The Purifying Power of Forgiveness

In his great book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, the contemporary theologian and presbyterian minister Kenneth Bailey, who is also an expert in Semitic languages and cultures of the Middle East, comments on the passage in the Lord’s Prayer on forgiveness which says, ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgiven them that trespass against us’.

He makes several interesting points:

The first one is that English translations have to choose between two concepts when treating the Greek word ‘ophelema’: ‘sins/transgressions’ or ‘debts’. The words Jesus likely used in Aramaic, ‘khoba’, had both connotations: that is, that we need to ask forgiveness both for the things that we have done wrong and for the things that we fail to do which we should do.

Secondly, our need for forgiveness is mentioned next to the petition for daily bread. Meaning that, in the same way that we need bread to sustain our earthly lives, so too do we need daily forgiveness for the sins that we commit through omission and commission. In some ways, this might seem negative and depressing. But it is actually encouraging because it shows us that the fact that we fail daily to live up to what God calls us to should not be a surprise to us. When we do fail - as we consistently do - God has made provision for us through Christ, for forgiveness and guidance. So we pray each day, “Lord, forgive us.”

But the part of Bailey’s analysis that is perhaps most striking is his insistence that forgiveness is something that God calls us to offer to others, even if that forgiveness is not asked for by them.

It is a common human assumption that the violator of the rights of others must ask for forgiveness before the wronged party can be expected to accept the apology and grant forgiveness…Yet there is a voice from the cross that echoes across all history saying: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Neither Pilate nor the high priest nor the centurion offered any apology to Jesus, yet he prayed for divine forgiveness for them in the midst of their brutality to him. On the cross Jesus, in total innocence of wrongdoing, acted out the second half of this petition.

Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, p. 125

I think that is a very strong point indeed. Forgiveness must be offered to our enemies even as they continue to oppose us, to wound us, to seek to destroy us. There can be no greater example of this continual offer of forgiveness in the face of evil than Christ as he suffered on the cross, praying for the forgiveness of his enemies.

This does not mean that we ignore sin, wrongdoing, and injustice. These things have to be confronted. How?

This prayer asks the one who struggles for justice to forgive the person or persons against whom he or she struggles. Through forgiveness the bitterness, anger, hatred and desire for revenge are drained out of the struggle and the person contends with those from whom he or she may now be able to feel genuine compassion. This will influence enormously the style of the struggle. After the offered forgiveness, the struggle for justice continues, but now there are things the person will not do. The day of victory or defeat will not become a day of vengeance.

Ibid., p. 127

Elsewhere Bailey writes that forgiveness is in harmony with a continuing struggle for justice and says, ‘Forgiveness purifies the struggle for justice’.

It is inevitable that even the holiest among us will be, at some points in life, locked in a struggle for justice. The natural and fallen human propensity is to feel bitterness and anger towards those who oppose us in such circumstances. This feeling settles upon the surface of the soul and, like a corrosive acid, seeps down into its pores. If unpurged it pollutes one’s whole being such that a human life can become characterised by hatred.

Bailey shows us that, in the struggle for goodness, it is not a straight choice between quietism and vengeance, between disengagement and violence. There is a third way, which is the way of the cross: to do what is right in the sight of God and, as one is being attacked brutally by one’s enemies, to pray for them and to ask God to forgive them for what they do.

This act of forgiveness drains the enemy of his power. For it is ultimately the greatest power of the enemy to destroy our souls. When we ask God for forgiveness for those who wound us, when we seek that he might purge our hearts of the acid of bitterness and instead give us compassionate hearts for our adversaries, then the struggle is transformed and purified, and we are transformed and purified.

There was once a skinny white preached called David Wilkerson who bravely ventured out into the badlands of New York to preach the Gospel to those lost in the gang culture there. One day, he approached one of the most notorious and vicious gang leaders, who threatened to kill him if he came any closer. Wilkerson replied, “You could do that. You could cut me up into a thousand pieces and lay them in the street, and every piece will still love you.”

The man he spoke to was called Nicky Cruz and this moment marked the first step in Cruz’s journey towards Christ. He went on to become a prominent evangelist and author, and he wrote about his encounters with Wilkerson in his autobiographical book Run, Baby, Run. Through Wilkerson, the love of Christ was shed abroad to many thousand and perhaps even millions of lives because of his desire to show self-giving Christ-like compassion and love even to those who would make themselves his enemies.

And the reality is, of course, that this kind of love and forgiveness is the only type that is ultimately effective anyway. In the Christian life, we must overcome our desire for revenge and for the destruction of enemies and we must offer them life, even if we do not believe that they will receive this invitation.

The world despises this theology because it thinks anger is necessary to fuel the struggle for justice, and that forgiveness will dissipate that anger. The Christian disagrees and replies, “No. I will forgive and I will struggle for justice. I may still be angry, but my struggle for justice will be purified by forgiveness and thereby become more effective.

Bailey, Jesus, p.127

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Quote of the Week from Thomas Traherne, Centuries of Meditations

For a second week in a row, my quote comes from Traherne, whose centuries I continue to read with great profit and joy and challenge. I like this one because in it he acknowledges the difficulties of living in a fallen world amongst fallen people, many of whom have no interest in the things of God or divine wisdom. How to be happy amidst them?

…he that would be happy now, must be happy among ungrateful and injurious persons…Blind wretches that wound themselves offend me. I need therefore the oil of pity and the balm of love to remember and heal them. Did they see the beauty of Holiness or the face of Happiness, they would not do so.

To think the world therefore a general Bedlam, or place of madmen, and oneself a physician, is the most necessary point of present wisdom: an important imagination, and the way to Happiness.

Thomas Traherne, Centuries of Meditations, IV. 22

Song for this Week - Slow Me Down

My song for this week is called ‘Slow Me Down’ by a group called The Porter’s Gate. This is not a group I knew anything about before I came across them on Spotify. This song, however, speaks deeply to the kind of thing I was writing about last week: the desire to rush on, the tension caused by anxious toil, the forgetfulness of God and my need for his presence.

Yes, I know of all of this…

O good shepherd, would you teach me how to rest?
I’m rushing on, will you make me to lie down?
Will you build a fold by the waters that refresh?
Will you call my name and lead me safely out?

From my anxious drive to labor on and on,
From the restless grind that has put my mind to sleep,
Will you call me back and gently slow me down?
Will you show me now what to lose and what to keep?

O Good Shepherd, O Good Friend, slow me down, slow me down.
O Good Shepherd, O Good Friend, slow me down, slow me down.

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Finally…

I’ll finishing by sharing a wonderful photo of my church building. Somebody I don’t know took this and emailed it to me. She wrote this:

‘While walking past Holy Trinity yesterday evening I noticed how many bright stars were in the sky over the church so took this photo (attached). I thought you might like a copy of it; I particularly liked the warm light shining out of the church windows and into the community - quite symbolic!

God bless Holy Trinity and may the light of Christ draw many to seek Him within these walls.’

Thank you, as ever, for reading. Have a blessed weekend and Lord’s Day in all that you do. May you know Christ’s peace and his joy. And pray for me, that I may rejoice in him also.