Forgiveness, Pt. 1

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." — The Lord's Prayer

Today as we continue our series looking at justice and mercy, we're talking about forgiveness. This is one of the most difficult — yet important — subjects to discuss. And its not just the Christian community that dwells on forgiveness, but rather the whole of humanity. One of the things I love about analyzing films is the way it reveals the concerns, beliefs, and hurts of those that make them. And forgiveness — or the lack of forgiveness — is a primary topic in modern film.

In 2007 the film "The Kingdom" was released. I loved it for a lot of reasons — it's a good action film, has some good performances, and has a compelling plot. But there is one scene at the end that has always stuck with me. Early in the film an FBI agent, played by Jennifer Garner, is brought to tears upon hearing a fellow agent is killed. The team leader, Jamie Foxx, consoles her, they head to Saudi Arabia and bring the terrorist responsible to justice.

At the end of the film, the grandson of the terrorist sits alone, saddened at his loss. His grandmother consoles him by saying someday, when he is grown, he will kill all the Americas. Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., a fellow agent asks Foxx what he said to calm Garner earlier. Foxx replies he told her not to worry because they were going over there to kill them all.

In the absence of grace and forgiveness, the world is a violent, bitter place. We crave forgiveness and we need to feel it in order to feel whole. Forgiveness isn't just about what it does for the other person, it's about what it does for us.

That's what the film "Atonement" is all about. The film is about a young girl who makes a callous mistake — accusing her sister's boyfriend of a heinous crime he didn't commit. She does it out of a sense of misplaced jealousy, and as a young girl doesn't realize the gravity of her actions. That lie changes the course of three lives — that of the girl, her sister, and the falsely accused boy. And the young girl, as she grows to a young woman, spends her life trying to atone for what she did.

As an older woman, and talented writer, she tells the story of what happened, her acts of contrition, and the happy ending for her sister and the boy. It's beautiful and it's another lie. You see, the sister and the boy died in World War II, the girl never got to apologize, and it haunted her all her life. The book was an attempt to work out those feelings of guilt because she never knew forgiveness. Partly because she didn't know where forgiveness comes from — true atonement comes from God alone.

But perhaps my favorite film on forgiveness is "Devil." This was a beautiful message I never saw coming. It's billed as a cheap horror film — and on some levels it is — but this is also a film that aims to get at something deeper.

In the beginning, we're introduced to a cop whose heart has hardened. A drunk driver killed his wife and child, left a simple note saying "I'm Sorry" and fled the scene. It made the cop bitter, and he's kept going as he imagines finding the perpetrator of the crime and bringing him some justice.

Through the events of the film, the cop comes face-to-face with the man that killed his family. He is driving him to jail, alone in the car. It's at this moment the audience is prepared for the cop to take his revenge. Instead, he does something else. He describes the hurt and anger he's felt, all he's imagined doing to the young man, then says "I forgive you." It's a beautiful, striking, and powerful moment. A true picture of grace.

And the best part is not just the sense of relief the young man feels, but the smile that begins to appear on the cop's face. What happened to his family isn't OK. He's not OK. But he begins to feel a lightness of spirit because he has let go of the anger and grief that have held him hostage.

Colossians 3:12-13 says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”