When Forgiveness Feels Amazing

Marcus Borg shares a story about a couple whose child wanted to be alone with his new baby brother. Intrigued, the parents turned on the monitor to listen in on their child’s conversation. Quietly through the monitor they heard their young son say to the infant, “Tell me about God.”

During one of their final conversations with Jesus, one of his disciples named Phillip made a similar request, “Lord, show us the Father” (John 14:8). Jesus assured each of them that his life had been a representation of what they were seeking, that in fact they had seen the Father because they had seen him.

Jesus showed that the Father is love, filled with compassion and kindness and providing forgiveness through grace. In a culture where people claimed “an eye for an eye,” Jesus’ ministry was a radical departure from the norm, offering a message that promised complete forgiveness to those who would receive it, no matter how far they had strayed.

In his book The Art of Forgiveness, author Jack Kornfield shares a stunning portrait of mercy. In South Africa the Babemba tribe has an incredible way of dealing with criminals and the unjust. When a person is caught committing a crime they are placed in the center of the village and are surrounded by the rest of the people. One by one the people around the circle face the accused and state the good things the person has done, recounting in great detail positive memories of the man or woman in the middle. The ceremony itself can last for days, and at its closing the person is welcomed back into the tribe with great jubilation.

Many people could never imagine such a picture of love and acceptance. Indeed many of us are used to “getting even” and receiving as good as we get. Yet the Babemba are very close to the heart of God in welcoming home those who have strayed.

To show what God is like Jesus told a story about a son who betrayed his father and squandered all of his inheritance, then selfishly returned home for more. Amazingly we are told, “But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15).

But Jesus went beyond telling us about our own forgiveness to tell us to offer forgiveness as well. Indeed, maybe it is when we are the most forgiving that we most clearly remember what God is like.