Forgiving Enough
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV, Cycle A
Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy--seven times." (vv. 21--22)
Shaling Mei was studying his Bible when he read Matthew 6:14: "If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." He really struggled with the idea of forgiveness. It wasn't that he thought forgiveness wasn't a good thing. It's the putting it into practice that's so hard. And the wrong that needed forgiveness wasn't something simple like a child staining the carpet. No, the issue that Shaling was finding hard to forgive was the rape of his three--year--old daughter.
He knew that forgiving the two men was the right thing to do, but how? Every time he tried, he thought of the disgusting tragedy. His precious little girl's innocence was stolen from her. Surely God's call for forgiveness shouldn't be extended to these animals who would violate a toddler. Shaling was torn between his faith and his humanity. His pain and his tears were so great.
But as he reflected on the scripture and allowed it to penetrate his heart, God opened Shaling's eyes to the process of forgiveness. God first forgives us of our failures, and we, in turn, forgive others of theirs. Shaling said, "Forgiveness sees, not the enormity of the deed, but the enormity of the need to be forgiven." Instead of thinking that a sin is too big to be forgiven, we should see monumental sin as needing even more forgiveness.
As if a light bulb appeared over his head, Shaling thought that a parent doesn't keep a dirty child away from the bathtub. No, the dirtier the ragamuffin is, the faster the parent will get her in the bathtub. Then the parent would gently scrub the ragamuffin until she was transformed back into the child the parents know is underneath the dirt. People don't need forgiveness because they're clean, they need forgiveness because of dirty mistakes. The more dirt we have, the more we need forgiveness.
Because of this simple analogy, Shaling was able to begin the process of forgiving the men who raped his daughter. A tear streamed down his cheek as his healing began and his heart was moved beyond anger. For the first time, he was able to pray for God to forgive what he once thought was unforgivable.
(Taken from the November--December 1995 Upper Room.)
Shaling Mei was studying his Bible when he read Matthew 6:14: "If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." He really struggled with the idea of forgiveness. It wasn't that he thought forgiveness wasn't a good thing. It's the putting it into practice that's so hard. And the wrong that needed forgiveness wasn't something simple like a child staining the carpet. No, the issue that Shaling was finding hard to forgive was the rape of his three--year--old daughter.
He knew that forgiving the two men was the right thing to do, but how? Every time he tried, he thought of the disgusting tragedy. His precious little girl's innocence was stolen from her. Surely God's call for forgiveness shouldn't be extended to these animals who would violate a toddler. Shaling was torn between his faith and his humanity. His pain and his tears were so great.
But as he reflected on the scripture and allowed it to penetrate his heart, God opened Shaling's eyes to the process of forgiveness. God first forgives us of our failures, and we, in turn, forgive others of theirs. Shaling said, "Forgiveness sees, not the enormity of the deed, but the enormity of the need to be forgiven." Instead of thinking that a sin is too big to be forgiven, we should see monumental sin as needing even more forgiveness.
As if a light bulb appeared over his head, Shaling thought that a parent doesn't keep a dirty child away from the bathtub. No, the dirtier the ragamuffin is, the faster the parent will get her in the bathtub. Then the parent would gently scrub the ragamuffin until she was transformed back into the child the parents know is underneath the dirt. People don't need forgiveness because they're clean, they need forgiveness because of dirty mistakes. The more dirt we have, the more we need forgiveness.
Because of this simple analogy, Shaling was able to begin the process of forgiving the men who raped his daughter. A tear streamed down his cheek as his healing began and his heart was moved beyond anger. For the first time, he was able to pray for God to forgive what he once thought was unforgivable.
(Taken from the November--December 1995 Upper Room.)
