What is forgiveness and the cost of God’s forgiveness for us?
The first of the seven sayings of Jesus Christ in his final hours on the cross was, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Jesus was betrayed by one of his disciples with a kiss. The chief priests and religious leaders who hated Jesus plotted to kill him. They got Jesus arrested by the Roman soldiers. His disciples deserted him and Peter denied him three times on the same night.
When Pilate wanted to release Jesus, the crowd among whom Jesus had preached and ministered to shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Jesus was mocked, beaten, flogged, stripped, humiliated, persecuted, and finally crucified by the Roman soldiers (Matthew 26-27; Mark 14-15; Luke 22-23; John 18-19).
This is the cost of God’s forgiveness for us: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).
Jesus shed his blood so that we receive the forgiveness of our sins (Hebrews 9:22).
Christ’s resurrection on the third day is the hope of our Christian faith (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20). When we receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we are reconciled to the Father as heirs and children of God, and co-heirs with Christ. And nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8).
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to forgive one another as the heavenly Father has forgiven us (Matthew 6:12). Forgiveness is extending God’s mercy and not holding a grudge against anyone, but releasing the wrongdoer and their sins from our hearts to God who is holy, righteous and just.