2 Corinthians 5:17-19: Haalapi Hawit

Presented to TSA North Vancouver Corps and the Harvest Community, 04 October 2026 (based on the message Presented to TSA AV Ministries, 26 March 2023) by Major Michael Ramsay

To read the shorter 2023 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2023/03/2-corinthians-511-21-reconciliation.html

2 Corinthians 5:17-19: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

Discussion questions: 

• What is the ministry of reconciliation?

• What role do you suppose forgiveness has in reconciliation? 

• How can we share the message of reconciliation?

This week was Truth and Reconciliation Day. On Wednesday I had the opportunity to join a walk in Vancouver. Susan and Heather and I went to events in New Westminster. I don’t know if there were events here in North Van? The Orange Shirt Day walk was always a very important event when we lived in Port Alberni. Alberni was home to one of the Residential Schools. Each TRC day we would either walk to or from that site as a community – all of us from Port Alberni, including mayor and members of council; the MLA and MP, The Salvation Army and many others. We would walk side-by-side with members of the local Nuu-Chah-Nulth nations: Tseshaht, Hupacasath, and others. We would do this as a sign of solidarity, of reconciliation.

Our scripture before us today, in part, vv.17-19, says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

A friend of mine, who was affected directly by residential schools, wrote this:

…the beatings I took when I was a little boy. I could never understand why Late Mom did this to me.  Reading about the Plint case, I began to learn and understand what happened to her in those institutions she was kidnapped and forced to attend. The Plint case, I think, was instrumental in helping her to come to terms with her own childhood; to help her begin the process of Healing... I said to Late Mom a few times, "Mom, it okay to remember the past, if only to learn from it how NOT to be - What is not okay is repeating it…. Each of us has the opportunity to halt the vicious cycle of abuse that the savages taught in them institutions."

    …My brother, Simon, remembers how I used to be tied up, when I was a little boy. I only have vague memories...

    I close this by commenting on my daughter's observations, when she was only four years of age. …[she spilled her juice] I'd grab a tablecloth to wipe it up, then explain to her it was why I put the glass in front of her. This happened three times. And, to keep this short, on the third time, she said to me, "Dad, you're not going to get mad at me, hey? " To which I would say to her, "No, daughter. I would never be mad at you (as in never belittle her or make her feel threatened and afraid). … "The vicious cycle ends with me."

2 Corinthians 5:17-19: “…if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu writes,” To walk the path of forgiveness is to recognize that your crimes harm you as they harm me. To walk the path of forgiveness is to recognize that my dignity is bound up in your dignity, and every wrongdoing hurts us all.” We are forgiven; to be reconciled we must forgive.

Reconciliation with others is important. Reconciliation with God is most important and reconciliation with God inevitably leads to reconciliation with others. 1 John 4:20: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”

TRC Day was this week. I wore my orange shirt. In our previous appointment, we worked well with the local nations. We always had the chiefs at our events – Ken and Brandy are my friends - and we went to theirs. We were able to partner with them in many ways. 

This poster (on the screen) means very much to me. I used to have it on my office door in Alberni. I thought I lost it when we moved. It made me very sad. I found it, however, which caused me great joy and relief. It is now in my office in Burnaby. It was given to me by Remi Tom– he was a colleague at The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries. He works with the Army there. His brother was an hereditary Tla-o-qui-aht Chief. Remi is an elected member of council. He taught me much about Nuu-Chah-Nulth culture, tradition, government, and some vocabulary; he is a friend!

 

On Shrove Tuesday 2023, one of the other Nuu-Chah-Nulth nations, the Tseshaht First Nation, released the preliminary findings about the residential school that was on their territory.  It is very sad. Every day after that, as before, as I entered my office and as I would sit at my desk, I see this print of a painting by Roy Henry Vickers with the words 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) written underneath. I kept that picture on my glass door. Whenever someone came to my office and the door was closed, they would see it. When I was in my office with the door open, it would be facing me. I would be facing 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator), as you are today.

Shrove Tuesday was the day the findings were released from the residential school on Tseshaht First Nation. Shrove Tuesday is the day before lent begins. Traditionally this is the day to get our lives in order for Lent. It is a time of confession and absolution. I think it is quite fitting that the preliminary findings from the residential school were released on a day that has already been set aside for confession and absolution. Our nation has certainly been coming to terms with the residential school systems and many other things over the past few years. Our politicians, church leaders and others have been publicly confessing the sins and errors of the past. True reconciliation is only possible with confession, forgiveness, absolution. As Demond Tutu said in the South African context, “there is no future without forgiveness”; for it is only in forgiving others that we are truly sets us free.

