Does this mean that forgiveness involves "remembering the sin no more"? We cannot help but remember the sin. An omniscient God cannot help but "remember" the sin, unless the word is being used in the same way I might tell someone that some debt they owe me is forgotten. It may only be emphasizing God’s gracious determination and resolve not to hold us liable for our sin. The debt is canceled and payment will never be demanded.
Pastor Ray focused on the craft of forgiveness, saying it is not easy and must be practiced to get it right.
Reflecting on the amount of Old Testament reading I have been doing, the verse, and the "craft" metaphor made me think about forgiveness in a number of new ways. The first is whether God changed his practice regarding forgiveness or did humankind's understanding of God's forgiveness change?
Jeremiah records, "‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”
God declares this is because they are wicked people, who refuse to listen to God's words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, He also declares them completely useless. Not allowing pity, mercy or compassion is not forgiveness so, at least, God's forgiveness was contingent upon something.
I see the contingent nature of God's forgiveness disappearing with Jesus and the New Testament. The forgiveness of Jesus is echoed in Stephen's last words as he is being martyred "Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (Acts 7:60). Jesus likewise prayed from the cross: "Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing".
Internationally I am seeing a type of forgiveness reflected in New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her stoic resolve and empathy for the victims. Remarkably her expressions of this resolve and empathy do not contain: a promise to bring the perpetrator to justice; any attempt to degrade him; any recognition of his desire to be seen, recognized, and fought on the level he wants for us to be reduced to. Very different from the usual US reaction to a terrorist attack.
New Zealand mourns with you; we are one," Ardern told the Muslim community during a Call to Prayer on Friday. Quoting the Prophet Mohammed, she added: "The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion, and sympathy are just like one body. When any part of the body suffers, the whole body feels pain." This is stresses New Zealand's aroha which is a Māori word for giving unconditionally. Aroha is the basis of strong whānau – strong whānau lets each member know on a daily basis, through words of actions, that they are loved and appreciated.
Ardern is demonstrating that the opposite of terror may not not courage, victory, or even justice. It is certainly not a “war on terror.” retaliation that is called for by extremists many times on opposite sides of the "war". The opposite of terror is not remembering the terrorist for a simple, heinous act that was performed. The US may never forget 9/11 but whether terrorism is seen as "a debt that will never be pad" is up to us. We may end up acting from compassion for those who have wronged us, however hard that may be to achieve.
Forgiveness on a personal level is much harder to talk about but, given my wife's challenge to emotionally connect with the services I am writing about, I must talk about what comes to my mind each time the topic of forgiveness comes up.
When my father died my nuclear family was extremely close and loving. That broke down between my sister, my mother, and starting with our reactions to Dad's death and culminating when Mother needed to move from her home to assisted living. They treated me, and I am sure I treated them in ways we did not anticipate the others to act. They ascribed motivations to some of my reactions that hurt. I felt neither trusted me.
I love my sister. I love my mother who died last September yet both those relationships were never the same. My sister and I both feel the pain of not having the same relationship as before. Neither of us wants to get hurt like we did in the past.
So have my sister and I forgiven one another?
If forgiveness is deciding to live with the painful consequences of another person’s past wrongs then yes. We are living without the bitterness. rancor and, for a time, disappointment in one another that consumed both of us.
Could more be done? Will I stop thinking about my sister every time I think about forgiveness? That answer is less clear. There well may be that there is still more to do but neither of us knows the next steps.
Part of "craft" of forgiveness is knowing what the end product looks like.
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