On the Freedom of Forgiveness

Here's something to think about during Holy Week . . .

Will Willimon, Bishop of the North Alabama Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, says a few years back he got a call from a Methodist parishioner who was just livid her pastor had the gall to stand up in the pulpit on a Sunday morning and pray for Osama Bin Laden. Willimon picked up the phone and called this pastor to see if it was true and to see if the pastor could under- stand how this woman and others might have been offended. The pastor said it was true and that he understood how offensive it might have been. "But," the pastor said, "the only one I have ever known God to raise from the dead was the same man who taught us to pray for our enemies."

Jesus did indeed teach us to pray for our enemies. And more than that, he prayed for his own enemies — even as they mocked, flogged, and crucified him. As the nails could be heard driving into his hands, "Father, forgive them," was heard coming out of his mouth.

Jesus lived by his own teachings. He died by them also. And that is the reason God raised him up also. As Peter it in his sermon before the very same people who conspired to have Jesus killed, "This man was handed over to you . . . and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him on the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him" (Acts 2:23, 24).

Are there people in your life you need to forgive? Have you been wronged or betrayed or utterly abused? Holy Week is the time to pray for our enemies. It is the time to put into practice Jesus’ teachings — even his most of- fensive teachings. It is the time to say, "Father, forgive them."

A people who dare to forgive like Jesus are already raised like him also. When we pray "Father, forgive them" we unlock the door of sin and death, not only for them, but also for us. In other words, it is impossible for death to keep its hold on forgiveness.

And so in forgiving we are made free —- and we are free indeed.