Across the Pastor’s Desk by Nancy Overgaard

It took me all day Saturday to figure out what it meant and a moment on Sunday to grasp its significance. As visitors and I followed signs to a war memorial outside Vukovar, Croatia, I struggled to figure out the meaning of its name. The Croatian word on the signs looked familiar, but I could not recall what it meant. Did it simply mean memorial? And, why the strange location, several miles down a country road past muddy pens of cows, sheep and pigs to something that appeared to be a farm?

The guide did not have the English to explain it. Then, late in the day it hit me — sheep farm. It meant sheep farm. Our guide had said the name referred to a location, but not a village or region. During the war, 15 years before our visit, innocent civilians had been herded like sheep, beaten with rods and mocked as they passed through its gates before being led like lambs to the slaughter. News footage playing in the foyer of the memorial documented the extreme cruelty committed in that place. On viewing the horrific scenes I understood better the severity of the trauma that plagues survivors of that war and the difficulty of forgiving or forgetting, though few survived in that location. How is it possible for any who suffer such trauma to get past what happened and go on with life?

The answer was on the screen when I entered the sanctuary Sunday morning: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed,” (Isaiah 53:5, NIV). Two thousand years before the awful events at that sheep farm, Jesus, “a lamb without blemish or defect” (I Peter 1:19, NIV) was, himself, beaten, mocked and “led like a lamb to the slaughter,” (Isaiah 52:14, 53:7). Having shared in the depths of unjust humiliation and suffering, Jesus is uniquely able to supply “grace to help us in our time of need,” (Hebrews 4:16). Having “carried our sorrows,” (Isaiah 53:4) Jesus is able to shoulder our pain and enable us to bear it.

The pastor, with no knowledge of our Saturday visit to the memorial, supplied more of the answer, preaching from I Peter 2:21-25. Jesus not only provided for our healing, he gave us an example to follow. Peter wrote. “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to God who judges justly,” (I Peter 2:23). Trusting God to judge justly liberates all who suffer wrong from the need to exact revenge (cf. Romans 12:17-21).

Jesus went further, the pastor noted, citing a verse many of us are not qualified to quote in this context. Yet, it holds the key for victim and perpetrator. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” Jesus prayed from the cross (Luke 23:34). For the victim, that prayer is the means of release from hatred and bitterness. For the perpetrator, it is the only possible means of making things right.

“If anyone had a reason not to forgive,” the pastor reasoned, “it was Jesus.” Yet, Jesus offered even those who crucified him the opportunity to be forgiven. After his resurrection, some were smitten with guilt over what they had done, repented, received his gracious offer, and committed their lives to him (Acts 2:36-41). By subjecting his own son to death for our sins, the pastor noted, God demonstrated his desire for all “who have gone astray,” (Isaiah 53:6), which is all of us, to be reconciled to him.

As we enter the Lenten season, may we be challenged to forgive as Christ forgave, and to pray for all who need his healing, his forgiveness and his help to forgive.

 

Nancy Overgaard is a member of the Freeborn County Ministerial Association.