1 John 4:20: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” 

2 Corinthians 5:17-19: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

Lent, the season that begins after Shrove Tuesday, when the findings were released, starts on Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is a time for fasting and praying. Lent – the word itself – means ‘fortieth’ and it references the 40 days Jesus fasted (referencing as well Elijah’s and Moses’ fasts of that length) before commencing his public ministry. Lent ends on either Maundy Thursday or Low Saturday – the day between Good Friday and Easter: the day we commemorate Christ providing reconciliation for the whole world, all of Creation.

The symbolism of this picture is important to me. The crown of thorns on the 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator)’s head make it clear that this is a representation of Jesus. Jesus who died on the cross, Jesus is the Creator. John Chapter 1 reminds us that wasn’t just a man. He is God. He is creator of the whole world and more.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it...

    ...9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

    14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth...

    ...29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.

Doctrines 2 through 4 of The Salvation Army say this about 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator):

2. We believe that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.

3. We believe that there are three persons in the Godhead-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory.

4. We believe that in the person of Jesus Christ the Divine and human natures are united, so that He is truly and properly God and truly and properly man.

'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) not only created us but He also went to the cross for us. The tears in this picture remind me how sad He must be. Can you imagine the sadness of 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator)? He created all of us, everything, the whole world and more; and we killed Him. He loves us and we killed Him. Can you imagine if those whom you love deeply wanted to kill you and you watch them as they do? In our context today, imagine you are lying in a hospital bed and your loved one comes and puts the needle in that ends everything. Now imagine that they do this NOT out of love. Imagine. This I think can cause some tears. There is more than that though.

 

'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) went to the cross for us. The tears in this picture remind me how sad He must be for the way we have treated each other in residential schools, and wars, and poverty, and other things and everything and how sad He must be at the way we continue to treat each other today.

Hebrews 10:26ff says that if we continue to sin after Christ died for us, we trample the body of Christ underfoot. 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) let His creation kill Him so that we, His creation, can be free of Sin. See the tears on His cheek. Jesus died on the cross so that sin would no longer have a hold on us. He died on the cross so that we no longer need to fall prey to sin. Look at His tears – how sad it must make Him that we still sometimes fall prey to sin; how sad it must make Him that we still do bad things to each other; how sad it must make 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) to see those He created and He loves, harm others whom He created and He loves. Those of us who are parents or grandparents, think of how we feel when our children fight; think of how we feel when our children hurt one another, think of how we feel when they bully their sibling; think of how we feel when they harm their sibling. We want them to be reconciled. We want them to be friends again. We don’t want anything to come between them ever again, because we love them. And those of us who have or are difficult siblings can make an extra effort because we love our parents.

'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) died and rose again so that we could be reconciled to 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) and 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) died and rose again so that we could be reconciled to one another. This is what we hope for in Easter. As Advent, which is quickly approaching, is when we prepare to celebrate the incarnation of Christ, Lent is when we prepare to celebrate the reconciliation that Jesus provided for us all between the cross and the empty tomb. Jesus rose from the grave leaving sin and death behind Him so that we can all do the same. And even now we have the opportunity to begin to live out that salvation; even now we have to opportunity to begin to break free from those horrible sins that are trying to drag us down; even now we have that opportunity to live out that forgiveness and reconciliation with God – and with one another.

'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator), Jesus, died and rose again so that we could be reconciled to 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator), Jesus and to one another. As 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) Jesus has done this for us, it is my hope that indeed we will all work diligently and unceasingly toward that end of living a life reconciled both with 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator) and with one another. He loves us and He wants us to be reconciled with Him with each other just like any parent desires to have their children get along.

So today, if there is anything between you and another of God’s children, another of God’s creations, I encourage you to live free from the power of Sin and death and experience love and forgiveness instead. I encourage you, if there is anything between you and 'Haalapi Hawit' (Creator), that you confess it to Him now and receive His forgiveness, His Grace, His love, and His healing and reconciliation; and when we go from here in a moment or two let us all go from here in His power, and share His love and ministry of reconciliation with all whom we meet.

 

Let us pray.

Luke 6: Have Mercy

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 13 July 2025 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

Last week we spoke about forgiveness.[1] I shared many stories from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. There are many more stories to tell. Forgiveness and Mercy I believe are central to all of Christianity and without it there is no future. To experience the joys of the Kingdom of God we need to live in a world of forgiveness. Jesus says, Luke 6:27-30: “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back;” Luke 6:35-37: “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do no judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.”

