Feelings run high when former Nazi war criminals are brought to light and there are many old soldiers who cannot forget the treatment meted out by the Japanese during the last world war. I know of people who will still not buy Japanese after all these years - though truth to tell in the field of electronics it's almost impossible to avoid the Orient.
From a Christian point of view forgiveness isn't a luxury we can dispense with, it is instead a necessity if evil is ever to be defeated and if any degree of harmony is to be achieved in our human relationships. In the Lord's Prayer we pray for our daily bread as a necessity for our physical bodies, in the same prayer we also pray for forgiveness as a necessity for our battered and wayward spirits. Each is equally important.
As is well known, to harbour for years a resentful, bitter, unforgiving spirit, is the very death of any semblance of inner joy or peace or love. But how can we forgive those who have deeply wounded our lives by their evil words or deeds towards us or our loved ones ?
Well the teaching of Jesus doesn't let us off the hook. Jesus told a story in reply to a question asked him by Peter one of his disciples. Peter asked, How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me / Up to seven times ? Jesus replied, Not seven times but seventy-seven times.
Then Jesus told the story of the king who wanted to settle his accounts and discovered that one of his servants owed him thousands of pounds. As the man could not repay the debt the king threatened to throw him in jail until the debt was repaid. However the servant pleaded for the sake of his family and children, that the king have mercy on him. The king felt sorry for him and forgave him the huge debt. Later the same servant threatened a fellow-servant who owed him but a few pounds that he should pay back the debt immediately. Although this other servant pleaded time to repay the debt, his pleas were ignored and he was thrown into jail. When some other servants found out they reported the unmerciful servant to the king, who became angry and had the man imprisoned until he paid back every penny of his debt. Jesus said finally, That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. (Matthew chapter 18)
Two important things to note, which may seem at first contradictory: Forgiveness is both Unconditional and yet Reciprocal. The king in the story gives the impression that when he finds wrong-doing or incompetence with his servant his first reaction is to punish him. Only the pathetic pleading of the debt-ridden servant makes him change his mind. He has pity on him.
Now this gives the impression that God, as it were, always wants His 'pound of flesh.' But if this were so then nobody could ever satisfy God's highest moral and spiritual standards. And whilst we must be willing to be forgiven no amount of pleading on our part could change God's mind. The fact is that as the great apostle, Paul puts it, But God has shown how much he loves us because it was While we were still sinners that Christ died for us. (Romans 5 verse 8). God doesn't wait until we are good enough to be saved he offers us His saving love unconditionally. We don't have to merit salvation or qualify or pass some ethical test before God will offer His salvation. Unlike most other religions Christianity is based upon God's grace and mercy.
But on the other hand as in Jesus' story about the merciless steward, unless we are willing to forgive those whom we have perceived to have wronged us, we cannot expect the forgiveness of others. The unforgiving steward was in the end 'shopped' by his colleagues who were outraged at his treatment of his fellow-steward. He got his 'come-uppence' . But even if the king hadn't been informed of the injustice within his own house-hold, God the great King cannot be deceived. Forgiveness must be reciprocal.
But the strongest argument, the very necessity for forgiveness, is that there is no other way to defeat evil and break the spiral of revenge and vendetta that flow from evil words and deeds. Had there been any alternative way the Son of God would not have needed to endure the Cross. What is more He endured the Cross in order that the sins of each one of us might be forgiven.
He died that we might be
forgiven,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last
to heaven
Saved by his precious blood.
Sometimes we hear stories of an amazing forgiveness like the young British sailor during World War Two who hated the Japanese for their cruel tortures of allied prisoners of war, until he visited the ruins of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. His anger turned to guilt and then remembering the cross of Christ (remarkable event because he wasn't a religious man) the burden was lifted by an sudden inflow of God's forgiveness for all the sins of war.
Again there were the parents of a promising young Korean student who was mugged and murdered on the campus of an American university. After their initial shock and anger his parents pleaded clemency for his murderers and contributed financially towards their hoped-for rehabilitation because they realised as Christians that Christ had died for them and so justice must be tempered with mercy.
Cynics and critics of Christianity have said that it is wimpish and weak to be universally forgiving - why should people be let off the hook for their wrongs ? They should be made to pay for their wrongs - well if God had taken that attitude we wouldn't be here today discussing the matter, neither would we know utter joy of being set free from our sins and given the glorious opportunity to begin afresh.
Douglas Graham