Forgiveness Comes From God

November 12, 2024

In Matthew 18:21–22, Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus responds, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” This reply reflects the boundless forgiveness central to Jesus’ teachings. One of the greatest virtues that comes from following Jesus is forgiveness. He fully embodied this in his life and, ultimately, through his death, willingly enduring torture and dying as an atonement for humanity’s sins.

We see this same love and forgiveness echoed in the famous John 3:16: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Humanity has a universal fascination with love, yet I feel there’s no greater deep dive of love than the teachings of Jesus and his act of self-sacrifice on the cross.

This subject of love and forgiveness brings me to a recent situation. Last month, I began a three-month CT assignment at a hospital in Bozeman, Montana. I’ve taken several CT and x-ray travel assignments before, always finding my own lodging with good results. However, this time was different. The person I leased from became increasingly hostile. Within days, he began to seethe with hatred, openly berating me over aspects of my personality or life choices. He seemed to eagerly wait for me to slip up, just so he could pounce on me with explosive words. He was actively searching for any reason at all to make me feel unworthy or inadequate. In short, he was a bully.

Bullies tend to be naturally unforgiving; they prey on those they perceive as weak because, deep down, they themselves are weak. I understand this from my own past — I, too, had moments in my youth where I acted as a bully, largely because of my own fragile sense of self-worth back then.

The difference between a true Jesus follower and an unforgiving person lies in humility. Bullies are terrified of letting their guard down, but a Jesus follower acknowledges their imperfections, knowing that everyone falls short of God’s glory. This awareness makes them more able to forgive.

Jesus serves as a model of the perfect life. Alone, we will always fall short, and attempts to gain everything alone — relying on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil — will inevitably lead to a great fall. Without God’s blessing, the Tree of Life, nobody can reach a lasting exalted state. No way, no how. Only through humility and a return to the trust in God can we find salvation and peace — the things we all desire deep down.

For those who know my background, I spent a lot of time at Subbody, a Butoh school in Dharamsala, India. One day, the founder, Lee, confessed to sexual misconduct involving children. How did I come to forgive this?

Some actions do require legal consequences, and I believe in accountability (Yes, for Lee). Yet I also believe in repentance, which simply means confessing to our wrongs and making a sincere effort not to repeat them. In so repenting, we are forgiven and given a clean slate.* This is the grace of Jesus — that through his sacrificial death, sins are forgiven for those who fully accept him and who commit to avoid sin to the best of their ability.

Forgiveness acknowledges wrongdoing yet allows for a chance to change — a chance for grace, redemption, and healing through God’s love. Forgiveness of others is also forgiveness of ourselves, and we can look to the story of the crucifixion to let it settle deeper in our souls.

*This does not imply an erasure of whatever worldly consequences there are which will become one’s cross to bear.