Sunday Thoughts: A Remarkable Example of Forgiveness

I generally don’t refer to my other PJ Media articles here in Sunday Thoughts, mainly because I want these columns to be a politics-free zone. On Monday, I wrote about a man who walked up the aisle during a sermon with the intention of shooting the pastor. Miraculously, the man’s gun jammed, and another man was able to subdue the would-be shooter.

The point of my column on Monday was to talk about how churches need to take the security of pastors and congregants more seriously, but there’s a remarkable lesson about forgiveness that’s embedded in the story:

Even though Polite faces charges of attempted murder for the would-be church shooting, Germany has forgiven the man.

“He actually apologized to me,” Germany told WPXI. “I told him that ‘I forgive you and want you to know I love you,’ but yes, I definitely forgave him.”

 Later in the week, my friend and boss Paula Bolyard sent me a video that sheds more light on the situation. The pastor didn’t just forgive the shooter after the fact; he expressed his forgiveness to his would-be murderer as he and other congregants were subduing him. What an incredible testimony of forgiveness!

I’ll confess that sometimes I have a hard time forgiving others for the smallest slights, and here’s a man forgiving the man who tried to kill him mere minutes after the act. It’s convicting.

Recommended: Sunday Thoughts: The Weight of Our Sin

God’s Word has plenty to say about forgiveness:

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 6:14-15 (ESV)

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Matthew 18:21-22 (ESV)

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Mark 11:25 (ESV)

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32 (ESV)

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Colossians 3:12-13 (ESV)

Jesus forgave His accusers as He hung on the cross, taking the punishment for our sins: “And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’” (Luke 23:34a, ESV).

A friend of mine is fond of saying — and this is a paraphrase which I’m sure to botch — that if Jesus could forgive His accusers on the cross and you think you can’t forgive somebody, you’re saying that your wrongs are greater than what happened to Jesus.

It’s time for some real talk; here’s where I’m convicted as I write this. I can think of two people for whom I’m struggling with forgiveness and what it means for those relationships going forward. I’m praying that God will help me navigate those situations, and I hope and pray that you’ll search your heart and see if there’s somebody you need to forgive or ask forgiveness from.