RECONCILIATION MEANS FORGIVENESS

When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, "He saved others, let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One." The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying "If You are the King of Jews, save Yourself!"
(Luke 23: 33-37)

If Christ came to live among us in order to bring reconciliation between us and God, how is that accomplished? What does it look like, at least for a beginning?

If two people have been out of harmony with each other, there is likely to be necessary to be some forgiveness between them.

Forgiveness is not easy to achieve. We don't like to let go of resentments. But our role model, Jesus, look what he does -- he forgives the people crucifying him. They're playing dice for is very clothes right in front of him as he is dying, and he forgives them.

That's a real challenge for us to follow.

"But what has all this to do with Advent?" you ask. After all, Advent and Christmas, isn't this a season for joy and bright lights and happy faces, and that Baby in the Manger looking all sweet?

A good storyteller knows that shadows of the end of the story need to be present from the beginning. And in the story of Jesus, the cross looms at the "crisis point" in the story. While he was on the cross, the soldiers mocked Jesus, saying "If you are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!" But writer Chalres Williams, a friend of C.S. Lewis, has observed that saviors cannont save themselves. They cannot be thinking about whether or not they themselves will come through the process when they are laboring to save others.

Forgiveness and commitment, even onto death. That's what is needed for reconciliation with God. It's a tall order.

But isn't Advent a good time to work on those things? The season when Hope physically entered the world, when God came to dwell among us? The world around us has turned Christmas into the most selfish time of the year. Advertising urges us to think about all those things we want for ourselves, so we can tell our loved ones all the things we want, hoping they will go out and get them. That's because advertising plays upon our desires. But day in and day out we see these mini-stories with this theme of "Desire this! Want this! Yearn for this! And buy, buy, buy!" Everything around us pulls us away from the real point of Christ's coming.

The things of this world are temporary, comforting and pleasing as they may be. But our relationship with God is eternal, extending beyond the limits of flesh and blood and material existence. Which is more important?

The world around us moves toward the darkest time of the year (in the northern hemisphere, where the story of Jesus took place in historical time). The social world around us pulls us away from the light of Christ and toward the darkness of self-centeredness. To change our focus we need to remember where the story of Jesus is heading, toward that challenge of forgivenss in order to achieve reconciliation.

I admit it: considering the places in my life where I need to bring forgiveness and reconciliation isn't easy. And to deal with them at Christmas time, well, that's a lot of work. The serioius attention needed to achieve it, the willingness to humble myself, to seek justice between myself and the other person, those are things that seem out of tune with the upbeat happiness the world around me says should be the outlook for the season.

But who am I to listen to here? The world, which only cares about whether I spend money and indulge myself? Or am I to listen to the voice of Christ in scripture? Why is this even a question? (Oh, because I'm only human and need to be reminded from time to time.)

It's Advent, the time of preparation for the coming of the Christ. The coming of Christ brings us the manifest means, in the flesh, for gaining reconciliation with God. And part of the fabric of that reunion leads toward the cross and the need to forgive those with whom we are in disharmony. We cannot come into harmony with God if we are out of tune with the people around us. If we are to sing the Great Music of the Birth of Jesus, we need to end the clashing noises of fractured relationships, to bring harmony by forgiving others and seeking forgiveness.