IN FAITH
Reflections on Forgiveness
But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. {7} When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. {8} Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. {9} Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. {10} Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. {11} Give us this day our daily bread. {12} And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. {13} And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. {14} For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; {15} but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:6-15 NRSV)
In another place (Luke 11:1-4) the disciples ask Jesus how to pray. Then Jesus gives them what we all commonly call The Lord’s Prayer, which is a prayer common to all churches. It doesn’t matter if one participates in worship at Mass in a Roman Catholic Church, in an Orthodox Church, or in one of the many Protestant churches, which dot the landscape. Central to all is our Lord’s Prayer, or the model prayer Christ gave us in order to shape our souls.
One of the most important parts of that prayer has to do with forgiving others. Forgiving is often one of the most difficult aspects of the Christian walk, because often when others hurt us either through words spoken, which cut like knives, or in deeds done, which reflect badly against us, often the hurt goes so deep, that we can’t easily speak of it, and exploring it is a real challenging thing to do. It’s just not easy.
But, in our walk with Christ, especially in this Lenten season, where Jesus’ own suffering takes center stage, and we see how Jesus forgave the people who ordered his crucifixion, and those who humiliated him when he was tortured, and beaten on the way to crucifixion, some of us will say, “Well, of course he forgave those people. After all, he was God.”
Having recently seen Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of The Christ, now twice, all of the readings of Jesus’ suffering found in the gospels, have touched me on a very different level. Whereas before, I had read about how he was betrayed by Judas, tried illegally at night, in an ad hoc called meeting of the Sanhedrin, beaten, scourged (with a cat of nine tails, which tore his flesh), had a crown of thorns crushed into his scalp, spit upon, treated with contempt and derision, and then had to carry his own cross to Golgotha, falling under its load, being helped by Simon of Cyrene and Veronica, only to be nailed to the cross, and to die the death of a criminal.
And yet Jesus forgave the persons who killed him and treated him with such contempt! One of the earliest heresies of the church was that Jesus only appeared to be human. As God, he suffered no pain as he was tortured, and finally executed. But, the church, in its wisdom, after centuries of prayer and councils, decided in 451 A.D. that Jesus’ nature was two-fold: fully God and fully human. What’s important about this is that as Jesus faced the suffering along the Via Dolorosa (the path to Golgotha which wound through Jerusalem) He did not swerve from the pain which awaited him, and kept going in spite of the horrible things, which had been done to him by his inquisitors, so that you and I, and everyone who calls upon Him in faith, might share in the Resurrection, which God gave to Jesus, and which is a gift to everyone who calls upon Christ in faith.
Jesus said from the Cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The truth about most persons, who hurt us horribly, is that because of their own inner pain and distortion, caused by their own past, they truly don’t understand why they hurt other people. Their own inner woundedness and deep pain, and anger, cause them to strike out at others. And they may not see us accurately. We may appear to be like someone from their past who hurt them, or someone from their past whom they hated. Why should we forgive those who hurt us so? Well, the truth is, that if we refuse to forgive, the pain, the inner turmoil, and bitterness will tear us apart or poison our spirit. If we forgive, then we are free to live again. It doesn’t mean that there will not be scars. But, it does mean that in spite of the scars, we will be able to help others who have such scars, and, through God’s mercy and grace, we may be able to help others, whose own deep pain causes them to harm others.
If more families would adopt The Lord’s Prayer as a way of life, and if more congregations would truly live it out, there would be a transformation, which would vastly improve our homes, our community and world. That is the power of true forgiveness, and it is the gift of Lent and Easter.
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