Forgiveness in the Ashes

Standing by their charred house and the heaps of rubbish piled up in front, a few of my friends (young kids) recounted their story of nearly being burned alive in one of Cairo's slums---just last month. Barred in their house by angry activists, they were able to escape the inferno by jumping from the roof to safety.  A bit later, after leaving them, I was greeted by a neighbor. He immediately asked me why I was visiting this particular family. Despite my saying nothing about the incident, he quickly threw out, “Don’t feel bad for them. They got involved in a situation and one must retaliate. If someone hits me, I must hit him back. That is the way it goes. As often as it happens.”

Is it? Must it be?

Jesus Christ taught a different form of responding to crisis. “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28)

Such words ring absurd to most ears, yet could this be the very liberation for those who would hold onto the past? Could forgiveness be the path to freedom for the hurt and the offender? Is our world trapped in the downward spiral of escalating aggression due to man’s inability to comprehend Christ’s words? Does harboring bitterness and resentment only tighten the grip on unresolved stress, frustration, and anger? Mark Twain put it poetically. "Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”

Yet forgiveness is no mere change of mind. Rather, it’s an action; an action which reverses the trend rather than merely stopping the offense. It reaches out to the miscreant in love. It seeks restoration. It bridges the gap making a way for new life.

This is the message of Calvary. “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) We have offended a righteous God by our sins. Chosen to pursue our own path. Yet God, in true love, bridged the gap to offer us forgiveness and restoration. A forgiveness that brings freedom to those who embrace the gift His Son died to provide and rose from the dead to offer.

So the world will continue to war. True. But for those of us who have tasted Jesus' forgiveness, can we respond with any reply other than that of the apostle John, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (I John 4:11)  Not once, nor twice, but with a love which refuses to count the wrongs of another. (Matthew 18:21-22) With such a love we were forgiven and with such a love the world will see our Savior.

It may be in the ashes of our dreams, expectations, and plans, but there we must find and offer love's response. Forgiveness. For it is there we find freedom and there restoration begins.