God's Love is Why

Then Absalom said . . . "please let my brother Amnon come with us." . . . [and later] Absalom ordered his men, "Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I say to you, 'Strike Amnon down,' then kill him" . . . So Absalom's men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered. . . . And David mourned many days for his son Amnon . . . And King David, [once] reconciled to Amnon’s death, longed to be reunited with his son Absalom (2 Samuel 13:37-39 NLT).
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You know, the thing about reconciliation is that it is BEAUTIFUL.

I mean to tell you that there is SPLENDOR in it.

There is ecstasy in its irony, beauty in its brokenness, righteousness in its acceptance, holiness in its humility, humanity in its need, unconditionality in its generosity, and passion in its mad and merciful love.

I have FELT this paradoxical perfection.

I have also felt its PAIN, because before I could RECONCILE WITH the one who broke my heart, I had to first BE RECONCILED TO a pain so robust it kicked the breath right out of my gut.

I had to reconcile myself to the Lord---to His will.

And before I could do that, I had to reconcile myself to many impassable truths. I had to let go.

Is there anything more difficult? The climax of pain right before we finally accept and let go . . . we're talking searing agony. A raked-over-the-coals, soaked-in-scalding-hot-sorrow, wracked-with-sobs kind of feeling.

But those agonizing, panicky few seconds before you jump---aren't they so much worse than the fall itself?

Once I reconciled myself to the difficult truth, once I let go, once I jumped . . . then came the most unbelievable rush of love, relief, peace . . . and then a longing for reconciliation with my enemy.

The Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation (also known as the Sacrament of Penance, or Penance and Reconciliation) has three elements: conversion, confession, and celebration. I'm not a Catholic, but these three elements ring through my heart with peals of clarity and resounding truth.

First, conversion. Oh yes, as I was reconciled to difficult truths about myself, as I began to finally listen to the whispers of the Holy Spirit, a remarkable change was set in motion within my heart. And it continues.

Second, this undeniable change I felt inevitably brought me to a point of confession. I became willing to speak honestly about who I am, regardless of the consequences, to break the chains of fear that cause me to pretend to be something better than I am. I confessed. Out loud. To the Lord and to my family and even to my enemy. And as a result, a new sense of freedom, a renewed integrity, and a better kind of communication were borne in my relationship with the Lord and the people in my life: Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault (Colossians 1:22).

Celebration came next. And I can say with a sincerity I save for only the most precious and truthful of words: the pure bliss of reconciliation cannot be contained within our imperfect bodies. Not at all. It brims over uncontrollably like tears of joy from the bluest, most beautiful eyes you have ever seen.

What is the ultimate representation of love, after all? Reconciliation. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). . . . God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself . . . And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19).

So for those who wonder why after all that has happened between us, I forgive him, I confess to him, and I unabashedly celebrate him . . . God's love is why.

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[[This famous sculpture by Josefina de Vasconcellos is called Reconciliation. Originally created in 1977 and entitled Reunion, Reconciliation depicts a man and woman embracing each other across barbed wire. De Vasconcellos said: "The sculpture was originally conceived in the aftermath of the War. Europe was in shock, people were stunned. I read in a newspaper about a woman who crossed Europe on foot to find her husband, and I was so moved that I made the sculpture."

In 1995 (to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II) bronze casts of this sculpture were placed in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral and in the Hiroshima Peace Park in Japan.]]
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So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God (Matthew 5:23-24).