When Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh the people repented and God forgave. He stopped His judgement. There was rejoicing by everyone, except the prophet. He felt that Nineveh deserved judgement and was upset with God because they didn’t pay for their cruelty. God gave too much forgiveness. I think we do the same thing.

Have you ever heard about someone who abused children in deplorable ways or robbed and beat an elderly woman to death, or stole millions of dollars at the cost of thousands of retirement plans, or had someone intentionally hurt someone in you family and you hoped that they would pay in pain? That’s Jonah. This week’s Sunday School blog by Judy Davis reminds us that we are to forgive every time.

Anglican bishop John Rucahana became the head of a government sponsored reconciliation program in Rwanda. In 1994 Hutus killed almost one million Tutsis in less than 3 months. Most of the murders were done with machetes and clubs. John, a Tutsi, had almost all of his extended family slaughtered. He went to a prison that housed thousands of Hutu murderers. As he preached to them the Holy Spirit swept through the prison. Many began to cry out in repentance. John was overwhelmed with anger. He left the prison and ran to a hill and fell on his knees. Through his tears he saw a vision of Jesus on the cross crying to him, “Forgive, Forgive!” This is in John’s words: “I immediately got up from my knees. I wiped the tears from my eyes. I went down the hill and did what He was telling me to do. I went back into the prison. It was time for me to go and forgive those men in the name of Jesus. It didn’t matter that pain was still gripping my heart. Anger was still inside. The Lord had not taken it from me. But He showed me: We can’t wait until the pain is gone; we must forgive while we are in pain. This is what Christians do, and He gives us the power to do it.”

This is what Christians do. And how often are we to do it; according to Jesus, seventy times seven. People without Jesus have seen enough judgement and anger from Christians. We must show grace.