“If you forgive others for the wrongs they do to you, God
will forgive you. ~ Matthew 6:14
It was at a church in Munich that
he saw Kleist, the former SS guard who’d stood watch over the barracks at
Dachau where so-called political prisoners were subjected to slave labor,
medical experiments, torture, execution, and death from starvation, disease, or
exposure to extreme temperatures. Suddenly
it all came rushing back to him, like a tsunami of pain and hatred.
They’d come for Guenther in the middle of the night and
dragged him from his family. They forced
him into a rail car meant for animals.
Through the slits, he saw his wife Olga beaten as she desperately tried
to give him a package filled with food and essentials. The greedy pigs had kept it for themselves. That was the last time he saw her.
Dachau became his home until Allied forces liberated the
camp in 1945. Kleist had been a sadistic
thug. Middle-aged and portly, his fat
nose and cruel brown eyes dominated an acne-pocked face. Guenther remembered the swastika emblem on
his uniform – a symbol of peace and goodwill.
It had certainly not given him any joy.
When the barrack’s door creaked open and Kleist marched in, Guenther
knew it was for only one reason - another beating; one he couldn’t stop.
Reality snapped him back to the present as anger swelled
inside him. Guenther unconsciously
touched the scar on his cheek where Kleist had slashed him years ago. He felt an undeniable urge to punch the
former SS guard in the gut.
The church was nearly empty now. Kleist approached Guenther beaming and bowing;
displaying no recognition of the man he had so viciously treated decades
before. "How grateful I am for your
message, Padre," he said. "God has washed away my many sins!"
He thrust his hand to shake Guenther’s. The Priest, who had preached so often to the
people of Munich on the need to forgive, kept his hand close at his side.
Even as bitter thoughts boiled through him, he remembered
that Christ had died for this man too! “Lord
Jesus,” he prayed, “Forgive me and help me forgive him too.”
He tried to smile. He couldn’t raise his hand. Guenther felt nothing, not the slightest
spark of warmth or charity. And so
again, he breathed a silent prayer. “Jesus, I can’t forgive him. Give him Your forgiveness.”
As he took Kleist’s hand, the most incredible thing
happened. From his shoulder and through
his palm, a current seemed to pass between them. From his heart sprang a love for this
stranger that almost overwhelmed him. Guenther
discovered that it isn’t on our forgiveness that the world's healing hinges, but
on His! When God tells us to love our
enemies, He gives, along with His command, the love itself.
Father in heaven, we want to know you and be
closer to you. Please show us how. Forgive us for doing wrong, for hurting
you. Forgive us just as we forgive other
people when they hurt us. Amen
