Holocaust
Remembrance Day is this coming Thursday—a time to remember the victims of
Hitler’s reign of terror. One CBS report[i] introduces Ben Stern, a
95-year-old Jewish survivor of Auschwitz who needs a caretaker and roommate
when his wife enters a nursing home.
When 31-years-old Lea Heitfeld moved in, she tells him that not only is
she of German descent, but her grandparents were active Nazis. In the interview, Heitfeld recalls, “The
first thing he said is, 'Lea, I want you to know, you're third generation. You're
not responsible for what happened.'"
Stern asserts, “Lea is not guilty about what her grandparents did.” Though Stern’s seven brothers, one sister,
and both parents were killed in concentration camps, he releases Heitfeld from
the burden of blame. You see, because
Stern has been down such a rocky road in life, he realizes the need to give
people grace. This astounding
forgiveness so inspires Heitfeld that now she’s getting a master’s degree in
Jewish studies. This story is just one
example of the amazing power of grace.
Grace
is that remarkable ability to forgive, even when a person doesn’t deserve
it. It is the unmerited favor of God to
humanity. Grace can also be a gift we
give to others, when we have experienced that kind of unlimited and unconditional
pardon. But it wasn’t always this
way. Under the old covenant of law,
people had a good (but lesser) arrangement with God. It wasn’t until the time of Christ that God
made a new deal by providing a better way of grace.
You
see, in the beginning of Israel’s relationship with Yahweh, God is depicted as “a jealous God…punishing children for the
iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject
me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love
me and keep my commandments (Exodus 20:5-6).”[ii] God reiterates this in Exodus 34:6-7;
Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:9-10. While
I do not believe these scriptures mean God actively punishes descendants for
the sins of their ancestors, it does indicate that the decisions we make can
result in blessings or suffering for those who come after us. God certainly warns of life’s consequences,
including addictions, diseases, and other curses that come from the sins of
previous generations.
In Ezekiel
18, God spells out forgiveness under the old covenant of law, bringing
clarification to the misunderstanding that God may actively punish descendants
for the sake of their ancestors. God
points out that this covenant (old to us, but new at the time) is better than
people’s assumptions. You see, people
used to quote a proverb saying, “The
parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge
(1:2).” The whole rest of the chapter is spent in an explanation that God
punishes the guilty for their own sins and doesn’t punish people for either the
sins of their children or their parents.
This chapter embodies the grace experienced between Ben Stern and Lea
Heitfeld. It’s also a good example of
the grace that we ought to give one another, when we deal with racism and
ethnic history in or own context.
Under
the old covenant of law, this good (but not best) way that God dealt with
people had to do with their own behavior, whether it was righteous or
wicked. Ezekiel 18:26-28 says:
When
the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they
shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die.
Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do
what is lawful and right, they shall save their life. Because they considered and turned away from
all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they
shall not die.
In
other words, God’s forgiveness was dependent on that person’s behavior. If the person’s behavior was bad, repentance
from sin earned forgiveness. But when
Jesus came, God offered a better approach to forgiveness—the way of grace. In Jesus, the requirements of the law were
met because God knew we could never meet them.
No more would humankind have to earn forgiveness by demonstrating good
behavior. In fact, the new covenant
recognizes that no behavior can be good enough. Romans 3:10 says, “There is no one who is righteous, not even
one.” Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God.” So, knowing that we
were incapable of effecting our own redemption, God did it for us—before we
even repented.
On the cross, Jesus
cried, “Father, forgive them; for they do
not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).”
Jesus didn’t declare forgiveness for any Roman who would put down
his hammer and nail, or pardon for any prostitute who would just stop
sinning. No—Jesus forgave everyone,
everywhere, for all time, before any of them repented of their sin. Jesus didn’t die for the godly. Romans 5:6 says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the
ungodly.” Verse 8 says that “while we still were sinners Christ
died for us.”[iii] You see, Jesus didn’t die for us because
we’d repented. He died for us so that we’d repent.
Yes, under the new
covenant, God’s forgiveness is not contingent on our change of behavior. Our change of heart and conduct is because
we’ve been forgiven. Receiving God’s
unconditional love and grace makes all the difference. Now, there are some people who will argue
with that. They’ll say, “You’re claiming
that the law is over and done with, and should be thrown out!” No, I’m not.
They’ll say, “You’re claiming the law is no good anymore.” No, I’m not.
I’m saying that the law was an essential ingredient for making grace,
but now that we have grace, it’s so much better than the law.
Take, for example,
chocolate ice cream. Mmm—there’s nothing
better than chocolate ice cream…except Rocky Road. Rocky Road couldn’t exist without chocolate
ice cream. Chocolate ice cream is
essential for making Rocky Road.
Chocolate ice cream doesn’t cease to exist, just because you add nuts
and marshmallows. It still exists, and
is part of Rocky Road, all the way through.
But next to Rocky Road, chocolate ice cream just seems to lack
something. If chocolate ice cream is the
law, then Rocky Road is grace. Grace
couldn’t exist without the law—but grace exists because the law just didn’t
satisfy. In the same way, we needed the
law as an ingredient to make grace. But now
that we have grace, the law by itself just isn’t enough.
I’ve known a lot of
people who’ve told me, “One day, when I’m ready to clean myself up, I’ll become
a Christian.” That’s like saying, “When
I’m ready to repent, I’ll get forgiven.”
It doesn’t work that way anymore.
It’s forgiveness that causes you to repent. It’s salvation that cleans you up. It’s grace that sets you free. So today I pray you’ll receive that grace,
share that grace, and be free indeed!
[i]
Tracey, Ben. “Holocaust survivor finds
unlikely roommate in granddaughter of Nazis.”
April 29, 2017. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/holocaust-survivor-ben-stern-unlikely-roommate/. February 19, 2018.
[ii]
Scripture quotations taken from the NRSV.
[iii]
Emphasis mine
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