Ananias illustrates the struggle of proclaiming forgiveness to the unforgivable. When called to minister to Paul after Paul's Damascus Road experience, Ananias balked because of Paul's persecution of the church. Nonetheless, as Christ's ambassador, Ananias delivered the Lord's message of reconciliation to Paul (Acts 9:10-19).

A second reason for forgiving the unforgivable is that God calls us to be priests (Ex. 19:5-6; 1 Pet. 2:9-10). Priests essentially fulfill two functions. One function is to bring God to people by proclaiming God's forgiveness to them. The other function is to bring people to God by interceding for them. Because we have received the mercy and forgiveness of God, we always preach God's love and forgiveness. Fulfilling our ambassadorial and priestly functions is easy because we act as third parties in particular situations. Forgiving the unforgivable is difficult, however, when we are the injured party. Therefore, a third, and perhaps the most difficult, reason for forgiving the unforgivable is that God calls us to be forgivers.

Jesus said that if we are forgiven people, we must be forgiving people (Matt. 18:22-35). These are hard words to live by. Sigmund Freud's words and attitude are much easier to accept. Freud wrote, "One must forgive one's enemies but not before they have been hanged."2 Jesus, however, said we must take up our cross, yet getting our hangman's noose is much easier than taking up our cross. Nevertheless, we are Christians, not Freudians, and we have committed ourselves to following Jesus on a journey that always leads us to the cross, the place of forgiveness. Yet how is it possible to forgive someone who's hurt us terribly? How can we forgive the unforgivable? It is possible if we remember four principles of forgiveness.

Four Principles of Forgiveness

First, when Jesus challenges us to forgive, he asks us to do something God-like. All of us have heard the proverb, "To error is human, to forgive, divine." Indeed, forgiving is God's business, and He has forgiven some pretty dastardly people. Manasseh, for example, committed many heinous acts, yet even he was not beyond the reach of God's mercy. We read in 2 Chronicles 33:12-13 that Manasseh "sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God." Forgiving is the God-like act to which we are called.

Second, when Jesus challenges us to forgive, He asks us to focus on forgiving, not forgetting. People are often counseled to "forgive and forget," but such advice is futile. Forgiveness is not the same as "forget-ness." We cannot pretend that the past never happened, and we could not forget the past even if we wanted to. People can never forget the terrible things done to them. Forgiveness, however, is as necessary as suturing an open wound. If the wound is not closed, either that person will bleed to death, or the wound will become infected. When the wound is closed and then heals a scar remains as a constant reminder of the wound. Likewise, forgiveness helps to alleviate the pain of a painful experience. Once we forgive, however, our memory reminds us of the deed.