Have you ever noticed we experience our most intense emotions with our closest family members? We may feel our greatest love for our own siblings. Sometimes we also vent our greatest anger at them. I suppose, though I have no evidence, that twins may be the closest of all sibling relationships. Clearly, they share their mother’s prenatal love simultaneously. Don’t they also compete from the moment of conception for space and life?
Esau and Jacob came out of the womb competing for their parents’ affection. Esau, a great outdoorsman and hunter, caught Isaac’s attention and affection. Jacob found fusion in his closeness to Rebekah. Favoritism did not serve their family well. Does it ever?
As Jacob returned home to the brother whom he had defrauded of birthright and blessing, he feared his brother’s promised reprisal. Sending his brother gifts of flocks and bowing before his brother seven times, Jacob hoped to defuse his brother’s anger. Jacob was prepared for the worst. Imagine his surprise to see that his brother Esau offered him forgiveness. Esau came not to kill but to welcome Jacob and his family.
The face of forgiveness is the face of God. Jacob is not exaggerating. When we see that a person has forgiven us, we are seeing the quality of mercy that originates with God. As Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount, God’s forgiveness and our forgiveness of each other are connected (Matthew 6:14-15). They come through the same “door.” To see the face of one who forgives us really is like seeing the face of God.
Who needs your forgiveness today? Whose forgiveness do you need? Again in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us to reconcile with those who have something against us before we offer our worship to God (Matthew 5:23-26). We are to reconcile broken relationships quickly. Finally in the same sermon, Jesus teaches that when we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us we are revealing the character of God who causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:43-45). Isn’t this amazing? By forgiving someone today we can show them the face of God. Will we? Someone close to you may be looking to see. Let them see the face of God in our faces today. To live we not only need to be forgiven; we need to forgive.
