1 Maccabees 13:36-40: a reflection

36“King Demetrius to Simon the high priest and friend of kings, and to the elders and nation of the Jews, greetings. 37The golden crown and the palm branch, which you sent, we have received. We are ready to make a steadfast peace with you, yes, and to write to our officers to release you from tribute. 38Whatever things we confirmed to you, they are confirmed. The strongholds, which you have built, let them be your own. 39As for any oversights and faults committed to this day, we forgive them, and the crown tax which you owed us. If there were any other tax collected in Jerusalem, let it be collected no longer. 40If any among you are qualified to be enrolled in our court, let them be enrolled, and let there be peace between us.”

In this letter, a king grants Simon and the Jews a sweeping release: he confirms their possessions, releases them from tribute, and, remarkably, declares, As for any oversights and faults committed to this day, we forgive them, along with the crown tax you owed. Debts cancelled, faults forgiven, a fresh start decreed by royal word. It is an amnesty, a wiping clean of the ledger of what was owed and what had been done wrong.

Notice the relief such a release would bring. To have your debts cancelled and your past faults forgiven by the one you owed, to have the ledger wiped clean, is a profound relief; it lifts a weight and opens a fresh beginning. Even at the human, political level, the forgiveness of debts and faults is one of the most freeing gifts one party can give another. The people would have received this letter with enormous relief.

And it faintly pictures something far greater. What an earthly king granted in a letter, God grants fully and eternally in Christ: the cancellation of all our debts, the forgiveness of every fault committed to this day, a ledger wiped completely clean. Our debt to God was one we could never pay, and in Christ he has forgiven it all, declared it cancelled, given us a fresh start. If a king's amnesty brought such relief, how much more the full and final forgiveness God offers you in Christ. Receive it, and know the relief of a debt entirely cancelled and every fault forgiven.

Lord, a king's letter forgiving debts and faults brought great relief, wiping the ledger clean. Thank you that what an earthly king granted in part, you grant fully and forever in Christ: all my debts cancelled, every fault forgiven, my ledger wiped completely clean. My debt to you was one I could never pay, and you have forgiven it all. Let me know the deep relief of that full forgiveness, and live in the fresh start you have given.