09/26/2023
Revolutionary Forgiveness
by Bishop Hee-Soo Jung
For us, as Christians, reconciliation is a deeply spiritual matter, for the Bible challenges us with ways of healing and being that often run contrary to the teachings of our culture. In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Jesus doesn’t leave any room for misinterpretation! We are to love and accept our enemies. We are to pray for the people who have hurt us. We are to treat others the way in which we want to be treated. We are to include every person as our neighbor.
This was radical teaching – and it remains radical, today! Consider the implications: loving those we would never want to befriend, much less spend time with or even break bread with! Loving the person who has preyed on the vulnerable? Forgive those who have hurt us?
The answer is a resounding “YES!” This is an opportunity for us to witness to the power of Jesus Christ in our individual lives and communal body. This ability to love as Jesus teaches us, speaks to the conviction of our faith, the living faith.
We are called not only to who or what is easy to love – like a puppy or kitten. This is a transformative love that dwells within us from Christ, and flows to all, even the most challenging to love.
This love is not naïve, blithely suspending reality. It is a love that chooses to act in the revolutionary ways of love, even as it fully recognizes that: harm that has been committed; the pain and anguish are real; and that alienation has occurred. Jesus beckons us to a state of love that forges into the future, and releases us into the newness of life in Christ.
Friends, we have a choice to make. We may choose to focus on a path that is led by our own efforts or those of God. We may focus on how you and I may love our enemies or how Jesus loved his. We may choose to be a forgiving and reconciled people.
Prayer: Jesus, O Jesus, forgive us for not being a people of revolutionary forgiveness grounded in your love. We ask that our minds and hearts be receptive to the call of love, forgiveness and being one in you. Amen.
