Forgiveness – a difficult grace!

It’s been a difficult week in N.Ireland. The murders of two young soldiers, and of a police officer (a member of the Church of Rome – thus removing any “religious” excuse for the killing!), have raised the unwelcome spectre of a return to the violence and death of “The Troubles”. The encouragement, of course, is the public show of support for the families of the victims, and the condemnation of the perpetrators expressed by people from across both the religious, and political, spectrum (spectra!!?).

I often wonder how I, as an individual, would react if one of my loved ones was to be gunned down, in cold blood, in similar circumstances. I fear that I might be consumed by revenge, and want to see those responsible for such an outrage held to full account. However, I hope that I would follow the example of the widow of a 46-year-old German missionary, Tilmann Geske, who was preparing notes for a new Turkish study Bible, when he and two Turkish nationals were murdered at a printing house in Malatya on April 18 last year. In a culture marked by an endless cycle of revenge killing, Tilmann’s widow, Susanne, shocked many Turkish commentators when she offered the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ to the perpetrators. In one of her first statements to the press she quoted Jesus on the cross; saying to surprised reporters, “Oh God, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

For the true believer, that example of the Lord Jesus is the only way forward. Violence, as is all-too-easily shown, breeds violence, and we may only hope and pray that the restraint that has, thus far, been shown by the “loyalist” factions, will be maintained.

Of course, like any right-minded person, I want to see justice served, whether in N.Ireland, Turkey, or anywhere else. But where there is revenge, there is only an escalation of violence; where there is forgiveness, there is hope for the future. The oft-quoted Biblical text “... eye for eye, tooth for tooth ...” (Exodus 21:24) was not a command of retribution – exacting the same injury from the one who had injured you! It was a command of limitation – you were not to do any more than had been done to you!

None of that makes it easy to forgive. It is true that there are many who would take advantage of the forgiving spirit. However, as many in the persecuted church – not only in Turkey – have proved, it is the only way, because it is the way of the Master. May all of us who own His Name, follow His example, and be “… slow to anger and rich in unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion ...” (Numbers 14:18) whilst not forgetting the demands of true justice that does not leave sin unpunished. And let us pray, not only for the bereaved and the injured, but also for those responsible for the deaths and injuries, that they may have their own eyes opened and, in confession of their sin, find salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.