Forgiving as Forgiven
On December 29, 2019, a gunman opened fire during a Sunday morning worship service at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, TX, killing two people. The horrific incident ended quickly after it started when a gun-carrying churchgoer shot and killed the attacker.
On June 17, 2015, a gunman attended a Wednesday night Bible Study at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC before opening fire and killing nine people. Two days later several of the victims’ family members stood up at the shooter’s bond hearing and said to the man who had brutally taken the lives of their loved ones, “I forgive you.”
In Texas, it feels like instant justice. In South Carolina, it feels like justice delayed, and the church responded with forgiveness. In every situation that requires forgiveness, this is what our hearts wrestle with. When you are wronged, your heart aches for justice. When it feels like there is no justice, are you able to forgive and allow justice to rest in God’s hands?
Even as I write this, I question the wisdom of asking this of such tragic stories, which bring with them enormous political, religious, constitutional, personal, and racial complexities. As one who sits far away from the reality of the pain and turmoil of those affected by these tragedies, in no way do I wish to inappropriately co-opt these stories to make a point that undermines the ongoing agony of all who were victimized by these horrifying attacks. Yet, I believe it is only something as weighty as this that forces us to grapple with what it looks like for us to live lives that reflect the heart of Christ when he spoke these words from the cross:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
When confronted with the other-worldly things that Jesus did in his life – like this prayer – it is tempting (and all too common) for Christians to bristle at the thought of the call for us to “go and do likewise” with the dismissive retort, “Yeah, be he’s Jesus!”
Luke is the author of the gospel that bears his name and its sequel, the book of Acts. And in Luke’s telling of the stoning of Stephen in Act 7, he wants us to see in Christianity’s first martyr that those who are full of Christ (Acts 6:5), live lives (and sometimes die deaths) like Christ.
Like Jesus, Stephen prayed as he was dying for God to receive his spirit (Luke 23:46, Acts 7:59).
Like Jesus, Stephen prayed for the forgiveness of those who were killing him (Luke 23:34, Acts 7:60).
For many, there is a point after which a call to forgive is deemed too much. In some situations, it almost feels wrong or even dangerous to forgive, which is, perhaps, the reaction of some to the story of the church’s forgiveness shared above. Stephen did not live as if there were a point along the path of Christ-likeness after which only Jesus is to go. He walked the hard path he had been given in the same manner as Jesus did.
There are times when Christians are called to follow Jesus down an exceedingly hard path and, in the lives of many, forgiving the seemingly unforgivable is the hardest obstacle they will face.
It is noted that Stephen’s face reflected the glory of God as he stood before his accusers (Acts 6:15). And all Christians after him shine the light of the glory of Christ in their lives when they follow Christ in forgiving others with the same heart Jesus has in forgiving us.
~ Andy Barker grew up in Boston, Ma. and relocated to Charlotte in 2008. He currently serves as an elder at LIFE Fellowship. He and his wife Melanie have five children and have attended LIFE Fellowship for ten years.