enemies.
But: who are our enemies?
It’s tempting, maybe even obvious, to say that our enemies are other people. Those who have wronged us, those who hate us, those who seek to destroy us. Perhaps it’s simply those who disagree with us and our Faith, those who reject this covenant of Abraham, this promise to Israel. Maybe it’s them. Perhaps God has come to destroy them, for us.
But brothers and sisters, as we stand here, as we are about to ask forgiveness of one another, we wholeheartedly reject the idea that our enemy is other people.
Other people are not my enemy.
My enemy is not fallen man, my enemy is the Fall.
My enemy is not the sinner sitting next to me, or even that sinner that I see in the mirror every morning. No, my enemy is Sin.
My enemy is not anyone who I have transgressed, or anyone who has transgressed against me. Whether in person, online, whether aloud, or in my own heart. No, these people are not my enemy, my enemy is transgression itself.
For it is sin that has made us enemies of each other. It is sin that has obscured that image of God in each of us, to the point where we don’t even recognize each other for who we are: siblings! Brothers and sisters. Every child born, every man and woman on this planet, all mutual children of a merciful and Loving God.
Sin makes us forget. Sin makes hate, and fear. Sin tempts us to judge, and to obscure, and to destroy one another. But thankfully - lest we forget - this God promises us deliverance: and He fulfills that promise by arming us with the a very powerful gift, a weapon that will truly destroy our enemies, those enemies which are sin, and death.
This weapon is forgiveness. Forgiveness heals. Forgiveness washes away the muck, it resets our bones, it heals our wounds. The power of forgiveness is unquenchable, un-defeatable, inexhaustible. And God has come, and died, and has risen again, and in doing so he freely offers us this gift. For by forgiving us, on the Cross, Christ invites us to participate in this transformational gift, as well. He gives us forgiveness, so that we might forgive as well.
Now, just like any of God’s gifts, I must first seek to receive it before I can ever possibly hope to wield it myself. To gain the power of forgiveness, we first seek forgiveness, we ask forgiveness.
So, brothers and sisters, before we go around the room and we forgive each other: I humbly ask your forgiveness. Forgive me for my failures, for my mistakes. Forgive me for my shortcomings as your pastor, forgive me for when I have been neglectful in my duty to serve you. Please forgive me.
Now, as we go around this room, and we forgive each other, do not lose sight of what it is that we are doing. Brothers and sisters, we are killing sin. We are washing away any hurt that we may have caused to one another, we are healing whatever wounds that have festered in this past year. And miraculously, by doing something so simple as seeking and giving forgiveness, we find our enemy destroyed.
We find ourselves united together by God’s gift of forgiveness, and we are now able to look to the Lenten Journey ahead, as one united body of Christ!
Glory to Jesus Christ!