 

You know that Susan and Heather have been away for a few Sundayss. As well as visiting family in Victoria, we have been staying in various campgrounds: the previous two weeks we were an hour or so west of Campbell River and before that Raftrevor. I have been splitting my time between being with them and coming into work here: it was much easier when they were in Raftrevor than an hour west of Campbell River – also there were outlets and internet in Raftrevor! Next week I will wind up spending more time here, while they are there. There is much to do (this week: volunteer appreciation, Summer Rain, Colour Fest, …) and it is challenging to be in two places at the same time – but it is good to spend family time camping outside and in the weather.

 

The other week when we were in one campsite a family moved into the adjoining site for the evening. They were a husband and wife, a seven-year-old and a four-year-old from California. He is a carpenter, and she is a university professor; the mother is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English and Dad is bilingual Spanish and English. I laughed in joy as I said “your kids have got it made! Carpenter, College professor, multi-lingual.” Maybe. The conversation then shifted to what is happening in the USA right now and California specifically. ICE agents are active on the college campuses. Her students are afraid. Especially Spanish speaking people and people of colour: they are carrying passports around with them. She said even university professor colleagues are afraid if they aren’t from the USA. (My cousin is a Math professor in Oregon. I know he is really concerned.)

 

They told me what things were like for them in California, speaking other languages, and mom and children being Asian in appearance. One story they told me was horrific and at first, I missed the punch line. They said that a year ago when they were going home to the USA, they were stopped at the border. Mom was driving. The border guards saw her and her children and moved them to a particular line of vehicle traffic. They noticed that everyone in that line was a person of colour. The customs official then saw dad, who is ‘white’ in appearance and moved them to the other line. This struck me as horrible. I immediately thought of the stars that the Nazis placed on people in the 1930s and the radio shows in Rwanda in the 1990s, Apartheid in South Africa; post 9-11, McCarthyism, or so many other examples from the USA. The kicker for me in what they were telling me about crossing the boarder was this: that horrendous event, that racial segregation at the border, that was from before Donald Trump was re-elected. The USA has been walking down this road for a while now.

 

Also highlighted in the news lately is the conflict that has been continuing in Gaza and Palestine for decades. I have one horrific story from an Israeli attack on a hospital in 2009 that I will share with you another time – the theme of that story is how Israel’s bombing of a hospital on live TV and the killing of a Palestinian doctor’s daughters saved the lives of many; just as Rome and Israel’s killing of our Heavenly Father’s Son made it possible for us all to be saved.

 

My story today is as told by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I have been reading a lot of his writings lately – I have been camping with no internet! - he tells us Bassam Aramin’s story[2]:

 

At the age of twelve, Bassam Aramin watched as another boy his age was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier. In that moment, he felt a “deep need for revenge” and joined a group of freedom fighters in Hebron. Some called him a terrorist, but he felt he was fighting for his safety, his home, and his right to be free. At seventeen, he was caught planning an attack on Israeli troops and sentenced to seven years in prison. In prison, he only learned to hate more as he was stripped naked and beaten by his prison guards. “They were beating us without hatred, because for them this was just a training exercise and they saw us as objects.”

 

While in prison, Bassam engaged in a dialogue with his Israeli guard. Each thought the other was the “terrorist” and each equally denied being the “settler” in the land they shared. Through their conversations, they realized how much they had in common with the other. For Bassam, it was the first time he recalls feeling empathy in his life.

 

Seeing the transformation that took place between him and his captor, as they recognized their shared humanity, Bassam realized that violence could never bring peace. This realization changed his life.

 

In 2005, Bassam Aramin cofounded a group called Combatants for Peace. He [had] not picked up a weapon since, and for Bassam this [was] not a sign of weakness but of true strength. [Then…] In 2007, Bassam’s ten-year-old daughter, Abir, was shot by an Israeli soldier as she stood outside her school. Bassam says, “Abir’s murder could have led me down the easy path of hatred and vengeance, but for me there was no return from dialogue and nonviolence. After all, it was one Israeli soldier who shot my daughter, but one hundred former Israeli soldiers who built a garden in her name at the school where she was murdered.”6

 

Forgiveness is not weakness. Bassam Aramin could have given into the same temptations that, after decades of children and friends being murdered by Israeli soldiers and politicians, Hamas did. But how could that help? “Retaliation gives, at best, only momentary respite from our pain. The only way to experience healing and peace is to forgive. Until we can forgive, we remain locked in our pain and locked out of the possibility of experiencing healing and freedom, locked out of the possibility of being at peace.”[3]

 

Hamas drank the poison of vengeance and are suffering because of it. Israel is actively it as an opportunity to intensify its holocaust, its genocide. Since the day of vengeance, Israel has slaughtered more than 57 645 Palestinians – not including the Syrians, people from Yemen and Lebanon, Iranians and the others they have murdered – all with the blessing and/or material assistance from Canada, by the way.

