I have watched Leaving Neverland. As much as I could stomach anyway. It has shaken me. I heard things that I wish I had never heard. Michael Jackson was a paedophile. He coldly, cunningly, and expertly groomed his victims and their families: in this documentary two boys aged ten and seven. He did the cruelest and foulest things to them. He ravaged their childhood. He was a monster.
Could such a man be forgiven? Could we ever forgive a person who ravaged us in that way? Can we even forgive people of their far lesser crimes against us? The cruel word? The callous betrayal? Repeated offenses?
Corrie Ten Boom forgave the Nazi guard who murdered her sister. Her heavy load of poisonous bitterness was lifted. Relief! Joy! We picture ourselves doing the same and feel exhilarated in advance. But when we come to it, it is excruciatingly difficult.
Forgiving others is far easier imagined than done.
I may think I am a forgiving person. Then someone actually hurts me, and forgiving is like trying to tear down your own house with your bare hands. You don’t want to, and it’s just too hard and painful. Yet, in the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus pointedly demands this agonizing labor from us.
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matt. 6:12; all Scripture quotations from NIV version)
This prayer is as sweet as a pomegranate and as stern as steel. Strip out the conjunction (“as”), adverb (“also”), and pronouns (“us,” “our,” “we”), and only two words remain. Forgive. Debt. Thoroughly understanding these words is the key to understanding this prayer.
