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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Jewish philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas, argues that \u201cforgiveness acts upon the past, somehow repeats the event, purifying it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t finished reading through all that Levinas has to say about forgiveness.\u00a0 But from a Christian and \u2013 for that matter \u2013 a Jewish perspective, it can be argued that the purification he describes is possible only in God.<\/p>\n
It is God alone who holds the past.\u00a0 It is God alone who can heal the past.<\/p>\n
It is God alone who knows the transgressor and the victim.\u00a0 It is God alone who knows the inner nature of the violence done and the wound inflicted.<\/p>\n
Conversely, one might argue that vengeance not only leaves the past unhealed, it propels the harm done into the future.\u00a0 As it does, the darkness invoked is spread.\u00a0 The number of victims grows.\u00a0 The possibility of healing is diminished.\u00a0 And with it, the temptation to despair grows.<\/p>\n
In our conversations about forgiveness in the church, we often fail to grapple with the subject of vengeance.\u00a0 We should.<\/p>\n
The impulse is as old as Cain and Abel.\u00a0 It figures prominently in the literature of the past \u2013 Alexandre Dumas\u2019 The Count of Monte Cristo, <\/em>chief among them.\u00a0 And it is a prominent theme in modern dramas \u2013 most recently, Taylor Sheridan\u2019s Yellowstone<\/em>.\u00a0 But these are simply windows into a darkness that is much more powerfully seductive.<\/p>\n Without oversimplifying the events in Madison and elsewhere, clearly the spiritual choice between forgiveness and vengeance lies beneath the choices that many murderers make.\u00a0 And as belief in God diminishes \u2013 never mind God\u2019s capacity to heal the past \u2013 so, too, does our capacity for forgiveness.\u00a0 When that happens the only thing that grows is our enslavement to the darkness in our own hearts.<\/p>\n Gracious and loving God, when violence finds its way into our schools and children perish at the hand of still other children, we are torn and grieved.\u00a0 We are torn and grieved by the extent to which the darkness has found its way into our hearts, the extent to which it has touched the lives of our children, the extent to which it has ravaged our schools and our communities.\u00a0 Heal our hearts, our families, our communities.\u00a0 Vanquish the violence that begets violence.\u00a0 Strengthen our efforts to secure the future of our children and the safety of our communities.\u00a0 Guard the hearts of the families and first responders who grieve this night.\u00a0 Receive those who have died into light perpetual.\u00a0 Speed healing to the wounded.\u00a0 And all for your name\u2019s sake.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jewish philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas, argues that \u201cforgiveness acts upon the past, somehow repeats the event, purifying it.\u201d I haven\u2019t finished reading through all that Levinas has to say about forgiveness.\u00a0 But from a Christian and \u2013 for that matter \u2013 a Jewish perspective, it can be argued that the purification he describes is possible only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":6547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n