Absolution

Here's a question...Is it possible for you to receive the forgiveness of God, without really asking for it? or, can you be forgiven if there hasn't been any repentance? I'm guessing most people at least to my second wording of the question, would be tempted to say no.

I would like to submit to you the statement Jesus made on the cross in Luke 23:34 " Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" . Do any of us REALLY know what we're doing when we sin? I believe most of the sinning you and I do in our lives, is not calculated, deliberate sin and defiance, although for those outside of Christ sometimes maybe. But doesn't it look like Jesus is saying "because they don't know what they're doing, forgive them"? One question this might raise here is, does sin get a pass because it's unintentional ? That doesn't line up with the the Law of Moses , where you had special sacrifices even for sins you didn't even know you committed. I think that sin always requires payment whether deliberate or not, but on that dark afternoon they looked up at Jesus and witnessed both the mercy of God that rejoices over judgment, and the inception of an amnesty that only the cross of Christ can provide for all of us.

Still the question remains , does God choose sometimes to just forgive someone who isn't repentant, because He chooses how and when to have mercy, and on whom? It is apparent that those who participated in the Crucifixion of Christ were pardoned for that act because Jesus asked the Father to do so. But who is the "them" that He absolved? Was it just the Roman soldiers who nailed Him up?, or would it also include all of those who took part in the travesty of justice that condemned the Innocent and caused blind hatred to supersede jurisprudence? I suppose you could even make the case that each and everyone one of us was complicit on some level. We'll never know specifically who Jesus was talking about, until we go be with Him and can ask Him ourselves. Even more than understanding who was the precise object of Jesus's forgiving in that passage, I'm intrigued with the forgiveness itself. As Christians our forgiveness is based solely on our trust in, and relationship with Jesus Christ. So even though there are no works on our behalf that can justify us, we at least are obligated to accept that freely offered sacrifice on our behalf. With the executioners of our Lord on Calvary, they neither kept God's law, nor did they have any conviction in their hearts to repent of their actions, yet they were forgiven. Maybe its just that single sin of putting to death the Innocent, that was forgiven; and they were still to be held accountable for the rest of their lives. Still Jesus chose to forgive them of that particular infraction, citing only that "they know not what they do".

What would have happened then had Jesus NOT asked for forgiveness for them...for us?. Would God have obliterated the entire world for killing His Son?...in all three of the synoptic gospels we read the parable of the husbandman whose wicked servants murdered the guy's son, and Jesus said "..When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men.." Surely it is impossible to understand the intricate dynamics of the Holy Trinity, but we know that although Jesus was God on Earth, He also was a Son and had a heavenly Father who fiercely loves His Son , and would be, and WILL be, a consuming fire to anyone who disrespects, much less harms His only Son. And scripture says that as His children, we too are protected by that Father , who if anyone dares mess with, it's better a millstone gets put on their neck and they get thrown into the sea, or a mother bear meet them robbed of her whelps. I believe Jesus had deep compassion for those who crucified Him KNOWING, of the swift and fierce retribution the God of Creation could have brought on them or on us all.

While we understand that specific good works and deeds do not warrant our eternal forgiveness, in 1 Peter 4:8 we read " And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins" .That idea always fascinated me, because it's as if you have an ace in the hole , or a secret emergency option you can invoke, or a "get out of sin's jail free card" to play. One might say "but what if he's talking about the sins of the one you're being charitable TOWARDS, being forgiven"? I believe that isn't it, but rather it's YOUR sins pardoned when YOU show love, because of the passage in Luke 7 where Mary anoints Jesus's feet and He says about her in verse 47 "Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." So it also appears that having a LACK of love, can actually hinder forgiveness which is also fascinating. :)

In summation, obtaining absolution from our sins is as simple as asking for it, (from Jesus personally just you and Him, not with man's mediation) as we read in 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Yet with the All-mighty God, He reserves the right to change the rules at will, and to sometimes make exceptions for certain individuals as He sees fit, as Paul said in Romans 9 "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy....Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth."