Five years ago I had back surgery. While the initial recovery was fairly quick, I had to commit to a lengthy regiment of physical therapy in order to recover my strength and flexibility. My daughter had just completed her certification for hot yoga and so I commissioned her to create a customized yoga flow for me. Now I had never done yoga before. I didn’t know a downward dog from a milkbone dog biscuit, but as I practiced each day, the poses became more and more familiar as well as possible for me to hold. I religiously did the flow throughout that year and by the summer time I was close to my strength and flexibility prior to surgery, able to play tennis, golf, pickleball and I even began learning to wakesurf. (much easier on the lower back than waterskiing)
I was now able to easily move through my custom yoga flow and could hold poses like “half moon,” “tree,” and “eagle” as long as I wanted without falling out. I began to consider myself a “yogi” and arrogantly thought that perhaps I could teach yoga myself! However, my yoga experience was pretty constant; there were few to no variables that affected my practice, like temperature or space. I did yoga about the same time every day, at room temperature, with familiar focal points and alone.
That Christmas, the whole Brown clan descended on Charlotte, NC to celebrate the holiday together. The Brown girls decided to go to my daughter’s yoga studio on Christmas Eve and take a class. I was so excited to show off my skills and impress my daughters and daughter-in-law. But everything was different when we walked into the studio. First of all, this was a hot yoga studio and was so hot I could barely breathe! Second, It seemed as though everyone else in Charlotte had the same idea to attend a hot yoga class on Christmas Eve, because the room was filled wall-to-wall with people. We were so close to one another that our yoga mats touched! And I couldn’t find a focal point, other than the sweat dripping down the person’s back in front of me. Needless to say, the flow was a disaster for me. None of the poses called were unfamiliar to me, yet I couldn’t stay in them to save my life. I kept losing my balance and falling out of the poses.
When the class was finally, mercifully over, my daughter encouraged me, “Mama, great practice!” to which I replied, “You are a liar! That was awful! I looked like I’d never done yoga before. I couldn’t keep a pose to save my life!” She calmly reassured me that keeping the poses perfectly is not what constitutes a successful practice, but rather, recognizing that when the variables change - temperature, focal point and space - and you fall out of a yoga pose, you reset and come back to it. It’s not as though I didn’t know how to achieve the yoga pose, but when the variables changed and I lost my focus and the pose, I needed to remember the steps and get right back in.
In today’s reading from Luke, Jesus is vigorously reminding His followers that sin is serious and must be dealt with; however the only lasting way to deal with sin is by practicing forgiveness.
Read Luke 17:1-19
Jesus Takes Sin Seriously
Many of the religious leaders who heard Jesus teach and saw the people He hung out with had come to the conclusion that Jesus went easy on sin and was quick to let sinners off the hook. In these first verses of Luke 17, Jesus communicates clearly that He and His Father God takes sin quite seriously. I find it interesting that three of the most trusted bible translations, the New American Study Bible (NASB), the English Standard Version (ESV) and the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) use three different words connoting different ideas at first glance in verse 1 where Jesus begins His instructions on faith and how it works:
Now He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to one through whom they come! (NASB)
And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! (ESV)
He said to his disciples, “Offenses will certainly come, but woe to the one through whom they come! (CSB)
The Greek word used in the original language is skándalon, or "the means of stumbling" and stresses the method or means of entrapment. In ancient Greek culture, a "skandalon" was a trap or snare used for catching animals. Over time, the term came to include metaphorical meanings, such as a stumbling block or an obstacle that causes someone to fall into a pit. In the Jewish context, the concept of a stumbling block was significant, as it was considered a serious offense to lead others into sin, to tempt them away from the path of righteousness. Jesus couldn't agree more, adding that drowning with a millstone around one’s neck would be preferable to causing a young believer to sin. (from v 2) Rather than tempting others to sin, placing stumbling blocks in their paths, Jesus calls His disciples to come alongside those brothers and sisters who are in sin, gently confronting them to fellowship in the community. More personally, Jesus exhorts them to practice forgiveness when sinned against, more than doubling the Jewish requirement of forgiving three times to seven. We read in other gospels that Jesus would place a much higher number of times His disciples should be willing to forgive, as much as seventy times seven. (Matt 18:21-35)
The disciples' minds are reeling as they begin to think about that person in their life that they have cut out or dismissed because of their multiple offenses. Perhaps a parent, a sibling or a once close friend had hurt them over and over. They extended three strikes to the offender and they could in good conscience call them out and walk away from that relationship. Jesus has more than doubled the number of strikes allowed, so the disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith! (from v 5) They would need more than personal patience and determination to obey this new call to forgiveness!
