Ten years on and it still seems almost impossible that the events of 9/11 happened as they did. The idea that terrorists would hijack planes and deliberately crash them into buildings sounds more like the plot of a far-fetched Hollywood film than something that would happen in real life; and yet it did. As I write this I’m watching a replay of the 9/11 events on the History Channel and time has not diminished the way I respond to those dreadful images.
Like most people I can clearly remember when I was on 11th September 2001. I was art work in a single occupancy office and somebody from another office rushed in and told me that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. I immediately logged onto the internet and watched the unfolding events with a mixture of incredulity and horror. My mouth just dropped as the second plane hit and it became clear this was no accident, but something much worse. This was deliberate; human beings had deliberately done this! I think though, for me, the worst moment was when people started jumping from the buildings and you could clearly see falling bodies. Then the buildings just crumpled shedding dust and debris all over Manhattan. I’m watching it again now and the horror is just as raw.
The lectionary readings for this Sunday (Genesis 50:15-21 and Matthew 18:21-35) are concerned with forgiveness and in his parable Jesus makes it clear that we are to forgive others for the wrongs they do to us. In the parable a servant is forgiven a huge debt by his master. The servant then goes to another servant who owes him money and demands payment. The second servant cannot pay and so the first servant has him thrown into jail. When the master hears about this he is angry and turns the unforgiving servant over to the jailers to be tortured until he repays the money. Jesus goes on to say “This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother (or sister) from your heart.” (Matt 18:35, NIV)
Sometimes we want to cry out to God, “Why should we forgive? Why should the families of the victims of 9/11 forgive? Why should people be forgiven when they do very evil things?”
One answer would be that Jesus told us to forgive so therefore we should, but I think we need to go a bit further than that. We should forgive others because God has forgiven us! That is what Jesus’ parable is all about.
Yet sometimes we want to shout out to God that in asking us to forgive he is asking too much of us; that it would simply cost us too much to forgive a person or people for the wrong they have done to us. I can imagine the relatives of many of those who died in the World Trade Centre and The Pentagon thinking exactly that.
“Don’t you understand what forgiveness would cost us? We want to shout, “Don’t you understand!”
God understands the real cost of forgiveness, he knows how hard it truly is to forgive. God knows the agony we must go through to forgive somebody because he has experienced it for himself.
Jesus died on the cross so that we might be forgiven. The Son of God suffered one of the most painful deaths ever devised by human beings so that we can be forgiven for all the selfish, unloving and God denying things we have done. God the Son suffered the physical pain of the cross and the spiritual pain of separation from God the Father. God the Father knew the pain of separation from the Son. God truly knows the cost of forgiveness, which is why he can tell us to forgive others.
Can we really forgive others for the wrong they have done us? Can 9/11 be forgiven?
Cheryl McGuinness lost her husband in the 9/11 attack. He was the co-pilot in one of the planes that struck the Twin Towers. Cheryl visited Ground Zero, where the twin towers had stood. As she stood amongst the rubble and twisted steel she saw a steel structure in the shape of a cross. She focussed on it and said, “Lord, they killed my husband.” She felt God telling her to forgive and when she asked why she felt God saying, “Because I forgave you.” Cheryl chose to forgive and it was God’s love for her that helped her to do it.
It was because of God’s love for her that Cheryl was able to forgive the terrorists. There are numerous examples of people who have forgiven terrible wrongs done to them and to those they love. God’s love can help us to forgive others too. God forgave us and he wants us to forgive others, no matter what they have done to us; and I pray that he will help us all to offers forgiveness to those who we feel have wronged us.
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