THE GOAL OF FORGIVENESS

In December of 1997, fourteen-year-old Michael Carneal walked into the lobby of his high school in Paducah, Kentucky, and began shooting at a group of teenagers who had gathered early to pray. He killed three of those classmates and wounded four.

A day or two later, some students there did something they thought Jesus wanted them to do. With the national spotlight on them, they made up a sign that said, “Michael, we forgive you.”

Yes, Jesus tells us to forgive, but at that point, Michael wasn’t asking for anybody’s forgiveness. Offering him mercy did not help. Of course, those students would eventually need to let go of the hate and bitterness in their hearts, but extending mercy so quickly to one who had not asked for it, who had not repented, who had done something so terrible was surely not what Jesus had in mind. In fact, their actions could well have stopped the redemption process. Michael needed to come to terms with the terrible weight of what he had done. He needed to feel the horror of it, to confess and be changed because of it. Once that happened, it might have been appropriate to show mercy to him, although even mercy would not have waived the consequences of such an act.

Offering mercy before a person understands the need for it can diminish the gravity of the act. It gets in the way of the true goal of forgiveness, which is the redemption of the other person. 

-- Adam Hamilton in “Forgiveness: Finding Peace Through Letting Go” 

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