"Whether Is Easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say Arise, and walk?" Matt. 9:5. With these words Christ Jesus was rebuking those around him who doubted his right to forgive sins when healing a palsied man. In our Master's healing work and mission, the power of compassion and forgiveness is most noticeable. Peter asked Jesus how often he should forgive a brother who sins against him—"till seven times?" Jesus replied, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." Matt. 18:21, 22. Forgiveness must be a crucial component of healing, otherwise Jesus would not have asked us to forgive so many times.
Compassion and forgiveness certainly manifest spiritual qualities such as wholeness and love, which each one of us possesses as God's offspring. And they are indispensable in the demonstration of healing —physical, moral, and spiritual. Forgiveness is also a powerful component of God's law of progress. We progress in everything we do, whenever we forgive and move on from the past in order to demonstrate the reality of God's spiritual creation now.
There are, however, times when it seems extremely difficult to forgive. When certain injustices are imposed on one, conditions may become so unbearable that the idea that one must forgive seems unfair. While South Africa was under its previous government, I witnessed and even escaped military raids; I lost many friends and relatives to violence. In those years, the opposite of forgiveness seemed the only choice left in order to contribute meaningfully to change in my country. Most of us exiles at the time were seeing "a tooth for a tooth" action as the only option. This feeling of violence, revenge, and anger was threatening to permeate even my private family life.
