Forgiveness and Mercy I believe are central to all of Christianity and without it there is no future. To experience the joys of the Kingdom of God we need to live in a world of forgiveness. Jesus says, Luke 6:27-30: “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back;” Luke 6:35-37: “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do no judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.”
You know that Susan and Heather have been away for a few Sundayss. As well as visiting family in Victoria, we have been staying in various campgrounds: the previous two weeks we were an hour or so west of Campbell River and before that Raftrevor. I have been splitting my time between being with them and coming into work here: it was much easier when they were in Raftrevor than an hour west of Campbell River – also there were outlets and internet in Raftrevor! Next week I will wind up spending more time here, while they are there. There is much to do (this week: volunteer appreciation, Summer Rain, Colour Fest, …) and it is challenging to be in two places at the same time – but it is good to spend family time camping outside and in the weather.
The other week when we were in one campsite a family moved into the adjoining site for the evening. They were a husband and wife, a seven-year-old and a four-year-old from California. He is a carpenter, and she is a university professor; the mother is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English and Dad is bilingual Spanish and English. I laughed in joy as I said “your kids have got it made! Carpenter, College professor, multi-lingual.” Maybe. The conversation then shifted to what is happening in the USA right now and California specifically. ICE agents are active on the college campuses. Her students are afraid. Especially Spanish speaking people and people of colour: they are carrying passports around with them. She said even university professor colleagues are afraid if they aren’t from the USA. (My cousin is a Math professor in Oregon. I know he is really concerned.)
They told me what things were like for them in California, speaking other languages, and mom and children being Asian in appearance. One story they told me was horrific and at first, I missed the punch line. They said that a year ago when they were going home to the USA, they were stopped at the border. Mom was driving. The border guards saw her and her children and moved them to a particular line of vehicle traffic. They noticed that everyone in that line was a person of colour. The customs official then saw dad, who is ‘white’ in appearance and moved them to the other line. This struck me as horrible. I immediately thought of the stars that the Nazis placed on people in the 1930s and the radio shows in Rwanda in the 1990s, Apartheid in South Africa; post 9-11, McCarthyism, or so many other examples from the USA. The kicker for me in what they were telling me about crossing the boarder was this: that horrendous event, that racial segregation at the border, that was from before Donald Trump was re-elected. The USA has been walking down this road for a while now.
Also highlighted in the news lately is the conflict that has been continuing in Gaza and Palestine for decades. I have one horrific story from an Israeli attack on a hospital in 2009 that I will share with you another time – the theme of that story is how Israel’s bombing of a hospital on live TV and the killing of a Palestinian doctor’s daughters saved the lives of many; just as Rome and Israel’s killing of our Heavenly Father’s Son made it possible for us all to be saved.
My story today is as told by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I have been reading a lot of his writings lately – I have been camping with no internet! - he tells us Bassam Aramin’s story[2]:
At the age of twelve, Bassam Aramin watched as another boy his age was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier. In that moment, he felt a “deep need for revenge” and joined a group of freedom fighters in Hebron. Some called him a terrorist, but he felt he was fighting for his safety, his home, and his right to be free. At seventeen, he was caught planning an attack on Israeli troops and sentenced to seven years in prison. In prison, he only learned to hate more as he was stripped naked and beaten by his prison guards. “They were beating us without hatred, because for them this was just a training exercise and they saw us as objects.”
While in prison, Bassam engaged in a dialogue with his Israeli guard. Each thought the other was the “terrorist” and each equally denied being the “settler” in the land they shared. Through their conversations, they realized how much they had in common with the other. For Bassam, it was the first time he recalls feeling empathy in his life.
Seeing the transformation that took place between him and his captor, as they recognized their shared humanity, Bassam realized that violence could never bring peace. This realization changed his life.
