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So many a time when we ponder on forgiveness, we define forgiveness in terms of how it will affect us personally. Sometimes we forgive because our Orthodox Christian beliefs make us feel that doing so is the right thing to do. We tell ourselves things like: "This is what Jesus would have done," and so make the "grand" gesture of forgiving. Sometimes we forgive because we realize that forgiving our perpetrators is really more a practical favor we do to ourselves than to those who hurt us: we forgive so that we may move on, freed of the crippling burden of having to seek vengeance and the sustained effort of keeping our hatred kindled to see "justice" done. But it is, in fact, always about us--directly, or indirectly. I think this happens, in part, because when we think about forgiveness, we tend to focus on the "giving" part, as the Greek word "aphiemi" suggests: "to let go, to release from debt, to remit". People have transgressed against us, and we bestow them our forgiveness, in that order. I have been asking myself, however, what it actually is that the sinner seeks to be released from. And I learnt, as a New Birth Christian (not the same as a newborn Christian,) that when a person seeks forgiveness, that person then experiences the results of the workings and scourgings of his own conscience and recollections of his deeds; that person then has had an awakening as to his sinful state, and the recollections of his former transgressions now cause him anguish and suffering. And as long as conscience works, he will suffer; and the greater the sins committed, the greater will be the suffering. He lives with these memories, and the suffering and torment which result from them can never leave him until the memories of these sins, or the result of them, cease to be a part of himself. We believe that every soul will sooner or later have such an awakening, be it here, or in the hereafter. This reaping of what we sowed, is called the Law of Compensation. Seen in this light, I believe that the state of mind of being repentant is the only thing which make forgiveness really possible: the fact that people feel remorse over something they seek forgiveness for, that in itself will bring about the effacement of the painful recollections of our sins when we are forgiven, either by others, by ourselves, or, last but not least, by Our Father. And so, forgiveness is, in effect, forgetfulness--and hence the debt the sinner needs to be released from, is the burden of the recollections of his own deeds. Forgetfulness, to clarify, does not mean that we will somehow wind up with odd memory gaps for the periods that we sinned; but it means, that when we recall to mind the factual events, remembrance of these episodes will no longer evoke the painful pangs of conscience--it means we will have been released of the suffering and torment which resulted from the recollections of our sins. When Jesus was crucified, he turned to God and prayed, "Please, forgive them, Father, for they know not what they are doing." That was a very compassionate plea, and one I only now begin to understand. Jesus felt compassion towards his abusers; not per se because of what they had done to him, but far more in that he took pity on their plight. He saw them plunging themselves into this woeful sin of crucifying him, and he realized how ignorant they were. He saw them yelling and egging each other on, screaming for his death. And Jesus felt compassion for them--he had long since forgiven them. But he knew the extent of their sin, and pleaded with His Father to have Mercy on them. Jesus realized the darkness they created for themselves, the blots they had made on their souls. Seen in this light, forgiveness is not so much forgiving others their trespasses against us, but ere the realization that the sinner gravely harms himself in committing sins, and that, from our compassion, we do not wish him to suffer the inexorable penalties that follow his transgressions--just as we do not like to see anyone suffer, ourselves included. And so, Jesus prayed to His Father; not for himself, but for the people who crucified him, for Mankind at large. Jesus prayed, "Please, forgive them, Father, for they know not what they are doing." And by that he did not mean that his abusers were unaware of the acts they were committing, but that they were ignorant of the true nature of their sin, and how they laid up for themselves heaps of suffering for their woeful deed. Jesus had compassion for his perpetrators, not for the suffering they brought him, but for the darkness they were calling over themselves. Forgiveness and compassion of our Divine elder brother Jesus, in his hands, did not revolve around his own suffering, but were prompted by the realization of the future sufferings his abusers would endure. And how magnificent Jesus was that way. He took forgiveness and compassion in a complete opposite direction; instead of making it all about his own suffering, and the grandness of his own personage granting them his Majestic forgiveness, forgiveness in his hands was all about the sufferings of his foes. "Love your enemies as you love yourself," The Master taught--and he did. In Christ, Mark

Email Address: angel2b@divine-love.org

`Forgiveness Is Forgetfulness`

`-by Mark Kramer`