To Forgive Is Divine

So lately I have been thinking about forgiveness. I am not the most forgiving person I know, if there even is such a thing. If there was such a thing as a most forgiving person, that distinction would probably go to my late grand ma, who was aptly named Mercy. She lived a life that was most compassionate. She had enough love in her heart to go around all 9 of her children, with more than enough to spare for other people’s children as well. But no, I do not think there is such a thing as a most forgiving person.

We humans are very diverse in terms of the things we can and cannot tolerate. We could be forgiving about certain things, and remarkably unforgiving about others. We are all familiar with the saying “To err is human”, we humans constantly struggle with the issue of forgiveness everyday because true to our human nature, we constantly err. We Christians struggle to reconcile the issue of forgiveness to our faith. I will use myself as an example.

There are times when someone does something to me that I feel is unjust, and I openly seem to take it in stride. If they apologize I say “It’s okay”, and if they do not I tell myself I have forgiven them and I carry on with my life. A casual observer may remark at my apparent display of poise and forgiveness, but there are those times when that observation is wrong. Because we humans often connote forgiveness with silence and acquiescence, we think that when someone displays these qualities in the face of a grave injustice, then they have displayed forgiveness. Sometimes it is true, but other times it is not.

My confession is that there are times when I may be silent and calm about a wrong done to me, I may not even be angry or feel any agitation, but deep down inside I know I am going to find someway to make them regret what they did. More often than not, I accomplish this, not by doing anything in retaliation, but by not doing something I would have normally done for them. And amidst my shortcoming I stumble upon a meaning of forgiveness: Treating a person as If they never did anything wrong, even though they did; treating a person as if they have asked for your forgiveness, even though they haven’t.

Obviously this is easier said than done, but it can and must be done. It can be done because the bible teaches us that God will never put any temptation before us that we cannot overcome (The temptation to not forgive), it must be done because we need to forgive a wrongdoer much more than the wrongdoer needs our forgiveness…because if you think about it…well don’t forgive them if you like, the only one whose forgiveness they care about is God’s.

Our lord talked about forgiveness quite a bit in the bible. In Luke Chapter 17 vs. 4 he tells us that “Even if he wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns and asks for your forgiveness, forgive him”. When he taught his disciples to pray he said “Forgive us our trespasses even as we forgive those who trespass against us”. And as our lord and savior lay dying upon the cross…he set an ever shinning example when he said “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”.

Let us examine these three examples one by one.

1) The Limitless nature of forgiveness: How many times have you asked God for forgiveness? Many of us never kept count to begin with, and even if we did we would have lost count many years ago. Personally, I ask God for forgiveness all the time, for things done knowingly, and unknowingly. And he always forgives me. I know he forgives me because of the certainty I feel in my heart when I receive his forgiveness. I know he has forgiven me because the bible says that even when we are unfaithful he remains faithful. If we cannot even recall how many times we have asked God for forgiveness, who are we to say we’ve “had enough” or “reached our limit” with people?

2) “Forgive us our trespasses”: When our lord taught the disciples to pray, he said “Forgive us our trespasses, even as we forgive those who trespass against us”. Even as we forgive those who trespass against us…You see many times we ask God for forgiveness, while still consciously or subconsciously holding grudges for wrongs done to us. The bible says that God is not to be mocked. Asking for God’s forgiveness when we haven’t thoroughly searched our hearts and forgiven those who have wronged us is tantamount to mockery. Because God sees all things and there is nothing hidden from him. Our lord could have just said “Forgive us our trespasses…” and left it at that. But no, he saw it fit to include the part about it being a forgone conclusion that we have already forgiven those who trespass against us. And true to his nature, as he died on the cross, Jesus forgave those who were currently trespassing against him...even made more egregious by the fact that he was crucified by those he came to save, by those he created, on a tree he created. But he still found the time amidst his suffering to say…

3) “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”: If our lord Jesus Christ can ask his father to forgive his murderers, even as they mock him and gamble for his clothes, can’t we find it in ourselves to try? Our very salvation depends upon it.

Forgiveness is never really an easy task. Half the battle often lies in coming to realize that we have not forgiven a person. It is even made more difficult by the fact that some people make it difficult for us to forgive them. They antagonize us, abuse us, act as if they did nothing wrong…but we must always remember that forgiveness is also something that we do for ourselves. Furthermore, we must never be too self-righteous to rule out the possibility that if we analyzed the situation, we may even have forgiveness to ask of them as well.

We live in a very cynical world; a world where everyone wants Justice yesterday, for wrongs to be done tomorrow. But in early October, the shooting death of 5 young Amish girls by a gun wielding man who allegedly had a history of child abuse gave us a sorrowfully refreshing insight into the power of forgiveness.

The Associate Press, CNN, MSNBC, and other news networks gathered in the small Amish town in Paradise Pennsylvania, expecting to hear an outcry of outrage and a demand for the man’s head. What they found instead was quite the contrary. Here are some quotes from the girls’ relatives.

One man said “ I don’t think there’s anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that way, but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts”

One girls’ grand father told the press “We must not think evil of this man”

Another close family member said “If you have Jesus in your heart and he has forgiven you…how can you not forgive other people?”

The lesson here is that it is our Christian duty to forgive. Forgiveness is not easy, but we weren’t called to be Christians so that we could live easy lives. Forgiving someone does not mean that we should allow ourselves to be taken advantage of, but we should always make sure that they know they are forgiven, by our words and deeds.

Let us follow the example of the Amish. They didn’t just whisper to their pillow at night “I have forgiven this man”, but they reached out to him and his family. That he didn’t ask for forgiveness was no concern of theirs. Forgiveness is more than just saying we have forgiven, forgiveness is reaching out; forgiveness is a continuous state of being.

So let us mean it when we ask God for forgiveness, asking with a clear conscience and knowledge that we have offered forgiveness in everyway we can.

Our father who art in heaven
Hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth even as it is in heaven
Give us this day, our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses,
Even as we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
For thine Is the kingdom, the power and the glory
Forever and ever, Amen.