In 2005, Bassam Aramin cofounded a group called Combatants for Peace. He [had] not picked up a weapon since, and for Bassam this [was] not a sign of weakness but of true strength. [Then…] In 2007, Bassam’s ten-year-old daughter, Abir, was shot by an Israeli soldier as she stood outside her school. Bassam says, “Abir’s murder could have led me down the easy path of hatred and vengeance, but for me there was no return from dialogue and nonviolence. After all, it was one Israeli soldier who shot my daughter, but one hundred former Israeli soldiers who built a garden in her name at the school where she was murdered.”6
Forgiveness is not weakness. Bassam Aramin could have given into the same temptations that, after decades of children and friends being murdered by Israeli soldiers and politicians, Hamas did. But how could that help? “Retaliation gives, at best, only momentary respite from our pain. The only way to experience healing and peace is to forgive. Until we can forgive, we remain locked in our pain and locked out of the possibility of experiencing healing and freedom, locked out of the possibility of being at peace.”[3]
Hamas drank the poison of vengeance and are suffering because of it. Israel is actively it as an opportunity to intensify its holocaust, its genocide. Since the day of vengeance, Israel has slaughtered more than 57 645 Palestinians – not including the Syrians, people from Yemen and Lebanon, Iranians and the others they have murdered – all with the blessing and/or material assistance from Canada, by the way.
Jesus says, “… Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them…love your enemies, do good to them… Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful; do no judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:27-30).
Bassam Aramin, who cofounded Combatants for Peace, has used his own powerful story of recognizing the humanity of his enemies to create an organization devoted to dialogue, reconciliation, and nonviolence. This organization is run by former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters who say, “After brandishing weapons for so many years, and having seen one another only through weapon sights, we have decided to put down our guns and to fight for peace.”[4]
If one person can put down his weapon, so can 100; and if 100 people can, so can a thousand; and if a thousand can, why not 10 thousand? And if 10 thousand can, why not the whole world? Mercy and forgiveness can transform the world. Forgiveness and mercy can transform our whole selves, our whole lives. Pertaining to our own lives here, Quoting again from Archbishop Tutu[5]:
If you are standing before me, beaten and bleeding, I cannot tell you to forgive. I cannot tell you to do anything, since you are the one who was beaten. If you have lost a loved one, I cannot tell you to forgive. You are the person who has lost a loved one. If your spouse betrayed you, if you were abused as a child, if you have endured any of the myriad injuries humans can inflict upon one another, I cannot tell you what to do. But I can tell you that it all matters. Whether we love or we hate, whether we help or we harm, it all matters. I can tell you that I hope, if I am the one who is beaten and bloodied, I will be able to forgive and pray for my abuser. I hope that I would be able to recognize him as my brother and as a precious child of God. I hope I never give up on the reality that every person has the capacity to change.
[Maybe] We can’t create a world without pain or loss or conflict or hurt feelings, but we can create a world of forgiveness. We can create a world of forgiveness that allows us to heal from those losses and pain and repair our relationships
That is what Jesus invites us to: He invites us to His Kingdom of Forgiveness where we forgive others as our Heavenly Father forgives us. He invites us to His Kingdom where we live out a life of forgiveness, offering hope to those who seemingly have no hope; love to those some consider unloveable, and the peace of Christ, to all we meet.
So to us today I say this: if you are hurting from the pain of unforgiveness – it is a terrible pain; it is a terrible pain and Christ can heal you and He will heal us as we ask Him, He promises. If you would like to be freed from the burden of hate, unforgiveness, and sin; if you would like to be free to from the power of your oppressor and if you would like to be free to love your neighbour as yourself, please pray with me:
Dear Lord, please help me to forgive all those who have done big, small, horrible and other things to myself, those I love, and others. Please help me to be free of the chains of hate and unforgiveness. Please help me to love my brother and sister and fellow human being dearly as You love me, so that indeed I may finally be free.
In Jesus’ Name.
Amen
[1] Ramsay, Major Michael. Luke 23: 32-46: Forgiveness. Presented to TSA AV Ministries, 06 July 2025 https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2025/07/luke-23-32-46-forgiveness.html
[2] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 34-35
[3] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 32
[4] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 35
[5] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014),224
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