Some people criticize Christianity for our teaching on forgiving….Turning the other Check!
They say that followers of Jesus are just wimps. They say that instead of fighting for what’s right, Christians passively allow themselves to be taken advantage of. However, this is actually a very superficial criticism. The most powerful force for change in this world full of conflict and sin is not vengeance or violence, but forgiveness.
The Roman Empire was built by force and violence, but it passed away a long time ago. Christ’s Kingdom, the Church, is built on the deeper power of forgiveness and unconditional love, and it has not only outlasted the Roman Empire, but it is still growing today. The Church is the longest lasting institution in the history of the world, even longer lasting than the ancient Chinese Empires. In the first centuries of Christianity, when the Roman Empire tried to destroy the Church by force, by persecution, it was precisely the Christian’s power to forgive and endure that made the Church grow.
Pagan Romans would watch the trials, tortures, and executions of the Christians. No matter how unjustly the Christians were condemned, no matter how cruelly they were tortured, they never condemned their enemies in return. Instead, they simply explained the gospel, and then lived it out by being faithful to Christ up to death. That example produced a steady stream of converts to the Christian faith, because the pagans had never witnessed such self-sacrificing nobility and courage. When we give in to bitterness, hatred, and the desire for vengeance, we lose the power of God’s grace at work in our hearts.
And that power is the only power capable of conquering evil, of ending the cycle of destructive violence, of bringing resurrections out of crucifixions.
There was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church named Francis Xavier Van Thuan who spent 14 years in prison in Communist Viet Nam. They arrested and even tortured him, trying to get him to give up his Catholic faith. But instead, he chose to live his faith passionately, even in prison, work camps, and solitary confinement.
Here is how he describes what happened: “In the beginning, the guards did not talk to me. I was terribly sad. I wanted to be kind and polite with them, but it was impossible. They avoided speaking with me. One night a thought came to me: “Francis, you are still very rich. You have the love of Christ in your heart; love them as Jesus has loved you.” The next day I started to love them even more, to love Jesus in them, smiling and exchanging kind words with them. I began to tell them stories of my trips abroad, of how people live in America, in Canada, in Japan, in the Philippines… about economics, about freedom, about technology. This stimulated their curiosity and they began asking me many questions.
Little by little we became friends. They wanted to learn foreign languages, French, English… And my guards became my students!”
Cardinal Van Thuan’s truly Christ-like approach to his relationship with his atheist, Communist guards, led to some remarkable experiences. The Cardinal describes how one guard agreed to let him make a wooden cross for himself even though it was severely forbidden to have any religious signs at all.
When the guard at first objected, the Cardinal answered, “I know, but we are friends, and I promise to keep it hidden.” So,the guard walked away and let the Cardinal make his cross.
In another prison, Cardinal Van Thuan asked another guard, who had also become his friend, for some electrical wire. Here is how the conversation went: “The guard, frightened, answered: “I learned at the Police Academy that when someone asks for electrical wire it means they want to kill themselves!” “Catholic priests don’t commit suicide.” “But what do you want to do with electrical wire?”
“I would like to make a chain to carry my cross.” “How can you make a chain with electrical wire? It’s impossible.” “If you bring me two small pincers, I’ll show you.” “It’s too dangerous!”
“But we’re friends!” Three days later the guard brought the wire and the pincers and together they made a chain for his cross – the atheist Communist police officer helping the imprisoned bishop with his vestments.
That’s the power of Christ-like love, the love we are all called to live.
