Father, forgive…

Ecumenical Review, The, July, 1995 by Kosuke Koyama

From the mouth of the crucified we hear the petition: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). The word which was "in the beginning" (John 1:1) is the word of God's eagerness to forgive.

I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Isa. 43:25)

And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. (Matt. 18:27)

"How often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times". (Matt. 18:21f.)

But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. (Luke 15:20)

The Christian faith intensifies this divine eagerness to forgive by saying that God's word of forgiveness came to us from Jesus Christ crucified, the one who is utterly rejected and forsaken for our sake (1 Cor. 2:2). It comes from the truly central person who has become truly peripheralized (John 1:11). Jesus forgives those who mock him (Mark 15:17-19).

The sacrifice Christ made is not to satisfy a vengeful God. God is not vengeful. God is generous. The sacrifice is not required to placate the divine sense of justice. It is, on the contrary, a demonstration of the overflowing and overwhelming fullness of love of God towards all creation, including humanity. A sacrifice which is not an outpouring of love is neurotic. Jesus is not neurotic. He is enemy to none because he loves the enemy with his free mind, soul and spirit (Matt. 5:44). He "extends hospitality to strangers" (Rom. 12:13) completely and perfectly. That was the reason - how strange! - why he was crucified (John 13:1). This strange event is the heart of the gospel (1 Cor. 2:9). As we look at him, we come to know who we are as sinners forgiven.

God's eagerness to forgive derives from God's love. It is the nature of the loving God to forgive. God loves and forgives us in spite of the injustice and violence that characterize our community. In the fathomless depth of divine forgiveness, love and justice are united and holiness is revealed. This is certainly an extraordinary holiness. The forgiveness that comes from the holy God bestows hope on the repentant. Forgiveness invites mutuality, transforming our community life. Forgiven by God, we are enabled to forgive one another. The vertical intersects with the horizontal. Justice meets forgiveness in this intersection.

You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you? (from the parable of the unforgiving servant: Matt. 18:32f.)

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (Matt. 6:12)

In Nobody Knows My Name, James Baldwin, the Harlem philosopher, expounds the dominical sayings:

It is a terrible, an inexorable, law that one cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one's own.

In more direct reference to the cross, Ernest Gordon exclaims in Miracle of the River Kwai:

In my contemplation I recognized that it was no easy thing to call that figure on the cross "Lord". I heard again his words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do". This he had said for his enemies; but what was I to say for mine? I could not say what he had said, for he was innocent, whereas I was not. Humbly, I had to ask, "Forgive me and my enemies, for we know not what we do."

Up to 1945

The Christian theology of a sovereign creator God who is loving and concerned about social justice was brought to Japan for the first time by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century. When the people enthusiastically welcomed the faith, the rulers were alarmed. The Japanese "Inquisition Office" was set up in 1640 and continued until 1792. In 1658, at the height of persecution, 609 Christians were arrested, of whom 411 were executed, 78 died in prison, 20 suffered life imprisonment and 99 apostatized. In the 1660s about 500 Christians suffered martyrdom. Not until 1873 was the ban against Christianity removed. Christianity, as a "free" religion, is only 120 years old in Japan. The Imperial (Meiji) Constitution, which defined the absolutism of the imperial system, was promulgated in 1888, 15 years after the removal of the ban against Christianity.

In the middle of the 19th century, Japan determined to become, as quickly as possible and at any cost, strong enough to stand up to the Western powers. The ruling class devised the ideology of the divinity of the emperor, providing a pseudo-absolute by which the people could be mercilessly exploited and controlled. This artificial "monotheism" was the official state doctrine until the defeat of Japan in 1945. (This development was not, of course, unique to Japan. It is important to note how often religious absolutes, also in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have been used to validate political or imperial ambition.)

In March 1933, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations. The Japanese war against China began in July 1937. In September 1940, Japan entered into the Tripartite Alliance with Germany and Italy. In December 1941 the Japanese air force attacked Pearl Harbor. The great war had begun. Four years later Japan lay crushed in defeat.