‘Forgive Them, For They Know
Not What They Do’
The Rev. J. Clark Echols
“Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
I
invite you to consider the emotional, psychological and spiritual benefit
of forgiving someone who has wronged you. A small slight we can easily
overlook. We do not feel upset about it. We continue on in our life without
much thought about it. Like someone bumping into us in a crowd. He might
turn and say, “Sorry,” but he might not. Our delight in whatever we are doing
at that moment is not diminished by the wrong done to us. If we think about it
at all, the thought likely is, “He didn’t know he did that.”
When we are wronged in a more significant way, we feel it, and our
thinking is taken over by it. Our delight in what is right in front of us is no
longer noticed. Our attention is drawn away from the good-tasting food, or
the beautiful scenery, or the enriching conversation. We are thinking about the
person and what he did to us, rather than thinking about what is happening in
the present moment.
So forgiving him involves letting go of the upset and returning our attention
to what is delighting us. And it involves not thinking about the person or his
affront, and replacing those thoughts with thoughts about the present moment
and our enjoyment of it. And we may conclude, as we make this mental effort,
that the person didn’t realize that what he did was going to hurt us.
When we are attacked by someone, when he or she lies about us, or takes
something from us, or stops us from doing the good thing we want to do, we
Editor’s note: This originally appeared at www.newchurchperspective.com. Reprinted with
permission.
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