Can you imagine standing before a hushed courtroom, staring past the judge’s bench to a man, head bowed and wrapped in shackles and being given the chance to tell him how you feel about the fact that he murdered someone you loved? What would you say? How does anyone even come close to comprehending the hurt, anger and pain you would feel?

When a case like this goes to trial and there is a conviction, family members of the victim are given the opportunity to address the court via what is called a victim impact statement. As you can imagine, the times that these statements are made they are often filled with deep emotional expressions of hate and unforgiveness. As humans can you really imagine anything otherwise? Having the life of someone dear to you destroyed by the selfless act of another naturally would bring forth deep resentment and anger.

But the Bible brings to us this unnatural method of dealing with these scenarios. Here are just a couple of versus from Jesus Himself when he talks about forgiving those who hurt us.

For if you forgive people their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Matthew 6: 14

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:44 

Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions. Mark 11:25 – 26 

And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation. Luke 11:4 

It’s clear to me that Jesus doesn’t distinguish between levels of “sin” or crime. According to the Son of God, we need to forgive all who sin against us, just like God forgives us. We all know this, and have probably been hearing about it since Sunday school. But what on Earth would this level of forgiveness look like if you were facing down a loved ones killer? In my human mind, it doesn’t add up! I can only come to the conclusion that this is something that only God can do for us. We on our own don’t have the Mercy and Grace needed to give that sort of forgeiness. We need God’s help.

The next part of the question is why should we forgive something of this magnitude anyway? It’s clear according to Jesus’ words that our own forgiveness is linked to the way we forgive others, but I think there is something even broader than that.

Rather than answer this one myself, for which I’m sure I would fall short, watch this short 5-minute film about a man faced with this exact scenario and hear about what and how he chose to face the man who murdered his mother.

Firstly I pray that you would never have to face a situation as dark as Keith Owens did, but secondly I pray that you would allow God to give you what’s needed to be released from the poison that harboring unforgiveness can bring. Perhaps you know someone who is battling with unforgiveness who could benefit from seeing this film. please feel free to share it with them.

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