 

Jesus says, “… Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them…love your enemies, do good to them… Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful; do no judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:27-30).

 

Bassam Aramin, who cofounded Combatants for Peace, has used his own powerful story of recognizing the humanity of his enemies to create an organization devoted to dialogue, reconciliation, and nonviolence. This organization is run by former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters who say, “After brandishing weapons for so many years, and having seen one another only through weapon sights, we have decided to put down our guns and to fight for peace.”[4]

 

If one person can put down his weapon, so can 100; and if 100 people can, so can a thousand; and if a thousand can, why not 10 thousand? And if 10 thousand can, why not the whole world? Mercy and forgiveness can transform the world. Forgiveness and mercy can transform our whole selves, our whole lives. Pertaining to our own lives here, Quoting again from Archbishop Tutu[5]:

If you are standing before me, beaten and bleeding, I cannot tell you to forgive. I cannot tell you to do anything, since you are the one who was beaten. If you have lost a loved one, I cannot tell you to forgive. You are the person who has lost a loved one. If your spouse betrayed you, if you were abused as a child, if you have endured any of the myriad injuries humans can inflict upon one another, I cannot tell you what to do. But I can tell you that it all matters. Whether we love or we hate, whether we help or we harm, it all matters. I can tell you that I hope, if I am the one who is beaten and bloodied, I will be able to forgive and pray for my abuser. I hope that I would be able to recognize him as my brother and as a precious child of God. I hope I never give up on the reality that every person has the capacity to change.

 

[Maybe] We can’t create a world without pain or loss or conflict or hurt feelings, but we can create a world of forgiveness. We can create a world of forgiveness that allows us to heal from those losses and pain and repair our relationships

 

That is what Jesus invites us to: He invites us to His Kingdom of Forgiveness where we forgive others as our Heavenly Father forgives us. He invites us to His Kingdom where we live out a life of forgiveness, offering hope to those who seemingly have no hope; love to those some consider unloveable, and the peace of Christ, to all we meet.

 

So to us today I say this: if you are hurting from the pain of unforgiveness – it is a terrible pain; it is a terrible pain and Christ can heal you and He will heal us as we ask Him, He promises. If you would like to be freed from the burden of hate, unforgiveness, and sin; if you would like to be free to from the power of your oppressor and if you would like to be free to love your neighbour as yourself, please pray with me:

 

Dear Lord, please help me to forgive all those who have done big, small, horrible and other things to myself, those I love, and others. Please help me to be free of the chains of hate and unforgiveness. Please help me to love my brother and sister and fellow human being dearly as You love me, so that indeed I may finally be free.

 

In Jesus’ Name.

Amen

www.sheepspeak.com

---

[1] Ramsay, Major Michael. Luke 23: 32-46: Forgiveness. Presented to TSA AV Ministries, 06 July 2025 https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2025/07/luke-23-32-46-forgiveness.html

[2] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 34-35

[3] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 32

[4] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 35

[5] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014),224

Luke 23: 32-46: Forgiveness

Presented to TSA AV Ministries, 06 July 2025 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

“Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” (v.34)

“I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise.” (v.43)

 

Jesus on the cross, according to Luke, offered forgiveness to two groups of people, who did two different things. One was the person being executed for a capital offense. A criminal who deserved his sentence. The other: people who hurt Jesus personally. People who hurt people Jesus loved. People who killed – or were in the process of killing and/or having Jesus killed.

 

“HE HAD MANY WOUNDS.” She spoke with the precision of a coroner. “In the upper abdomen were five wounds. These wounds indicated that different weapons were used to stab him, or a group of people stabbed him.” Mrs. Mhlawuli continued her harrowing testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission [in South Africa]. She spoke about the disappearance and murder of her husband, Sicelo. “In the lower part, he also had wounds. In total, there were forty-three. They poured acid on his face. They chopped off his right hand just below the wrist. I don’t know what they did with that hand.” A wave of horror and nausea rose in me, writes Archbishop Desmund Tutu in “The Book of Forgiving” which he wrote with his daughter Mpho

 

Now it was nineteen-year-old Babalwa’s turn to speak. She was eight when her father died. Her brother was only three. She described the grief, police harassment, and hardship in the years since her father’s death. And then she said, “I would love to know who killed my father. So would my brother.” Her next words stunned me and left me breathless. “We want to forgive them. We want to forgive, but we don’t know who to forgive.”

