Those who Trespass against us.
Or
Terriers Barking
The other day I was walking the dogs out through the field, intending to head out the gate onto the lane, as I drew near the gate I saw a couple of lads with a terrier walking down the lane, and I noticed they had noticed me. I was a bit reluctant to go through the gate as I did not want to give the impression that this was a public footpath, but something about them made me think they had already got that idea. However, I decided not to wait as I didn’t want a barking match between their terrier and my two, so I stepped out and headed down the lane – but I did look back, and sure enough they were going into the field. Now, it’s not my field, the farmer who owns it lets us walk through it, and he is a good fellow, so I thought I better say something.
When I caught them up I politely asked if they knew that there wasn’t a public footpath through the field. One of them, the larger one, answered as if I had asked if there was a public footpath, saying he was sure there was. I rephrased my question into a statement, ‘there is no footpath through this field’. By now the dogs, straining at the leash, had started barking at each other, so the conversation between us humans continued at a necessarily louder volume. He said he was sure there was a path, I said I was sure there was not. Quite soon the dogs were at such a pitch it was hard to hear what was being said, but I was sure he knew what I was saying and was irritated to see him shrug and turn to start walking off across the field, he looked back to beckon his friend on, and to gesture that he couldn’t hear me. They clearly had decided to ignore me and move on. What was I to do?
The lad who had not spoken, the smaller one, looked back at me, he looked slightly embarrassed, perhaps even apologetic, but he continued on.
Any attempt to physically stop them would have ended with at least the dogs fighting, they were all clearly up for that, I however calculated that it probably wasn’t worth risking, even though I was by now steaming angry. I felt these characters had offended against common decency and politeness, their actions also seemed to me to be disrespectful to my friend who owned the field, and I absolutely hate being ignored. They were trampling not only over the field but over the idea that right and wrong should restrain you; that you shouldn’t do something you know to be wrong just because you can.
As you may have already realised I get quite philosophical when angry, but then how quickly the human mind processes the emotion of anger into the idea of injustice; we have been hurt – we have been wronged!
Nothing convinces us of the righteousness of our cause like that first rush of rage. If at that moment I could have called down fire from heaven on those two trespassers I may have spared their lives in the ensuing conflagration but almost certainly not their dignity or their eyebrows. Thankfully God does not feel obliged to grant my prayers as if He were a genie in a lamp.
Be we in the right or the wrong, the place where anger and perceived injustice meet often leads to a bout of self-righteous religion, only to be replaced a moment later with a bout of self-righteous atheism when God declines to be recruited to our cause. God is inconvenient when it comes to self-righteous anger because not only does He decline to send down hotly desired fireballs, He tells us, “do not judge”, and “forgive others as you have been forgiven”. As I was stomping off the field, terriers in barky and reluctant tow, I knew God was telling me just that, and I had to focus my attention on what that meant rather than just repeating angry thoughts.
So what did it mean to forgive and not to judge these characters?
Certainly not to say what they did was Ok.
To forgive does not mean to deny a wrong, if there is no wrong there is no need to forgive.
Also, certainly not to say that they should not be punished by due process if caught.
The bible is clear that God requires justice in humanity.
What then?
“I HOPE he trips in a rabbit hole and BREAKS a leg, I HOPE they get tangled in brambles, I HOPE they slip in the MUD and get covered!”
In my mind I was barking as savagely as my terriers. I wanted to add to whatever legitimate punishment they may or may not get, I wanted vengeance.
In my imagination I was judge and jury, the only hitch was I needed God’s cooperation to carry out the varied fiendish sentences I envisioned. Not only was I not equipped to carry out my judgement, I was actually not equipped to judge at all – that’s God’s job. The all-knowing God is in a position to judge, I being nothing but a bit of a know-it-all certainly am not. I had an opinion of these two young men based only on this encounter, whereas God had created them and known them eternally.
