Thinking Anew
WHEN Nelson Mandela was freed from prison in 1990 at the age of 71 he had served 27 years of a life sentence, much of it in hard labour on Robben Island near Cape Town. The world has since come to love and respect this great human being because of his lack of bitterness and his determination to work for a new South Africa at peace with itself.
Henry Kissinger, the American statesman, described Mandela as a great leader because he was "someone who could lead his people to a place where they have not been". He was referring to Mandela's success in turning his people away from violence to seek peace and reconciliation with those they once considered their enemies.
A critical component of that change was his awareness of the power of forgiveness. In several speeches after his release he astonished audiences with his emphasis on the need to forgive. "We especially should learn to forgive each other because when you intend to forgive you heal part of the pain, but when you forgive, you heal completely.
"As Africans we have suffered in terms of slavery and colonialism for a very long time. Forgiveness has remained our best cultural heritage."
Nelson Mandela has given the world proof that forgiveness, a core Christian principle, makes sense and works. It worked for him personally and it worked for his country.
It could do wonders for this country too, with its too long memory of past injustices.
There are several examples in the teaching of Jesus to show that he believed forgiveness was a defining characteristic of our relationships with God and with each other.
In tomorrow's Gospel reading Peter raises the subject. "How often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Peter was being generous here, because at that time many would have held that to forgive someone three or four times was sufficient. But Jesus goes further, much, much further and tells Peter there can be no limit: "Not seven times but seventy times seven."
In the Lord's Prayer Jesus taught us to pray for forgiveness: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". The words are so familiar we can easily overlook William Temple's reminder that "only one petition in the Lord's Prayer has any condition attached to it; it is the petition for forgiveness."
This implies that when we say "as we forgive", we take our own salvation into our hands because whatever God does in this respect depends on what we do. If we cannot forgive we will not be forgiven because we do not love unconditionally - a basic requirement of what it means to be a Christian.
We have all been hurt at some times in our lives and probably have been instrumental in hurting others as well. When this happens it is easy to retire in self-pity or anger. Our instinct is to retaliate or punish, in the mistaken belief that to forgive is to condone. But forgiveness does not condone what is wrong, nor does it mean "forgetting" what has been said or done. Rather it means no longer allowing the offence to make a difference or to take control of our actions.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, that other great South African, offers this advice:
"When I talk of forgiveness, I mean the belief that you can come out the other side a better person. A better person than the one being consumed by anger and hatred. Remaining in that state locks you in a state of victimhood, making you almost dependent on the perpetrator. If you can find it in yourself to forgive then you are no longer chained to the perpetrator. You can move on, and you can even help the perpetrator to become a better person too."
GL