Lenten Reflection #6: Grace expressed in forgiveness...

I recently finished reading an account of a mother whose daughter is missing and presumed murdered. This woman claims to have found hope in her faith and relates isolated incidents of encounters with God. Yet when I finished reading her story, I was left with a distasteful aroma of anger, bitterness, vendetta for revenge, and moral and cultural superiority. This woman has even engaged celebrities in her 'cause'. What I found bone-chilling was her account of premeditated malice towards one of the alleged suspects in his workplace. What was startling was the gracious manner in which the young man treated her in return. I am sorry, but she has missed it! She does not reveal the Jesus I know, the Jesus who has no favorites or hierarchy for sinful actions. She has become a prisoner to her anger.

I contrast this with Corrie Ten Boom in her book, The Hiding Place:
It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, a former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face.
He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.” He said. “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.
Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggles to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I prayed, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.
As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.

This weekend as we celebrate what is unique, the sacrifice of the Perfect Lamb, for our sins, the forgiveness, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do...", let us release our anger, the need to bring punishment to those who have hurt us. Let us find freedom at the foot of the Cross as we obey Him, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.."

Prayer:

Father, thank You that because of Your Son and His life in me, Your grace, that I can forgive those who have hurt me and leave the consequences to You. Thank You that I can grasp that I am capable of the vilest of acts but for the grace of God. I thank You that You have no favourites among us, that all our sins are equally repulsive to You. Thank You that You do not treat us as we deserve. Thank You for the free gift of salvation by the sacrifice of Your Son. May I never forget the price paid for me to be reconciled to You and have access to the Holy of Holies. I humbly kneel and accept Your grace. In the Precious Name of Jesus, Amen.