EASTER FEATURE:  The evangelist, the president and the `craft’ of forgiveness

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ They were words whispered in one final, tortured breath:”Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Even as Jesus hung on the cross, badly beaten and nearly dead, he mustered the strength to petition God on behalf of his murderers. Indeed, extending forgiveness _ to the […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ They were words whispered in one final, tortured breath:”Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Even as Jesus hung on the cross, badly beaten and nearly dead, he mustered the strength to petition God on behalf of his murderers. Indeed, extending forgiveness _ to the defiantly unrepentant, to the indifferent, and to those who pleaded for mercy _ was a hallmark in the life of the Nazarene, the Gospels say.

The adultress that was nearly stoned by an angry mob, the outcast Samaritan woman at the well who had had multiple lovers, and the contrite thief on the next cross at Calvary are but a few who found comfort in Jesus’ opulent offers of forgiveness, acts of mercy seldom witnessed in the ancient world.


But Jesus’ propensity to forgive those society deemed unforgivable also played an integral part in his eventual undoing. The religious rulers of his day accused Jesus of blasphemy, the Gospels say, because he dared to forgive others of their sins, a role reserved for God alone.

Today, questions about forgiveness _ when is it appropriate? who should offer it? and under what circumstances should it be granted? _ still make for lively, sometimes fierce, theological and public debate.

Witness an exchange in early March between morality guru William Bennett and the Rev. Billy Graham. Bennett criticized Graham for remarks the evangelist made concerning his willingness to forgive President Clinton for alleged sexual indiscretions.”Certainly, I forgive him, because I know the frailty of human nature,”Graham said in part.

Yet Bennett took issues with Graham’s offer of forgiveness to someone who had not yet confessed to sinning.”Billy Graham forgives (Clinton) for what?”Bennett asked.”What has the president admitted to doing? … I think what (Graham) should say is, people, when they have done wrong, before they are forgiven, should come forward and say what it is they’ve done.” Bennett may have taken Graham too literally, said Lewis B. Smedes, author of”Forgive and Forget”(HarperSanFrancisco) and”The Art of Forgiving”(Moorings).”My hunch is that what Graham meant is that he would be willing to forgive (Clinton),”he said.”But before Graham could forgive, he would have to ascertain if he had been hurt by (Clinton’s actions). The only people you have a right to forgive are those who have hurt you either directly or vicariously.” L. Gregory Jones, author of”Embodying Forgiveness”(Eerdmans), said that by extending his forgiveness to Clinton, Graham may have been acting as a mediator of God’s grace, a role often assumed by ministers.”Clearly, Jesus authorizes his disciples to forgive others in God’s name,”said Jones.”But it should be with the presumption that they go and seek forgiveness also from those whom they have wronged.” Nonetheless,”there is something powerful to an announcement of forgiveness even prior to knowing whether someone has done something wrong or not,”said Jones, dean of the Divinity School at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Lavish offers of forgiveness from someone of Graham’s age and reputation do not surprise Carla Johnson.”I would imagine that Billy Graham, at the end of his career, at the end of a lifetime of witnessing human behavior, is at a place where it’s very easy for him to forgive because he understands the nature of the human condition,”said Johnson, a communications professor at St. Mary’s College in South Bend, Ind., who has written on forgiveness and the Clinton controversy.

People who forgive as easily as Graham”do more than forgive, they understand that we are all subject to temptations and sins of the flesh,”she said.

Forgiveness is”both a simple and complex thing”comprised primarily of four elements, said Smedes, a retired professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.


First, the wronged party must blame the individual who caused the injury.”You only forgive people you hold responsible. … If you can’t blame someone, you can’t forgive them,”he said.

Secondly, true forgiveness means”rediscovering”that the person who caused the hurt is”someone with flaws”just like us.

Next, forgiveness can only be realized when the injured party”surrenders the right to get even.” And finally, said Smedes, the forgiver must”change their attitude toward the person, instead of hating him, you begin to love him and wish him well.” In the case of the evangelist forgiving the president, obviously Graham would not have been wronged personally if it is learned that the sexual misconduct allegations against Clinton are true. Yet Graham may so strongly empathize with the deep pain such acts can cause the people involved that he extends his forgiveness to the source of their hurts, said Smedes.

A strong empathy with individuals bound by deep pain may have been what motivated Jesus to forgive, too.”Maybe in his humanity (Jesus) had enough empathy that he could go beyond himself … and could identify”with those he forgave, said Smedes.”God, we believe, does have that empathy. … What Jesus is saying, in his divine way, is that when you wrong people, you wrong me.” But is it appropriate _ as in the Graham-Clinton scenario _ to extend forgiveness before there is an admission of guilt and a pledge to reform?

Not to Jones, who said that even though Jesus”challenged the presumption (in traditional Jewish thought) that prior repentance was necessary for forgiveness, he nonetheless assumed that repentance would follow forgiveness.” Jones points to New Testament examples in which Jesus tells the forgiven to”go and sin no more.” But Smedes believes that although repentance is mandatory to ultimately achieve reconciliation among wronged parties, it should not be a prerequisite to forgiveness.”If you say that someone has to repent first, you are making your future happiness, your future freedom, hostage to that person,”said Smedes.”You are letting that person decide for you whether you can be healed of your resentment and hate.” Yet Smedes and Jones agree that refusing to forgive always has devastating consequences.”Forgiving is always a risk because it opens you up to the possibility that you will put yourself in the situation where you will be wronged again,”said Smedes.”But the consequences of not forgiving are so bad that the risk is worth taking.” Said Jones,”While the anger (that accompanies a wrong) is understandable, if we do not struggle to transform that anger into love, it will eat us up. … Even justifiable anger can eat away at our soul until we become a shell of our former self and in that sense, the person who victimized us gains a more lasting victory. …”Too many people think forgiveness is … a once for all event,”he said.”Whereas it’s more like a craft that has to be learned and takes time and requires patience.”

DEA END PAQUETTE

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