Dear Trekker,
If the human species is to flourish and prosper, there is no other relational glue to demonstrate love and hold society together than one, necessary and glorious thought, very much a part of the passion of Christ… forgiveness! Jesus said and did many wonderful, amazing things during his earthly sojourn, but perhaps nothing more wonderful and sublime than these words from Him on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
It’s hard to forgive. Jesus dies to do it, and allows us to follow in his death to do it as well. But oh how we struggle! Recently one of our fine young chaplains at Peterson Air Force Base confessed in a Sunday morning service what so many of us feel. He exclaimed how hard it is to love ISIS (enemies we are to love) when he was so overcome with the desire to “kill the bastards.” He expressed many of our feelings that morning. He was honest! After the service I thanked him for his message of love and forgiveness, and shared these words: “Throughout my military lifetime, I struggled as well with the Viet Cong. Then one day, I stumbled onto something that may be helpful to you. The Holy Spirit seemed to say forgiveness is only possible through and in Christ, “for they know not what they do!” When misunderstanding and hate and pride combine, the combustible mixture destroys and kills both the innocent and the perpetrator. And yet, “they know not what they do.” Alienated man, filled with pride and prejudices, is so separated from life, light and love and in the clutches of the great deceiver, only God (and we in His power by His Spirit) can say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” It was true in Jerusalem 2000 years ago; it is true today as we project ourselves onto the killing fields of Iraq, Syria and throughout ISIS held territories… or seek to forgive a neighbor.
Christ’s forgiveness is simply an amazing attribute and action we may take to reveal the Christ we serve. It is an opportunity and directive from the Life Giver. Few forgive well. The early Christian leader Stephen did it magnificently while being stoned to death (Acts 7): “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Perhaps this is the supreme human example for us as followers of Christ. And the stoners threw their garments at the feet of Saul, the persecutor. Nothing is so noble, ironically, so life-giving even in death, as forgiveness, Christ style. Nothing is more rare. When our wounded and unforgiving spirits would turn us to bitterness, self-pity and revenge, let us all follow Christ’s example in our daily lives. The re-born Saul turned Paul just a few years later, sums it up well: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ, God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).
When someone hurts me (innocently or intentionally as sometimes is the case), I can hold on to anger and my wounded pride; I can feel resentment and contempt and plot thoughts of revenge, or I can embrace forgiveness, that divine elixir stirring and strengthening the soul, and thereby move forward. Forgiveness is surely one of the most needed concepts for fallen man, and one of the hardest to grant, understand or accept for ourselves! Nothing else quite illustrates the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom heart of love. And if one has not been forgiven and practically transformed so that the Spirit enables us to be and apply love, we won’t do it well. In the Spirit only do we effectively forgive.
Oddly, when Jesus forgave from the cross, I doubt that was hard for Him. He was and is love. Love forgives; it is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs! Read I Corinthians 13 often, trekker. We need to be reminded of what love is and does. The late theologian and philosopher Dallas Willard says it well: “What could have been hard for him would have been to curse his enemies and spew forth vileness and evil upon everyone, God and the world, as those who crucified him did, at least for a while. He calls us to him to impart himself to us. He does not call us to do what he did, but to be as he was, permeated with love. Then the doing of what he did and said becomes the natural expression of who we are in him” (The Divine Conspiracy: Re-Discovering Our Hidden Life in God).
The story of Easter is two-fold: 1) we are forgiven! God has given every man, woman and child throughout history the opportunity for a fresh start in life. Not only do we not have to pay the price for our sins (we can’t), but…we are forgiven! There is now no separation between God and man, and 2) we are empowered by the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead to do His works (of forgiveness, blessing, love, etc.). (Trekker, check out Romans 8:9-11 and Ephesians 2:4-10. Some good words to lock into the memory bank.)
So the test of our faith so often is, can we, do we, forgive anybody and everybody! Whether one asks for forgiveness or not has absolutely nothing to do with our forgiveness of others. What a twisted concept minted in hell! We have no option; we forgive as Christ has forgiven us…period!
Now a word of caution, dear friend. When Jesus said, “if we don’t forgive others, we ourselves are not forgiven (Matthew 6:15, in the Sermon on the Mount at the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer). He was not saying, God’s forgiveness is conditional toward us. No, we are forgiven in Christ, but if we do not likewise forgive as we are forgiven, our understanding of divine forgiveness is so askew, we may not have experienced forgiveness ourselves. The literal meaning (from my Greek language background) is: “Forgive us our sins in proportion as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” So when we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” and still retain a sinful attitude about an un-mended quarrel or secretly harbor hate, we are in fact not asking God to forgive us at all! And if we ever say the proverbial “I will never forgive so and so,” or “I will never forget what he/she did to me,” we simply don’t begin to understand forgiveness. Divine forgiveness, like peace, is indivisible. It simply is; it energizes when it springs from a grateful heart.
So God’s forgiveness and ours cannot be separated (just as loving God necessitates loving our neighbor). They are interlocked, interwoven and interdependent… or simply bogus and ineffectual! If we were really honest, trekker, we would be careful to follow through what we pray for when we pray the Lord’s prayer. As…if one goes to lay his gift upon the altar, knowing his brother has something against him, he should rather go to his brother first, and then return to the alter (Matthew 5:24). Yes, living out our faith in peace and honor with a brother or sister always is the litmus test of forgiveness.
Beginning this Easter season, let’s forgive as Christ has forgiven us. Let’s try to understand why one needs our forgiveness. Maybe “they know not what they do,” maybe they “have had a bad day,” maybe he or she is hurting, too. We must seek to understand as well as to be understood. And we must learn to forget. Yes, we have memory, and to remember is not the same as failing to forgive…but it can be. The Spirit of Christ can cleanse our memories.
Finally, we must see forgiveness as the essence of love. Indeed it is. Forgiveness is so freeing for all. We must do more of it!!
Your friend,
Jim Meredith