 

As chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, [Archbishop Desmund Tutu writes] I have often been asked how the people of South Africa were able to forgive the atrocities and injustices they suffered under apartheid. Our journey in South Africa was quite long and treacherous. Today it is hard to believe that, up until our first democratic election in 1994, ours was a country that institutionalized racism, inequality, and oppression. In apartheid South Africa only white people could vote, earn a high-quality education, and expect advancement or opportunity. There were decades of protest and violence. Much blood was shed during our long march to freedom. When, at last, our leaders were released from prison, it was feared that our transition to democracy would become a bloodbath of revenge and retaliation. Miraculously we chose another future. We chose forgiveness. At the time, we knew that telling the truth and healing our history was the only way to save our country from certain destruction. We did not know where this choice would lead us. The process we embarked on through the TRC was, as all real growth proves to be, astoundingly painful and profoundly beautiful.”[i]

 

Most of my words in this sermon are not my own. Most of them are taken from “The Book of Forgiving”. I just found the stories Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mpho shared so powerful that I have left much of this sermon in their own voices.

 

Desmond Tutu writes, “I have also been asked what I learned about forgiveness from that experience and from the many places I have visited during my life where there has been conflict and suffering, from Northern Ireland to Rwanda… How do we forgive?

 

There are days when I wish I could erase from my mind all the horrors I have witnessed. It seems there is no end to the creative ways we humans can find to hurt each other, and no end to the reasons we feel justified in doing so. There is also no end to the human capacity for healing. In each of us, there is an innate ability to create joy out of suffering, to find hope in the most hopeless of situations, and to heal any relationship in need of healing.

 

I would like to share with you two simple truths:

1)    there is nothing that cannot be forgiven, and

2)    there is no one undeserving of forgiveness.

When you can see and understand that we are all bound to one another—whether by birth, by circumstance, or simply by our shared humanity—then you will know this to be true. I have often said that in South Africa there would have been no future without forgiveness. Our rage and our quest for revenge would have been our destruction. This is as true for us individually as it is for us globally.

 

There have been times when each and every one of us has needed to forgive. There have also been times when each and every one of us has needed to be forgiven. And there will be many times again. In our own ways, we are all broken. Out of that brokenness, we hurt others. Forgiveness is the journey we take toward healing the broken parts. It is how we become whole again."[ii]

 

"In South Africa, we chose to seek forgiveness rather than revenge. That choice averted a bloodbath. For every injustice, there is a choice. As we have said, you can choose forgiveness or revenge, but revenge is always costly. Choosing forgiveness rather than retaliation ultimately serves to make you a stronger and freer person. Peace always comes to those who choose to forgive. While both Mpho and I have seen the effects of drinking the bitter poison of anger and resentment—seen how it corrodes and destroys from the inside out—we have also seen the sweet balm of forgiveness soothe and transform even the most virulent situations. This is why we can say there is hope."[iii]

 

"In South Africa, Ubuntu is our way of making sense of the world. The word literally means “humanity.” It is the philosophy and belief that a person is only a person through other people. In other words, we are human only in relation to other humans. Our humanity is bound up in one another, and any tear in the fabric of connection between us must be repaired for us all to be made whole. This interconnectedness is the very root of who we are.

 

To walk the path of forgiveness is to recognize that your crimes harm you as they harm me. To walk the path of forgiveness is to recognize that my dignity is bound up in your dignity, and every wrongdoing hurts us all."[iv]

 

Tutu writes: "THERE WERE SO MANY NIGHTS when I, as a young boy, had to watch helplessly as my father verbally and physically abused my mother. I can still recall the smell of alcohol, see the fear in my mother’s eyes, and feel the hopeless despair that comes when we see people we love hurting each other in incomprehensible ways. I would not wish that experience on anyone, especially not a child. If I dwell in those memories, I can feel myself wanting to hurt my father back, in the same ways he hurt my mother, and in ways of which I was incapable as a small boy. I see my mother’s face and I see this gentle human being whom I loved so very much and who did nothing to deserve the pain inflicted upon her.

 

When I recall this story, I realize how difficult the process of forgiving truly is. Intellectually, I know my father caused pain because he was in pain. Spiritually, I know my faith tells me my father deserves to be forgiven as God forgives us all. But it is still difficult. The traumas we have witnessed or experienced live on in our memories. Even years later they can cause us fresh pain each time we recall them.

