“Forgive each other, just as Christ forgave you.” ~ Ephesians 4:32
People were leaving the basement
room where Corrie Ten Boom had just preached with a message about God’s forgiveness
when she spotted him.
During WWII, the Ten Boom family home became a hiding place
for those hunted by the Nazis. They’d risked
their own lives living out their Christian faith. Eventually arrested by the Nazis for hiding Holland’s
Jews, Corrie was imprisoned at Germany’s Ravensbrück death camp. Upon her release in 1944, she traveled extensively
as a missionary, preaching the need for reconciliation.
The balding, heavy-set man in a gray overcoat was working
his way toward her. Her mind raced back
to their first encounter; him in a cult-like uniform emblazoned with SS insignias
and a death head skull designed to evoke terror and shame at having to walk
naked past him.
With an outstretched hand, the man said: “A fine message,
Fräulein! How good it is to know that,
as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!”
Corrie, who’d just spoken so casually of forgiveness, fumbled in her purse rather than shake his hand. Swallowing any response, she smiled and thanked him; praying he’d not remembered her.
“You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk,” he continued. “I was a guard in there.”
Corrie, who’d been subjected to countless beatings with his leather crop, froze. It was the first time since her release that she’d been eye-to-eye with one of her captors.
“But since then,” he went on, “I’ve become a
Christian. I know that God has forgiven
me for the cruel things I did there, but I’d like to hear it from your lips as
well, Fräulein.” Again, his hand
extended. “Will you forgive me?
The woman, whose sister Betsie had died in that place, could
not. Might this monster hope to expunge
her death simply by asking?
After the war, the ten Boom’s again opened their home for
victims of Nazi brutality. Corrie knew
from experience that those able to forgive their former enemies were able to move
on, despite their physical and emotional scars. Those who harbored bitterness remained forever
tortured.
She must forgive him; Corrie knew that. Yet she stood immobile; cold as a tomb.
Mercy, she knew, wasn’t an emotion but an act of will; regardless
of the heart’s temperature. “Jesus, help me!” she prayed silently. “I’ll lift my hand – will You supply the
feeling?”
So, as she awkwardly thrust her hand into his, something
incredible happened. A healing warmth flooded
her entire being, bringing tears to two sets of eyes.
“I forgive you, brother!” she cried. “With all my
heart!”
God’s forgiveness has one prior condition: that we forgive
those who’ve injured us. Jesus says: “If
you don’t forgive people their trespasses, neither will our heavenly Father pardon
you.”
Merciful God, thank you for Your gift of
forgiveness. Your mercy flows to me in spite of my faults and failures. Help me offer the same kind of unconditional
love, even to those who hurt me. Amen