I am not in a position to condemn anyone, especially not on the basis of random fury. All I can do is what is humanly possible, to stand up for justice as best I can, and let God sort out the rest. To do otherwise, to judge others and condemn them, is to trespass on God’s territory. In moments of anger I think we would like to be divine vigilantes condemning people who have offended us to hell, but forgiveness requires we recognise both God’s sovereignty and our frailty.
To forgive someone is to let go of the desire for vengeance, to not wish anything bad for the person who has hurt you over and above the demands of justice. In fact the demands of justice if carried out rightly are a good thing for the offender as the process may lead to an understanding that wrong has been done, and give an opportunity for reform.
Holding on to anger does no harm to the one we have decided to continue hating, it just ingrains self-destructive bitterness into our souls; in fact it condemns us to a partial living hell. Even if we do manage to gain vengeance, that doesn’t alleviate the loss and anger, it just creates for us an enemy who surely doesn’t see things our way and who will turn and seek revenge. Forgiveness is sometimes understood as naive, but it is the truly naive who do not see the damage that vengeance can do; world history is scarred with conflicts powered by spiralling vengeful violence, some personal histories are too.
The astonishing truth that Christianity teaches is that God does not choose to add punishment to us in this world or the next for what we have done, instead He offers forgiveness.
We who are no position to judge and condemn do so with regular fury, God who has every right and ability to judge and condemn is merciful.
Not sometimes merciful, eternally merciful.
God does not just forgive good people, he forgives bad people too, in fact we are all a mixture of bad and good – that’s another reason we are in no position to judge.
God does not forgive only if you believe the right thing, He offers forgives to all, the only thing you need to know is that you need God’s forgiveness and be willing to accept it.
God’s forgiveness is never as narrow as any culture’s particular perceptions of right or wrong, or their set of prejudices, or their traditions or values.
God does not only forgive people ‘like us’, He forgives people unlike us. He forgives people we thoroughly disapprove of, He forgives those we find unforgivable, and He forgives that which we find intolerable and unforgiveable in ourselves.
The way to eternal life in this world and the next is open to anyone willing to receive God’s forgiveness. God’s infinite forgiveness can seem narrow because our perception is that God is as mean spirited as we are. God is not like us, He is like Jesus, who even forgave the men driving nails through his flesh to secure Him to the blooded wood of the cross. God’s forgiveness for all the wrong we have done is made fully known to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus because Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
God the Son became God our brother.
We who have no right or ability to judge and condemn do so, God who has every right and ability to judge and condemn does not, even at the cross God showed the way. The angry judgement and condemnation of those who put Jesus on trial and had him crucified, indeed the angry judgement and condemnation we all feel and express, was not enough to overcome the infinite mercy of God.
In the resurrection that followed we see the judgement and condemnation of humanity overcome by the light, and life and love of God.
In the Old Testament God says, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay.”
God repaid the debt Himself.
With the example of Jesus in mind the New Testament quotes those ancient words concerning revenge but adds, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil... If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
God offers us forgiveness, and so asks us to offer forgiveness to others. Hence the line in the old fashioned translation of the ‘Lord’s Prayer’, the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples,
“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”.
So does this mean those we are furious with get away with it?
Especially if earthly justice does not catch them up?
Assuming we are right and what they have done is wrong, then we should recognise that wrong doing is a direct cause of bad consequences for the offender and for those around them. If you lie and cheat and then find you have lost all your friends that is not God’s punishment that is a consequence of your wrong doing. If you abuse alcohol or drugs and fall ill, if you are unfaithful and your relationship brakes, if you are promiscuous and long for someone to call your own, if you steal and swindle and then find you can’t trust other people, if you live by violence and find you are in constant fear and stress, if you value only money and find life becomes meaningless, then a vengeful god is not punishing you, the merciful God is offering you forgiveness and redemption from the harm you are doing to your own soul and the souls of those around you.
One of the great modern myths is that sin is at worst trivial and inconsequential, and at best a riot of self-regarding sensual delights. In truth, sin destroys our relationships with others, with God, with creation, and ultimately with ourselves.