 

Are you hurt and suffering? Is the injury new, or is it an old unhealed wound? Know that what was done to you was wrong, unfair, and undeserved. You are right to be outraged. And it is perfectly normal to want to hurt back when you have been hurt. But hurting back rarely satisfies. We think it will, but it doesn’t. If I slap you after you slap me, it does not lessen the sting I feel on my own face, nor does it diminish my sadness as to the fact you have struck me. Retaliation gives, at best, only momentary respite from our pain. The only way to experience healing and peace is to forgive. Until we can forgive, we remain locked in our pain and locked out of the possibility of experiencing healing and freedom, locked out of the possibility of being at peace.

 

Without forgiveness, we remain tethered to the person who harmed us. We are bound with chains of bitterness, tied together, trapped. Until we can forgive the person who harmed us, that person will hold the keys to our happiness; that person will be our jailor. When we forgive, we take back control of our own fate and our feelings. [Christ lets us] become our own liberators. We don’t forgive to help the other person. We don’t forgive for others. We forgive for ourselves. Forgiveness, in other words, is the best form of self-interest."[v]

 

That is all fine and good but, you may ask, ‘why should I forgive so and so’; ‘does everyone deserve forgiveness?’ Is anyone beyond forgiveness?

 

“What about evil, you may ask? Aren’t some people just evil, just monsters, and aren’t such people just unforgivable? I do believe there are monstrous and evil acts, but I do not believe those who commit such acts are monsters or evil. To relegate someone to the level of monster is to deny that person’s ability to change and to take away that person’s accountability for his or her actions and behavior. In January 2012, in Modimolle, an agricultural town in Limpopo province, South Africa, a man named Johan Kotze committed acts of monstrous and evil proportions. Indeed, such was the horror of his acts, the newspapers and town dubbed him “The Monster of Modimolle.”

 

I was appalled at the story I read. We were all appalled. Johan Kotze was alleged to have forced three laborers at gunpoint to gang-rape and mutilate his estranged wife. He then tied her up and forced her to listen and watch as he shot and killed her son. Johan Kotze claimed he was driven to commit these horrific crimes because he saw his estranged wife with another man and, in his rage, he chose the path of revenge.

 

These are, without doubt, barbaric and dastardly deeds. They are acts so monstrous we are all quite right to condemn them. What shook me deeply as I read the media coverage of this case was that the righteous outrage at the alleged acts of Mr. Kotze had led journalists to call him a monster. In response, I wrote a letter to The Star newspaper. In it I argued that while he may indeed be guilty of inhuman, ghastly, and monstrous deeds, he is not a monster. We are actually letting him off lightly by calling him a monster, because monsters have no moral sense of right and wrong and therefore cannot be held morally culpable, cannot be regarded as morally blameworthy. This holds true for all those we wish to deem monsters. No, Mr. Johan Kotze remains a child of God with the capacity to become a saint.

 

This piece shocked many. But the world is filled with heartless sinners and criminals of all sorts who have [been] transformed, [have had their lives transformed by Christ}... In the Christian tradition, we often recall the story of the repentant criminal who was crucified beside Jesus. He was a man who had committed crimes punishable by death. Jesus promised him that, because of his repentance, “…we will see each other in paradise.” He was forgiven. The Bible is full of stories of reckless, immoral, and criminal people [whose lives were transformed], who became saints. Peter, the disciple who betrayed a friendship and denied Jesus—not once, but three times— was forgiven and became the chief of the apostles. Paul, the violent persecutor of those faithful to the fledgling Christian faith, became the sower who planted Christian communities in the gentile world.

 

Let us condemn ghastly acts, but let us never relinquish the hope that the doers of the most heinous deeds can and may change. In many ways, that was the basis of our truth-and-reconciliation process. The stories we heard at the TRC were horrific, some were bloodcurdling, yet we witnessed extraordinary acts of forgiveness as perpetrator and victim embraced and did so publicly. We believed then, and I still believe now, that it is possible for people to change for the better. It is more than just possible; it is in our nature ... in each and every one of us.

 

In my plea for the people of Modimolle to stop calling Mr. Kotze a monster, I called on my Christian faith for the examples needed...our model of the ultimate example of forgiveness is Jesus Christ, who on the cross was able to ask for forgiveness for those who were torturing and ultimately killed him…

 

I have said before that given the same set of circumstances, under the same pressures and influences, I may have been a Hitler, or a Kotze. I would hope not. But I may have been. I will not label anyone beyond redemption, regardless of what that person has done. I have found that hope and goodness can sometimes emerge from even the unlikeliest of packages.

