Category: How to Forgive

WHO’S THAT KNOCKING AT THE DOOR?

Who is knocking at your door? Is it that trickster, the one who has deeply hurt you?

Post WWII, Corrie ten Boom decided to go on a speaking tour of Germany, to win to Christ the hearts of her former enemies. She remembered, “It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower door in the processing center at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, My sister Betsie’s pain-blanched face.… My sister’s death.”

HOW DOES JOSEPH DEAL WITH HIS HATEFUL BROTHERS?

In Genesis 42:1-43:10, can you imagine the same type of shock when Joseph recognizes a group of men appearing at the palace door? He instantly remembered the brothers who despised teenaged Joseph with such a revulsion and enmity that they sold him into slavery. With crocodile tears told their father that a wild animal killed their brother. More than twenty years have passed. How does Joseph deal with the men he had known as brothers, now bowing before him, begging to buy food?

Joseph is the last person on earth the brothers expected to see, especially in Pharaoh’s Court. The aristocracy before them spoke with great authority and appeared Egyptian. This man is Pharoah’s right-hand man.

EVERYTHING HAS COME FULL CIRCLE

Did angry vengeful thoughts first swirl around in Joseph’s brain when he recognized them? “Joseph recognized his brothers; they did not recognize him. Then he (Joseph) remembered his dreams about them.” The God of the Universe reminds Joseph that everything has come full circle. The dreams he was given years ago in which God placed him over his brothers, are being fulfilled.

HAVE THE BROTHER’S CHANGED?

How does Joseph respond? Certainly, he is entitled to revenge. He wonders if the brothers have changed. Do they regret their murderous plot to get rid of Joseph? In their minds, Joseph “is no more”. Joseph uses an interpreter, so they assume he doesn’t speak their language. Then Joseph hears them say, “Surely, we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.”

Joseph knows his brothers as tricksters. After all their father’s name is often interpreted as “someone who seizes or circumvents”. Joseph gives his brothers a run for their money to reveal where their hearts stand. In the process, he makes possible his heart’s desire: to see his younger brother Benjamin and father, Jacob. Dad has never recovered from the loss of Joseph. Jacob laments, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!”

Joseph maneuvers the situation in a series of tests: the silver in their saddle bags and Simeon being held hostage in Egypt. God provides the answers regarding the former tricksters at the palace door.

FORGIVENESS IS POSSIBLE, EVEN WHEN COUNTERINTUITIVE

What lesson do we learn from this? Forgiveness is possible even when it is counterintuitive. Joseph responded in wise trusting obedience to God when confronted with the deepest hurts of his past. Corrie Ten Boom remembers, “Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.” Who is knocking at your door? Is it that trickster, the one who has deeply hurt you? Or is it much worse, Corrie’s guard from Ravensbruck? How are you going to respond to God’s call for wisdom and forgiveness?

Click to hear the story of Dana St. John

HOW TO LOVE YOUR BETRAYER

“You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk,” he was saying. “I was a guard in there. But since that time,” he went on, “I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there,  Will you forgive me?”

How does one forgive a betrayer? In 1947, just two years after her liberation from a concentration camp, Corrie Ten Boom recounts that she came from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives. “When we confess our sins,” I said, “God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever.” And that’s when I saw him, working his way forward through the crowd. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush this man had been a guard at Ravensbrück Concentration Camp where my sister and I were sent.

WILL YOU FORGIVE ME?

Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: “How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!” And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course–how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women? “You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk,” he was saying. “I was a guard in there. But since that time,” he went on, “I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Will you forgive me?”

FORGIVENESS IS NOT AN EMOTION

I stood there with coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion–I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. “Jesus, help me!” I prayed silently. “I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.” And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. As I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. “I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart!” For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.”

THEY WERE ALL BETRAYERS

How does one love betrayer(s)? In John 13 we have more than the infamous and unrepentant betrayer (Judas). It is easy to forget the disciples who skedaddled off the Mount of Olives when the soldiers arrest Jesus. Then there is out-spoken Peter, who uses his oratorical skills this time to announce to everyone in earshot that he was not one of Jesus’ followers. All betrayers.

THE MOST DIFFICULT LAW

Jesus knew what was to come in the next few hours before the betrayals. After Judas leaves the room, Jesus gives His remaining disciples one of the most difficult laws in all Christianity: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

FAMILY TALK

This is family talk, a command from the Heavenly Father to His beloved children on how they are to relate to other believers.  How does one forgive their betrayer? Corrie recounted, “I forgive you, brother! With all my heart!” This type of love is the mark of the true believer that shouts louder to the world than any bumper stickers, t-shirts or emojis.

SINCE I HAVE LOVED YOU…

How do we love one another? Ray Stedman writes: “In this passage, the Greek, literally, says, ‘As I have loved you in order that you might love one another.’ One is the cause and the other is the effect. As in many places in Scripture, the word ‘as’ here can better be translated ‘since’: ‘Since I have loved you in order that you might love one another.’ Here our Lord is saying that his love for us will stimulate and awaken within us the ability to love other people.”

ONLY THROUGH CHRIST

This love was the cause and the identifying mark of Corrie Ten Boom’s love for Christ. Only through Christ could she stretch out her hand to her former enemy. Has Christ’s love stimulated and awakened within you the ability to love other believers, even your betrayer(s)?