Forgiveness of sins

Give thanks to the Father

who made us fit for the holy community of light,

and rescued us from darkness,

bringing us into the realm of his beloved Son,

who redeemed us, forgiving our sins . . .

(Colossians 1:14, ICEL translation)

"who redeemed us, forgiving our sins."

I have always wondered why forgiveness of sins is so important in the Gospels and other New Testament texts. The people I know and live with don't seem that sinful. I don't feel sinful. Sometimes I think my sin is that I don't feel sinful. Either that or the people in New Testament times must have been a lot more sinful than we are today.

But then, praying that the other day, it struck me. No. Those people weren't any different from us. They weren't any more sinful than we are. Maybe the sense of "sin" in these texts is a vague sense we all have that, deep down, we must be guilty of something.

We all hurt sometimes, and it is a human tendency to think that when we hurt, we must have done something wrong. That is why people have so often offered sacrifices in atonement for sin. The book of Leviticus scheduled such sacrifices routinely. They would never run out of things to be forgiven.

And then comes Jesus, saying so often, "your sins are forgiven." What he was really saying was that we should quit seeing God as the Grand Inspector, peering into the depths of each of our days, spotting the places where we should have loved more.

Yes, Jesus was saying. You should have loved more. So? God knows that. God knows how you were made, and God accepts you as you are. That's forgiveness. Your sins are forgiven. God loves you anyway.

This all seems like trivializing the Gospel. It's pop psychology, "positive thinking." But it's more than that. I'm not just okay, and you're not just okay, but you and I are loved, and not just by each other. We are bathed in love greater than any of us.

We are in the realm of God's beloved Son, who redeems us, forgiving our sins.