 

... So, when I am asked whether some people are beyond forgiveness, my answer is no. My heart has been broken a thousand times over at the cruelty and suffering I have seen human beings unjustly and mercilessly inflict upon one another. Yet still I know and believe that forgiveness is always called for, and reconciliation is always possible.

 

… True forgiveness is not superficial or glib… We all want to be free of the pain of living with a broken and unforgiving heart. We want to [be] free ourselves of the corrosive emotions that threaten to burn away the love and joy [of Christ] residing in us. We want to heal our broken places. It would be wonderful if we lived in a world where there was no harm, no hurt, no violence, no cruelty. I have certainly not lived my life in such a world, but I do believe it to be possible. Surely he must be senile, you say. But these are not the fantastical beliefs of a man of advanced years. I know in my heart that peace is possible. I know it is possible in your life, and I know it is possible in mine. I know it is possible for our children, our grandchildren, and the generations that follow. But I also know that it is only possible if this peace begins with each of us. Peace is built with every small and large act of forgiveness.[vi]

 

I will likely speak more about this in the weeks to come. I want to conclude today by pointing out that Jesus’ last actions before he died was to forgive 2 people or groups of people – one, a criminal sentenced to the death penalty, like you would probably read about in a US or Chinese newspaper, as those two countries still torture and kill criminals. Jesus, however, forgave the man. And two: Jesus forgave those who hurt his family and himself by sentencing him to death and carrying out his execution. If Jesus can forgive them, surely we can forgive anyone who has been a part of harm done to us.

 

As Desmond Tutu has said many times in his speeches and writings,” there is no future without forgiveness.” If we aspire to live in the Kingdom of God now and forever, then we will forgive those who have harmed us, loving them as if they are our own mothers and children – because in all likelihood they are. When we forgive we are set free. We are free of our attackers and we are free of sin and death. My wish today is that each and everyone of us will experience that true freedom in Christ that only comes as we allow Him to help us forgive others. 

Let us pray.

---

[i] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 1

[ii] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 7

[iii] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 1-3.

[iv] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 1-3

[v] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 32

[vi] [vi] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 55-59 

Jonah 3-4: But What if You Don’t Love Your Enemies?

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, 21 January 2024, and to the Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 13 May 2012 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This is the 2024 BC version. To view the 2012 Saskatchewan version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2012/05/jonah-3-4-get-rid-of-your-enemies.html 

 

Many times the Gospel has been boiled down to something as simple as loving one another. The Law and the prophets are summed up by Jesus (Matthew 7:12) as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and (Matthew 22:37-40) “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… Love your neighbour as yourself.’ But what happens when we don’t? The story of Jonah.

 

Jonah hates. Jonah hates the Ninevites so much that rather than obey God and point them to salvation, he runs in the opposite direction (Jonah 1:1-3).  Jonah hates the Ninevites so much that when the opportunity presents itself, he decides that he would rather die than obey God by pointing them to salvation (Jonah 1:12). Jonah does not want to preach to the Ninevites because he knows they will be saved (Jonah 4:2); he hates them so much that he wants them destroyed (Jonah 4:3). He wants no part of their salvation.

 

Are we ever like this? Do we ever hate a person or group of people so much -a political party, country or leader, neighbour, family member, boss, colleague… that we wish they just didn’t exist or that they would just be wiped off the face of the earth? That is the way Jonah feels that way about Nineveh…

 

Jonah was an Israelite. An Israelite was a citizen of ancient Israel. We know that when Jonah’s story was taking place, it is many years since Israel’s civil war split the nation into two countries (1 Kings 12, 2 Chronicles 10): Judah in the south and Israel in the north. Jonah was a northerner, an Israelite.

 

Nineveh, the city whose citizens Jonah hated, was the capital of Assyria. Assyria was a country near modern day Iraq and Assyria would eventually destroy Israel (721 BCE; cf. 2 Ki17). Sargon II, King of Assyria (722/21–705/4) wrote:

At the beginning of my royal rule … I besieged and conquered [Israel’s capital city,] Samaria, led away as booty 27,290 inhabitants of it. I formed from among them a contingent of 50 chariots and made remaining (inhabitants) assume their (social) positions. I installed over them an officer of mine and imposed upon them the tribute of the former king.

About Ninevah and Assyria, J. Robert Vannoy tells us:

The brutal Assyrian style of warfare relied on massive armies, superbly equipped with the world’s first great siege machines… Psychological terror, however, was Assyria’s most effective weapon. It was ruthlessly applied, with corpses impaled on stakes, severed heads stacked in heaps, and captives skinned alive.

