Oh no.
Someone has dug a hole
in your beautiful lawn.
You've been growing this lawn
for ages,
mowing it carefully,
pulling out all the weeds,
putting down lawn feed,
telling the cat very firmly
that this is not a litter box,
and that you expect
to be obeyed in this.
It was a beautiful lawn,
and now there is a hole
three feet in diameter
and two feet deep.
The cat denies all responsibility.
What do you do?
Fill it in?
With what?
[PAUSE]
You can't just magic up some earth
from nowhere.
You can take earth from
another part of the garden
but that would leave you
with less earth there.
This hole simply can't vanish.
It needs to be filled in with something.
That's the thing with holes
they only get smaller
the more you add something to them.
They get bigger
the more you take from them.
You could find the person responsible
and demand they fill it in.
That's only fair.
They need to fill that hole in
because they made it.
But what if they can't?
[PAUSE]
Sin and evil work
in exactly the same way.
Evil is like a hole.
Practically speaking,
it is a hole in what is good.
Sin, too, is a hole
in our relationship
with God.
The work in the same way.
The only way
you get rid of evil
is by adding good.
The only way
you get rid of sin
is by turning to God.
But that's easier said
than done.
Let's take an extreme case.
Tom murders Jerry.
It's an act
which we know to be evil.
It's murder, after all.
But what if Tom
sees what he has done,
and realises the evil
he has committed?
He repents,
in anguish,
sorrow,
and with bitter tears
comes to Terry and says,
"I am so sorry,
I have done evil,
I have murdered Jerry,
I will take the punishment,
but please forgive me!"
Terry now faces a choice:
he can forgive Tom
or he can not forgive Tom.
He doesn't have
an obligation
to forgive Tom.
Tom cannot expect
to be forgiven,
but he can hope.
Which is the best course
of action?
[PAUSE]
Well,
you know the best course of action
because you've been listening
to Jesus.
Forgiveness
heals.
First,
forgiveness
doesn't take anything away
from the other.person,
so it doesn't increase Evil.
Second,
forgiveness
does not make
the separation from God worse
so it doesn't increase Sin.
Forgiveness
is like one of those
yellow panels
that workmen put over holes
to stop people falling in.
But notice,
forgiveness
doesn't actually fill in the hole.
Whether or not
Terry forgives Tom,
Jerry is still dead,
but Terry's forgiveness
stops the hole from
getting bigger.
So how do we fill the hole in?
[PAUSE]
To fill in a hole in the garden,
you need earth.
To fill a hole in what is good,
you need goodness.
To fill a hole in our relationship
with God,
we need God.
The only way
that Jerry's murder
can be rectified
is by God.
We can't do this ourselves.
We can't make things right.
We can't save ourselves.
We need God.
Only God can fill the holes.
That's His justice.
The Church has the authority
to pronounce God's forgiveness
of the sins we confess
but we still have accept
the consequences -
that is justice.
But God still seeks our love
and bids us return to Him
for repairs and renewal -
that is mercy.
Nonetheless,
we must forgive
and dare to forgive
even the apparently unforgiveable
because that is
what sets us Christians
apart from the World.
Forgiveness
helps us become truly holy.
Christians must not
make holes bigger
by digging in them.
Now, tell that to the cat.
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