But love your enemies and do good to them, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the Highest...(Luke 6:35)

In his book, Beneath the Cross of Jesus, A. Leonard Griffith tells the story of a young Korean exchange student, a leader in Christian circles at the University of Pennsylvania, who left his apartment on the evening of April 25, 1958, to mail a letter to his parents. As he turned from the mailbox, he was met by eleven leather-jacketed teenage boys. Without a word or any provocation, they beat him with a black-jack, a lead pipe, their shoes and their fists–then they turned and left him dead in street gutter.

All Philadelphia cried out for vengeance. The district attorney planned to seek the death penalty for the arrested boys. And then, this letter arrived, signed by the young man’s parents and twenty other relatives living in Korea: “Our family has met together and have decided to petition that the most generous treatment possible within the laws of your country be given to those who have committed this criminal action...In order to give evidence of our sincere hope contained in this petition, we have decided to save money to start a fund to be used for the religious, educational, vocational and social guidance of the boys when they are released. We have dared to express our hope with a spirit received from the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins.”

When one forgives, they are transported from the place of the victim to the place of the victor.

God of mercy, may we be willing to forgive others even when the entire world is crying for vengeance. May we lead others to You through that example!