There are two paths in life, the one described by Jesus leads to life in this world and the next, the one described by Evil leads to death and destruction in this world and the next. In truth we often wander between the two, but do not imagine that either path can be travelled without consequence.
One major consequence of choosing good over evil in our actions is guilt, knowing the difference between right and wrong and still doing wrong creates guilt in us, which like pain is a sign that something is wrong. Like pain guilt can come in varying strengths, like pain guilt is difficult to live with, like pain guilt can be debilitating, like pain guilt can be destructive to our personality, like pain guilt can be temporarily masked with addictive pleasures and distractions, like pain guilt is a part of what makes us human, if we feel no guilt or no pain there is something seriously amiss with us, and like pain guilt must be taken notice of and dealt with.
So those who have hurt you ought to face justice, but don’t imagine that if human justice fails the wrong will have not brought its own consequences and guilt to them. There are those who through determined and repeated wrong doing no longer feel guilt, like people who abuse their bodies until they no longer feel pain, but such people are to be pitied as much as feared.
Clearly, the thing to do if you are walking the path that leads to destruction is to recognise your error, seek and receive God’s forgiveness, and then start walking the way of love taught by Jesus. You will need God’s forgiveness again, and you will need His inspiration, but He is infinitely willing to give you both so that you may continue to walk in the light He created you for.
If you have been wronged do not start walking on the way that leads to destruction by seeking vengeance over-and-above justice; that will only add further troubles to your pain. In God there is healing for brokenness. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus show us that God can bring us through suffering and evil if we follow His good way. Forgiveness does not necessarily mean you have to go back to the situation in which you were hurt, and it does not preclude you from taking steps to protect yourself from further harm, forgiveness does not negate wisdom. The person who hurt you may or may not be sorry, they may or may not now be trustworthy, but you are doing them no favours by giving them the opportunity to do further harm, especially if that will put others in danger too.
While God the Son accepted the punishment anger for sin demands so that we might see and receive God’s forgiveness, I believe it is consistent with the bible to say that God in His mercy does correct us at times if we are on the wrong path. What loving Father would not try to dissuade their child from walking a path that leads to destruction? This is not punishment, although a guilty conscience may make it feel so, it is a push in the right direction, or a cause to pause and reflect, and we should take notice and amend the direction of our lives. God will be trying to win back to the right path the person who hurt you, and that might involve some corrective treatment. Jesus taught we should love our enemies so you should pray they get the message and not delight in their discomfort.
If you are still concerned that those who have hurt you may evade human justice, and that the guilt and self-harming consequences of their actions are insufficient, and that any ‘correction’ God may give will not amount to what you feel they deserve as punishment, then remember that one day they must stand before God to give an account of their lives.
In the light of God’s love they will see themselves as they truly are.
As will we all.
Jesus Christ, who lived the perfect life of holiness and forgiveness, at the cross stood in the place of all our destructive wrath and sinfulness, and he will stand in our place once more on that final day, and the Father will accept his life for ours. So better on that day to stand before God having known His forgiveness rather than having spent a lifetime in rebellion against it.
Ultimately in God justice and mercy are reconciled.
As it happens I met those two trespassers again while out walking a few weeks later, they recognised me straightaway, and the one who did all the talking was keen to apologise. When he had got home he had thought about it and had a look at a map and concluded he wasn’t on the right track. Forgiveness does not always lead to reconciliation with others so it was good to have a friendly conversation with them, even if our terriers still were as determined as ever to bark ferociously at each other.
Note.
I usually include relevant bible verses in the text of what I write about Christianity, but having recently read CS Lewis’ ‘Meer Christianity’ and been impressed by his straightforward writing style I thought like Lewis I would leave bible verses out of the text. Unlike Lewis I am including them here at the end.
On God’s forgiveness.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
On not judging
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Matthew 7:1-3
On our need to forgive others
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32
On God’s discipline in our lives.
My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
and do not resent his rebuke,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.
Proverbs 3:11-12
On Jesus dying for us
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
1 Peter 2:24
On the revelation of ourselves before God
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12
Picture: when finding your way the church can be a useful landmark.
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