εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”
“And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive (ἀφῆτε, aphete)
are forgiven (ἀφέωνται, apheontai) them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.””
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive (ἀφῆτε, aphete)
are forgiven (ἀφέωνται, apheontai) them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.””
θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)
Reminiscent of God the Father’s creative Breath that fashioned humanity in His image and likeness (Genesis 2), the Risen Jesus breathes that same creative Breath, the Person of the Holy Spirit, into the Apostles to continue His saving and renewing work through the forgiveness of sins. Because the experience of forgiveness is at the core of Jesus’ teaching and way of living, it is worth pondering its meaning in the Word of God this Pentecost Sunday.
Throughout His Public ministry, Jesus freely imparted God the Father’s forgiveness in response to sorrow for sin. He taught His disciples to forgive one another and included it as a petition in the prayer that defines all Christian Prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. He even pronounced a prayer of forgiveness from His broken Body engulfed in a pain that words cannot even begin to express as He was dying on the Cross. And if that were not enough, Jesus concluded a parable with one of His most stinging challenge: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother (ἀφῆτε, aphete) from his heart (Matthew 18:35).”
Jesus’ Words certainly cut deep into our minds, hearts and bodies. Every time we hear Him say a word about forgiveness our minds recall the many faces of strained and broken relationships that are still oozing with pain. The pain and hurt often prompt thoughts, if not action, of revenge because ‘he or she is not going to get away with hurting me.’ Other times the hurts generate anger as we realize we cannot do anything to ‘feel better.’ We have experienced hurts so deep that ‘forgiveness’ (however one might initially describe the term) seems impossible to us at that moment.
ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) is the Greek verb generally rendered “to forgive” in the majority of English Bible translations. In antiquity, ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) meant “to release” suggesting a prior action that has somehow bound or even imprisoned a person or object. Closely related to the meaning of “to release,” ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) includes a sense of “to leave” or “to leave to another.” While there are a number of other English words that also translate ἀφίημι (aphíēmi), all of the translations suggest some type of motion. This further suggests that ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) ‘permits’ motion since, implicitly, motion has been halted. Secular usage of ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) in antiquity conveyed a sense of “lifting or releasing a debt owed;” a meaning that is often woven into biblical texts such as the Lord’s Prayer.
Jesus’ Words certainly cut deep into our minds, hearts and bodies. Every time we hear Him say a word about forgiveness our minds recall the many faces of strained and broken relationships that are still oozing with pain. The pain and hurt often prompt thoughts, if not action, of revenge because ‘he or she is not going to get away with hurting me.’ Other times the hurts generate anger as we realize we cannot do anything to ‘feel better.’ We have experienced hurts so deep that ‘forgiveness’ (however one might initially describe the term) seems impossible to us at that moment.
ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) is the Greek verb generally rendered “to forgive” in the majority of English Bible translations. In antiquity, ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) meant “to release” suggesting a prior action that has somehow bound or even imprisoned a person or object. Closely related to the meaning of “to release,” ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) includes a sense of “to leave” or “to leave to another.” While there are a number of other English words that also translate ἀφίημι (aphíēmi), all of the translations suggest some type of motion. This further suggests that ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) ‘permits’ motion since, implicitly, motion has been halted. Secular usage of ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) in antiquity conveyed a sense of “lifting or releasing a debt owed;” a meaning that is often woven into biblical texts such as the Lord’s Prayer.
So what does this all have to say to us when it comes to the very difficult action of forgiving another or others? Sin (a translation of the Hebrew hatta meaning “to miss the mark”) by its very nature is not only evil, disorder or offense, but also a chosen act. When I sin, I choose to introduce a level of chaos and disorder into life that retards and may even stop any growth or motion in life towards the other, others and God. The greater ‘the sin’ the harder the brakes are applied to life and relationship living. Some offenses may even bring all movement to a screeching halt similar to putting a car ‘in park’ and blocking the wheels, along with the possibility of lifting the car on jack stands and removing the wheels. Nobody is going anywhere then.
The act of forgiving (ἀφίημι (aphíēmi)) is a power breathed into life that has been stopped dead in its tracks. ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) is an act of creation – a mighty act of creation – enabled by the Divine Life of the Holy Trinity within that jump-starts life once again. It does not whitewash or pretend that the hurt or damage has not occurred. Forgiveness is not about forgetting or having the memory of the hurt obliterated. That is impossible; after all what has occurred is historical, that is, it has happened at a particular time and in a particular place. The historic damage is real. To ‘pretend’ otherwise is foolish. What forgiveness does, however, is release one from the crippling affect and effect that the memories of painful events have over our life in the present. In the end, forgiveness is Divine Love that calls forth life into existence much the same way reality first came into existence: the response to the Word, Jesus, breathing the Holy Spirit of Love by the almighty and loving Father.