Jesus was once asked (by a rather exasperated Peter, I always feel) “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” (Matt 18:21) I always get the feeling Peter thought he was doing rather well to suggest as many as seven times! There is no background to the story, but I’m sure we don’t need it: we’ve all experienced that sinking feeling when someone keeps on making the same mistakes and our frustration and kindness are seeping away; we all know how hard it is to actually forgive someone.
Jesus’s answer was doubtless not what Peter was expecting (or hoping for!): ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.‘ (Matt 18:22) He then went on to tell a parable which illustrated important principles of forgiveness, the key point of which is the more you have experienced forgiveness, reckless mercy and undeserved grace yourself, the less likely you are to withhold forgiveness from anyone else.
Rend Collective’s song Second Chance captures something of the truths of that parable. As it looks at the second chances God gives us, perfectly wrapped up in Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross (where even though we were still sinners, Christ died for us), we see that God’s forgiveness changes everything and means we can never quite write anyone off. The God of second chances offers us all the chance ‘to rewind to innocence’, giving us the hope that life can be crafted even from our mistakes and that the ugliness of sin can never compare to the beauty of redeeming grace.
‘My future hangs on this:
You make preciousness from dust.
Please don’t stop creating me.
Your blood offers the chance
To rewind to innocence:
Reborn, perfect as a child.
Oh, Your cross, it changes everything:
There my world begins again with You.
Oh, Your cross, it’s where my hope restarts;
A second chance is Heaven’s heart/
When sin and ugliness
Collide with redemption’s kiss
Beauty awakens by romance.
Always inside this mess
I have found forgiveness,
Mercy as infinite as You.
Countless second chances
We’ve been given at the cross.
Countless second chances
We’ve been given at the cross.
Fragments of brokenness
Salvaged by the art of grace,
You craft life from our mistakes.
Black skies of my regrets
Outshone by this kindness
New life dawns over my soul.’ (‘Second Chance’, Rend Collective Experiment)
