We continue a brief walk with some material on reconciliation by Walter Wink.
A second misapprehension (about forgiveness) is that forgiveness is sentimental, that it overlooks crimes and indulges wrongdoers. There are some wonderful stories about people who have refused to bring charges against those who have criminally wronged them. There are instances; however, when such forgiveness is itself criminal, releasing on society a sociopath who will simply continue to victimize others.
Wink goes on to tell of a car accident in which one driver was driving a truck on the wrong side of the road. That driver was uninjured but the other driver was severely injured and impaired for life. The driver of the first car begged the wife of the victim not to press criminal charges – he was a Vietnam veteran, had a wife with two kids and was about to be hired as a school bus driver – the first permanent job in four years. The injured man and his wife decided to forego the legal suit. Several days later the wife of the truck driver came to the hospital and told the couple that her husband went on drinking bouts several times a week and these were accompanied by bouts of acute depression to which her husband would drive down the wrong side of back roads to scare other drivers or forcing them off the road. As poor as they were, she hoped that this event would stop him but she knew it wouldn’t. On this new information the couple pressed charges and they promised to help him find counseling and search for a new job. Forgiveness does not dismiss accountability and responsibility for ones actions.
Connection: We are not doormats. We are agents of forgiveness and reconciliation and therefore we are to be wise and seek after the truth so that true healing and new life can emerge. That is an important aspect of our life together.
Lead us Lord as we attempt to put your love to action within our lives. In our loving, keep us ever mindful of the welfare of all people as we live within the domain of your everlasting forgiveness. Amen.
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