Archbishop Tutu is the world’s foremost authority on the power of forgiveness to transform society. His work in South Africa was a gift to the world, and there is little I might constructively add to his example. In Tutu’s Gospel-driven model, the victim consciously declines the right to pursue revenge against an oppressor, and the oppressor finds freedom in confession. Somehow, all of the beauty of theology is summed up in this equation, and it has the power to transform the world.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission acted on a national stage. From a pastoral perspective, forgiveness can shine a light on our everyday interactions with family, friends, and coworkers. We all feel harmed, at one time or another, by other people. Conversely, we have also all harmed others, knowingly or not. Archbishop Tutu talks of a new way of choosing to deal with others in love, of leaving behind the accustomed ways of reacting “in-kind.”
And that is the heart of the Gospel's challenge. In the context of love, and in the context of Gospel theology, sometimes we do what doesn’t make sense. We see the least powerful as the most powerful. We see servanthood as a privilege. We forgive.
Jesus was a merciful king, doing the unexpected over and over again. As Archbishop Tutu points out, God loves us all, illogical as that may be.
P.S. Here's a great page of videos featuring Desmond Tutu .
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