Forgiveness With Power

Have you seen the image of God this week? Does God’s image come through in this week’s reaction to terror? Does an image of God come to mind when the news chants responses to the abuse of Janay Rice. When the president is pushed to “ask for permission,” when the U.S. Attorney starts a civil rights investigation in Fergusson, Missouri, when the NFL commissioner denies he had access to the evidence; these are the images we are seeing every day – people casting an image, people hoping you’ll see the image they cast. The image of God is not like this.

The image of God is organic, beautiful, generous, and healing. It lies in contrast to many of the images that I mentioned above. The image of God is part of our creation and not something we create. A good acid test for God’s image is to ask yourself, was this image created to make someone look good? , was this image co-opted to shift the balance of power in a self-serving way?

This week I faced irony when I read the scripture that comes out of the common revised lectionary for worship. It was the story in Matthew 18:21-35 that tells of the servant that fails to forgive. This scripture boldly declares that God is generous. The master in the story hears his servant plead for mercy and instead of holding the servant accountable for a debt that would be equal to 100 years wages, the master forgives the debt. When the servant fails to be forgiving in a similar situation, the servant is smote as an object lesson. The words linger of the reader of the story, “the same will happen to you unless you forgive with all your hearts.” When is forgiveness an expression of God’s image in me? When is forgiveness just another tool in the hands of my oppressor.

I think about Janay Rice, the woman beaten unconscious by her abusive fiancé from NFL fame, when I wonder about forgiveness being an image of God that can be co-opted, degraded, distorted, and used to shelter the abuser rather than heal the abused.  Can’t you just hear an abuser using the bible and the image of God as a powerful lever for control? “You have to forgive me; God will punish you if you don’t.” “You can’t be a good ‘christian’ if you don’t forgive me.” Can forgiveness really be this absolute?

The point is even better made when you start to read the comments started in social media, by Beverly Gooden @bevtgooden

Follow (this is a link for twitter users to follow the story) Beverly called . #WhyIStayed. Beverly is changing the conversation. As a survivor of abuse, she wants us to see the issue from the perspective of the victim. Don’t we all start our wonder with a question like, “why doesn’t she just leave?” This is one of the reasons that Beverly stayed in her abusive relationship, “I stayed because my pastor told me that God hates divorce. It didn't cross my mind that God might hate abuse, too” with shivers in my spine, I wonder if my role as pastor shelters the abusers in our society and causes the victims of domestic violence to spend added time under the heel of their persecutors. Shaking my head, I wonder if the scripture is actually demanding forgiveness from people that are fighting each day for survival.

The blessing is that I grew some more compassion and awareness about domestic violence this week. "It is never as simple as walking out of the door," said Gooden. "There are so many layers to domestic violence. And not just financial, although those are valid. But we are talking about human hearts. It's not easy to leave someone you love. It's not easy to leave when you have no resources and nowhere to go. It's not easy to leave when you are threatened with additional violence. It's not easy to leave when you remember how it used to be, or when they romance you during the good times, or when they promise it is the last time. Or when there are children involved. Because you believe in love and you believe in them." Domestic violence isn't a rare phenomenon in America. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year, and 1 in every 4 women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. It wouldn’t hurt to lift up that domestic violence happens to men, children, and the elderly as well

 

 Furthermore, it is not just a matter of leaving being hard, leaving is also very dangerous. Dr. Phil provides resources for staying safe called “the Stay Safe Action Plan,” The most violent time in an abusive relationship is the minute the woman leaves, or tries to leave. In fact, in domestic violence cases, more than 70 percent of injuries and murders happen after the victim leaves. This phenomenon is known as separation assault. After following the Exit Action Plan for how to leave an abusive relationship safely, know the plan for staying safe!”

If you are a victim of domestic violence or know someone who is, the worst things that we can do are point to the lectionary and demand an attitude of forgiveness. If you are an abuser, you do not have the right to use God’s image and/or the power of scripture to shelter your behavior and bolster your power and control. As we say on the streets, “don’t get it twisted.”

In order to be clear, let’s revisit the scripture.  Jesus was describing God with all of the power, with infinite resources, with an undeniable upper hand, using God’s place and power to be open handed. God was demonstrating spiritual philanthropy – a generosity that is overwhelming, unearned, undeserved, and delivered from a place of power. The failure of the servant was that when the servant was in a place of power the servant refused to be open handed and be a source of mercy. The image of God is evident when we are aware of our place in power and when mercy flows from the powerful toward the powerless. The image of God is not just forgiveness, it is forgiveness with power. Do you see how that is organic, beautiful, generous, and healing? Forgiveness in light of power is the calling, and forgiveness in the light of power gives hope to the hopeless. Even the abused are given the right to get safe, get out, and get right.

Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek. Walter Wink, in the book Engaging the Powers, teaches us that Jesus knew that a soldier would slap an inferior with the back of his right hand. If the victim brazenly ‘turned the other cheek.’ the soldier would have to strike with the open hand. An open handed strike was only done to someone that you believed was your equal – power shifts. Jesus taught us that if we are asked to walk a mile carrying the oppressor’s burdens, we should walk the extra mile. Wink teaches that a roman soldier had the right to conscribe any commoner to carry his burden for one mile and no more. If the victim were to ‘walk the extra mile,’ the soldier was at risk of punishment for breaking the rules – power shifts.

Forgiveness is sacred. Scripture is a blessing in our lives. The image of God is a beautiful gift of our creation. We do not have the right to twist these into tools for abuse over victims.

Enjoy God,

pg