Forgiveness of others

Examples of forgiveness

As always, Jesus sets us the example to follow, and it has ever since been followed by truly Christian men and women.  You will remember that, as Jesus was being nailed to the Cross and his enemies stood gloating over him, he prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (NRSV, Luke 23:34).  And when St Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was being stoned to death he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (NRSV, Acts 7:60). 

And in the First World War an English nurse acted in the same way.  Her name was Nurse Cavell and she had nursed wounded soldiers, both German as well as British, in a hospital in German-occupied Belgium.  The Germans found out that she had been helping British prisoners-of-war to escape, and they sentenced her to be shot.  On the night before she was executed she made her last Communion, and said, “Standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone”. (3)

We must, therefore, be as ready to forgive other people as the father in the parable was ready to forgive the Prodigal Son.  In particular, we must forgive other people before we make our Communion, for it is a sin to bear a grudge. 

Praying for people who have injured us

If someone has injured you or been very nasty to you, and you find it hard to forgive them, the thing you must do, even if you don’t want to, is to remember them in your prayers and to ask God that you may be on friendly terms.  It is impossible to hate anyone you pray for, and if you pray for them you will be able to forgive them.

And remember, when we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”, we are asking God to treat us in exactly the same way as we treat other people, and that is a prayer he will answer.