n 2012, Christian singer and songwriter Matthew West released the song “Forgiveness” that quickly rose to number two on the Hot Christian Songs chart. The song was inspired by a mother who forgave a drunk driver that killed her 20-year-old daughter. In it, West talks about the true liberty in forgiveness. He sings, “Help me now to do the impossible. Forgiveness. It’ll clear the bitterness away. It can even set a prisoner free. There is no end to what its power can do. So, let it go and be amazed by why you see through the eyes of grace. The prisoner that it really frees is you. Forgiveness. Forgiveness. Forgiveness. Forgiveness.” We all have had times where the hardest act is forgiveness. The Bible gives many examples.
Forgiveness can be informed by the story of Joseph, whose brothers were so jealous of him that they threw him in a pit and eventually he was sold into Egyptian slavery. To save themselves from famine, the brothers went to Egypt to buy food, where Joseph had been put in charge of all of Pharaoh’s dealings. Long story short, after testing the brothers, who didn’t recognize him after 20 years, Joseph gave them supplies as Joseph was the one responsible for managing the famine. After their father Jacob’s death, Joseph’s brothers feared that there might be pay back for the suffering they had caused him. They sent a message to Joseph that their father had given them an order before he died to ask Joseph to forgive them and not take revenge for the wickedness they had done to him.
However, when they came before Joseph and prostrated themselves asking for forgiveness, Joseph said to them in Genesis 50:19,20, “Don’t be afraid! Am I in the place of God? You meant to do me harm, but God meant it for good—so that it would come about as it has today, with many people’s lives being saved.”Joseph’s brothers could not change the choices they had made in the past, but because of their turning, called teshuvah or repentance, they became part of the redemption of the future of their people. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes, “Atonement and forgiveness are supreme expressions of freedom—the freedom to act differently in the future than one did in the past, the freedom not to be trapped in the cycle of vengeance and retaliation. Only those who forgive can be free.”
Wise words. Unforgiveness is a form of bondage for both parties. It can take root as bitterness and destroy from within. The story of Joseph has the overarching theme of forgiveness, and then the redemption of those forgiven. We have freedom to choose, and can redeem past mistakes by repentance. This theme is repeated throughout scripture. Ephesians 4:31,32 says, “Let all bitterness, and wrath and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” As Christ said in Mark 11:25,”…forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Bottom line: There is freedom in the act of forgiveness.
Sources:
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/matthewwest/forgiveness.html
