The Bible’s Society is running the Diamond Geezer campaign. Jubilee was a special year when wrongs were forgiven and debts written off. So in this very special Jubilee year, Bible Society is asking Christians across the country: ‘who are you indebted to?’
It could be an old school teacher, a midwife who delivered a baby or someone who prayed steadfastly for you – just someone to whom you feel ‘indebted’ because of their kindness and help.
http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/about-bible-society/what-we-do-in-england-and-wales/diamond-jubilee/
But equally we can feel “indebted” to someone because we have done them wrong and need their forgiveness to set free from a weight of guilt.
For over 30 years I carried round a sense of guilt for something I did to a friend at school. Or rather something I didn’t do.
My friend Shaun had a serious accident in the sports hall at school. He was running whilst playing basketball and crashed into a wall. It sounds funny but Shaun broke his knee and was in plaster for several months. It was just before the summer holidays and I promised him I’d visit.
And one day I set out to the next village where he lived. But on the way I met a girl I had a crush on and the hormones kicked in and instead of visiting Shaun I spent the afternoon chatting up the girl.
Back in school during the next term I felt really bad about not visiting my friend. And although he said he didn’t mind, boys will be boys after all, I was reminded of the incident every time we used the sports hall as there were skid marks from Shaun’s trainers on the gym floor!
This seemingly small incident niggled away in the back of my mind for some time until last year Shaun and I got back in touch on Facebook and I sent him an email apologising and he said he forgave me. It meant a lot.
Now as someone who has trained as a counsellor I know that many people feel weighed down by a sense of guilt for things they ought to do or should do. “I really ought to visit my elderly aunty” “I should go home and get dinner ready for the family rather than talking to my friend.” And these shoulds and oughts can become heavy chains for some people.
At the time of Jesus many people felt weighed down by the many hundreds of rules the Jewish faith imposed upon them. In fact this was commonly described as being “Yoked to the Torah”. The Torah being the Jewish law.
In Matthew 11: 28 – 29 Jesus says
28 If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. 29 Take the yoke[a] I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest.
What Jesus meant was belief in him isn’t an invitation to an easy life but a life of being set free from the artificial burdens people impose on one anther whether through religious rules or the “Oughts” and the “Shoulds”.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, all of us from time to time carry around the weight of guilt whether for the bad things we have done, the good things we have not done, the things we have said or the things we did not say.
We are sorry and ask, that by knowing you forgive us, the burden of guilt may be taken from us.
Amen.
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