Forgiveness

“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:18)

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
           Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22, and sometimes, “seventy-seven” is translated “seventy times seven.”) 

          This is one of those “Yeah, but” verses. Many, perhaps most people who read it will say (or think), “Yeah, but… you don’t understand my situation.” Saying “Don’t seek revenge” and “don’t bear a grudge” but “love your neighbor yourself” is easy. We’ll gladly say it to someone else, but when it comes to our not seeking revenge or our not bearing a grudge, or our loving, that’s a different story. Our situation is different. The person who hurt us or ours deserves punishment. We’re the victims here!

         Others may point to sins that have been being committed for centuries. That supposedly means that the 77 or the 490 have been met even before the person was born. The problem with that is that it’s not addressing what someone specific has done to that person. Scripture doesn’t say, “don’t seek revenge or hold a grudge against a whole group of people…” It says, “Don’t hold a grudge against anyone…” and “my brother or sister…” So, it’s not about what this group of people did to that group of people, but about what a specific person has done to you. Has the person against whom you’re holding a grudge committed his/her sin against you seventy-seven times? Four hundred ninety times? 

         Here’s another way to consider the same passage. Have the person against whom you are holding a grudge sinned against you once – and you’ve forgiven that one sin 77 times, or 490 times? That’s one of the things about forgiveness. It’s not a one and done thing. 

          There’s a bigger problem. If you keep a record of each sin committed againyou, and each time you forgive (truly forgive, not just saying the words) then you are not loving (love…keeps no record of wrongs – I Corinthians 13:5.) You’re probably not really forgiving if you’re focus is on keeping records so you can get past that magical number (either 77 or 490) so that you are free to hold that grudge. 
          This is the source of the problem with “social justice.” It is based on holding grudges, not against some specific individual who has harmed one, but against whole groups of people who are in some way connected to the individual or individuals who committed the sin against some individual or group of individuals who are in some way connected to the one. It is based, therefore, specifically on not forgiving. As such, it is anti-Biblical and anti-Christian. 

          There are people who will honestly and correctly say, “I can’t.” I’ve been there. Somewhere, I read an idea that may help. If you find yourself unwilling or unable to forgive, are you willing to be made willing? Are you willing to be enabled to forgive? Are you willing to take your lack of forgiveness to God, admit that it is sinful and ask for His help? Are you willing to repent? 

          There’s a second issue. When it comes to people, we are to forgive. We are commanded to not bear a grudge or seek revenge. But what happens when there is an idea that we see as harming us, either as individuals or groups. What do we do about hatred? What do we do about racism? What do we do about injustice? Are we to forgive racism? I don’t’ think that’s possible. We can forgive racists, but not racism. This is what we are called to do in Ephesians 6:10-18. We do not forgive bad ideas and accept them as our friends.