 

Assyria, like all Superpowers past and present, could be brutal. King Esarhaddon of Assyria, to show his power, even hung the captured King of Sidon’s decapitated head around the neck of one of his nobles and then paraded him through the streets of Nineveh with singers playing on harps leading the way. This is Ninevah.

 

From the Bible, the prophet Isaiah reports the Ninevite King boasts (Isaiah 10:13,14; cf. Nahum 2:12):

By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their kings.

As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as men gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries; not one flapped a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp.

 

The prophet Nahum says of Nineveh: “Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!” (Nahum 3:1) Nineveh rose up to be a Superpower as brutal, as prideful, and as terrible as Superpowers tend to be and Nineveh was to unleash that terror on their enemies. Israel was their enemy. Jonah was her enemy.

 

These are the people Jonah was told to love so much that he would point them to salvation. Tolstoy said, “To get rid of an enemy one must love him.” The Bible says, “… Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you,” (Luke 6:27-28); (Matthew 5:44:) “… Love your enemies…and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 6:14-15), “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Psalm 103: God is compassionate and forgives all our sins.

 

We know this and Jonah knows this and he did not want his enemies forgiven – not after what they did. Jonah 4:2:

He prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

 

You and I here today, we know that we are supposed to reflect God and we know that God is compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. We know that, as Jesus said, if we do not forgive people, God will not forgive us. We know that, as Tolstoy said, “To get rid of an enemy one must love him;” so…

 

How do we do with that? How do we do at sharing the gospel and God’s love to see an enemy – or even a friend - saved for now and eternity? Are we any better than Jonah?

 

God asks you to love your neighbour and to share the gospel; do you love your neighbour who borrowed that thing from you last year and never gave it back so much that you want to tell him about Jesus so that he may be saved both for now – in all his struggles whatever they may be - and forever?

 

As God asks you to love your neighbour and to share the gospel, do you love your neighbour whom you did so much for over the years and she never even bothered to say ‘thank you’ so much that you want to tell her about life with Jesus?

 

As God asks you to love your neighbour and to share the gospel of salvation, do you love the policeman who pulled you over so much that you want to tell them about Jesus so that they can be saved?

 

As God asks you to love your neighbour and to share the gospel, do you love the person working at Tim Horton’s who gave you a double double instead of a black coffee for the third time this week so much that you want to tell them about Jesus so that they can be saved?

 

God is compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. God says “… Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44). “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14-15).

 

Tolstoy, reflecting God’s sentiments said, “To get rid of an enemy one must love him.”  It is my hope that none of us here would have any enemies.

 

To Jonah’s story there is an interesting ending. Jonah is introduced at the beginning of this story as being on the inside of God’s blessing as a prophet of God (Jonah 1:1); he winds up, however, on the outside of Nineveh as it is saved: his own hatred is eating him up just as the worm is eating up the vine (Jonah4:5ff). The Ninevites, whom Jonah feels perfectly justified in not wanting saved, are worshipping God and presumably having a great time as they live out their salvation here, now and forever. Jonah, on the other hand, is not having a great time as he stays outside of the wonderful party of Salvation going on inside the city.

 

Let me tell you one more story. This is actually a paraphrase that I couldn’t readily corroborate but you’ll understand the sentiment even if the details may not be entirely accurate: Billy Graham was at a service with his wife, Ruth. The offering plate was passed around and he put in his money. Later he was looking in his wallet and he complained to Ruth, “I put a $20 in the plate by accident. I only meant to put in a five.”

 

Ruth replies, “Now that you’re complaining about it, not only are you out the twenty but you’ll only get credit for the five.” God received His twenty dollars from Billy Graham but Billy did not receive the full credit or the full blessing of that offering.

 

Jonah delivered God’s news of salvation to the Ninevites but he did not get the full blessing, the credit of eternal joy. Billy Graham gave God the twenty but only got credit for five. Today it is my hope and our prayer that as God asks each of us to love our neighbours enough to share with them the peace and joy of the Lord, that indeed, we won’t try to hold anything back from them but that we will experience the joy of our salvation as even our worst enemies come to the Lord because, as Tolstoy wrote, “To get rid of an enemy one must love him;” so then when we see them in paradise, what a day of rejoicing that should be. And if God can forgive even Nineveh when they repent, and if God can forgive even our own real and imagined enemies when they repent, then -when we repent- God can forgive even us; and then, like the hymn says, when we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.

 

Let us pray. 

www.sheepspeak.com