Jesus shares that it really isn’t about the size of one’s faith, but in whom or what it is placed. For example, if their faith was the size of a tiny mustard seed, they would be able to “say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” (v 6) Faith in God’s sovereign power to work out his plan in the world and the lives of His creation should result in the practice of forgiveness, faithful stewardship and gratefulness. Jesus goes on to explain that as His followers begin to practice these new commands, they should not expect to be rewarded for doing the right thing. Why are we called to forgive? Because we have been forgiven everything by our Heavenly Father. The least we can do is forgive our brother or sister who sins against us.
Lastly, as Jesus was entering a village, ten lepers cried out to Him from a distance for mercy and healing. These men had suffered greatly, not only from this terrible disease that ravaged their body, but from being outcast and ostracized from their families and communities. Jesus simply told them to go and show themselves to the priest, who would declare them clean. The ten lepers began heading in that direction and as they went, their skin began returning to a healed and normal state! As they began to obey Jesus’ command to go to the priests they were healed! I imagine that they were so excited, in shock and awe, and forgot everything except being restored to their homes and families. But one man, a Samaritan, looked down at his hands and feet, perhaps watching as fingers and toes that were missing because of the leprosy grew back before his eyes. He turned back, praising God loudly and fell at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him. (from vv 15-16) “And he told him, ‘Get up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.’” (v 19) The other nine were cleansed of their physical disease, but this man received a much deeper and lasting healing; again, not because of the size of his faith, but in Whom he placed his faith. He would spend the rest of his life practicing the receiving and giving of forgiveness, empowered by his faith in Jesus.
Forgiveness is a Practice
After my epic fail in the hot yoga studio and my daughter’s encouragement to remember that yoga is a practice, I began to see how forgiveness is also a practice. While God’s forgiveness of me was complete the moment I was converted and brought into His kingdom and family, my believing in and receiving of His forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice on my behalf requires daily practice. It is only as I practice the receiving of His forgiveness of me that I can then practice offering forgiveness to others in my life who sin against me. Below are a few forgiveness steps that I practice regularly. I pray that they might be of help to you.
Look to Jesus as your teacher of the practice of forgiveness. Look to His words and life for the steps to achieving the pose of forgiveness.
I spend time in the following passages:
Matthew 27:45-52, Luke 23:34 and Hebrews 10:19-22
Matthew 5:21-24 and Matthew 7:1-5
Psalm 51
Matthew 18:15-35
Ephesians 4:30-32 and Colossians 3:12-13
Practice regularly, the giving and receiving of forgiveness.
When the variables change - you are weak or hurt, the same person sins against you…AGAIN!, you are triggered and find yourself feeling anger and resentment again - remember that you haven’t failed and forgiveness HAS happened - you know how to do this!
It isn’t whether you keep the forgiveness pose perfectly, it’s that when you fall out of the pose, you reset and get right back in.
Big Picture Questions for Today:
Is there anyone that you have refused to forgive? Would you be willing to talk through this hurt with a trusted friend, pastor or counselor?
Have you forgiven that person, but still find yourself feeling anxious or angry when around him/her? Perhaps you need to reset and practice the forgiveness pose again.
Pray and thank God for His unconditional and complete forgiveness of you through the sacrificial death of His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Ask Him to give you courage to practice forgiving others as you have been forgiven.
