Scriptorium Daily
Having ignored warning signs for so long, the culture’s fascination, even delight, in the destruction of yet another political leader is sickening. I don’t know if John Edwards is sorry for his sins, but I do know that only a fool or a saint can afford to be unmerciful or delight in his fall.
A fool likes any prurient story because it is entertaining. This fool reads of the fall of great men with no sense of discomfort because he believes that his own vice is “not so bad.” For the fool, self-knowledge is always delightful and easy. He is puzzled why Socrates made such a fuss about it.
A saint can advocate justice without mercy because he has no need for grace. Strangely, Jesus when faced with His own John Edwards did forgive absolutely. The man who could judge didn’t, which suggests it must be better so.
Should we forgive John Edwards?
For his fellow Christians, the answer is plain, if not easy to practice.
We cannot forgive his moral sin because his sin was not against us. As for his lies to the public, the charitable are eager to forgive, but the wise not so quick to trust. As for his sins against God, which at the hour of his death will matter most, God knows his heart, but forgiveness is freely available to Edwards, though bought at great cost to God.
Meanwhile, we can pity him and be charitable in our beliefs about his repentance. We can marvel at his audacity in running for high office so soon after his sins, while the wise will carefully consider his words in the future, but the charitable will also hope for the best. It does us no harm to be generous and might do us some good.
Forgiveness is good medicine for our souls, but only if we do not confuse forgiveness with something else. Forgiveness is not naïve or incompatible with justice or the other virtues. If we forgive, then we release the evildoer from his immediate obligations, but do not give him a free ticket to repeat the behavior.
One can only forgive a man who is truly sorry for his misdeeds. While charity will err on the side of trusting the penitent man, being loving is not incompatible with prudence. Forgiveness without wisdom can become a vice because it empowers future harm.
True repentance is matched by deeds and not just words and forgiveness should be given with this in mind. The penitent knows the forgiveness may be instantaneous, but achieving healing in relationships and in the soul is long and difficult.
Forgiveness wraps the wound and applies medicines to it, but health takes time. Restoration of the penitent, when appropriate, can never be immediate, both for his sake and for those he has harmed.
We misunderstand forgiveness when we think that having received it, all the shame of our sin is gone. Forgiveness may release from guilt, but it cannot free us from the hard soul work of dealing with the consequences of our deeds. When we harm our souls, the scars, like the nail prints on the Christ, remain. Forgiveness gives us the chance to get better, but healing is still hard.
This is best lest we come to view our sin and the pain it causes as nothing and grace as cheap. True forgiveness acknowledges the seriousness of sin by the costly and gracious act of forgiving it. The cheap false forgiveness of much of our culture pretends that our sin is not so bad or makes excuses for it. This is not real forgiveness, but rather moral vacuity misusing the language of virtue. It can do nothing.
For all that, forgiveness is still a mighty and healing balm. Prudent and real forgiveness helps both the man forgiving and the forgiven. The desire for vengeance picks at the scabs on the soul and bitterness can cause an infection worse than the initial harm. The man who receives forgiveness, as I know so well, values it as an unmerited and precious gift. He is grateful for any mercy that he is shown.
Mercy is not much in evidence in our cynical and world-weary culture, but is the very medicine we most need. The merciful are happy, blessed by God, the Lord Jesus Christ said, because they will receive mercy. My own heart yearns for mercy and so when I see the repentance of others my first thought is to pray with them, “Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”
