On November 2, 2004, Barbara Diaz posted the following post on the WAVE and EBTL boards. I'm including her insightful post for those who missed it or wanted to read it again. After her post, I felt led to share about how her post spoke to my heart. -- Rita

FORGIVING JUDAS

Today while driving to work a thought came to me: How powerful might it be to forgive Judas for what he did? I invite all who feel so moved to join me in loving, forgiving prayer for Judas.

There are so many people walking the earth who have committed what they (and sometimes society) consider to be unforgivable sins, and who refuse to forgive themselves or accept forgiveness in the belief that there is no way they can "go home". If society cannot forgive them, how can they forgive themselves? If they cannot forgive themselves, how can God? If God cannot forgive them, what is the point in living?

Who has committed a greater crime than Judas? Who has been more lost than Judas? Who has wandered, lost and alone, in greater misery than he, for longer than any of us can conceive? When I let myself imagine for even a moment that I am he, that I have done what he did, and allow myself for just a heartbeat to feel the merest edge of his grief, I feel I could go mad. I can imagine him, teetering on the brink of insanity, brought to the very abyss through grief at his actions, and it takes very little effort to see him cast himself down into the darkness.

The Prodigal Son so thoroughly and callously squandered his father’s wealth, generosity, and love that when he finally realized what he had done he thought he could never go home again. He hated what he had done, and he hated himself. He stayed away for years in misery and self-abuse before reaching the bottom of the pit and returning to his family. When he got there, his brother rejected him out of envy and resentment, but his father, who had been most hurt by the wayward son’s actions, welcomed him with open arms and open heart. At least the Prodigal Son had hope; I wonder if Judas ever did.

Imagine how God yearns for Judas to return to the fold! Imagine how Jesus, his brother, longs for him to be at his side again. Jesus -- the one Judas loved the most, the one Judas hurt the most. How easy it is to hurt, to betray, those we love! How easy it is to turn away from forgiveness, in self-loathing, damning ourselves as worthless and unforgivable even while the arms of those we love reach out for us. I see Judas covering his face with his hands, stumbling out into the blackness, as his heavenly family cried out for his return.

Judas, I forgive you for making an error in judgment. I forgive you for hurting the ones I most love. I forgive you for depriving me of their physical presence and the warmth of their love. I forgive you for hurting me. In turn, I forgive myself for my own errors and for my own lack of love. Thank you for taking on the task that you did; it was greater than most could bear. Look what great good has come of your brother’s life! You are needed, you are loved, and you are forgiven. Come and take your place at the table once again. We, your family, are waiting for you with open arms. Do not withhold your love from us any longer.

Judas, please come home. Come home, and bring it all full circle.

We are waiting for you.

THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS

When I first read Barbara Diaz’s post about forgiving Judas, I thought that for me, it wasn’t a problem. After all, Judas was part of God’s perfect plan that Jesus would be betrayed and then would die on the cross and save all of us from our sin.

Then it came to me; we each have at least one Judas in our lives. I know in my life, there have been many. People who have betrayed my trust, treated me badly, hated me, said things about me…the list goes on. There are also infamous types of people such as Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and many others who make me shudder when I think of the horrible atrocities that they committed.

When I was growing up in church, it always seemed to me that it was understood that some people just wouldn’t be forgiven. After all, the people who were really bad were just going straight to Hell. So why should I have to forgive them? Oftentimes, I would think that about one of the "Judases" in my life. They treated me badly, I’m a good person, and they are going to hell. It just was so simple…cut and dried. Very sad thinking.

Then I read Embraced by the Light and everything in my thought processes and my whole life really changed.

The definition of "forgive" in Webster’s dictionary is:

To give up resentment of or claim to requital for <forgive an insult>
b: to grant relief from payment of <forgive a debt>
to cease to feel resentment against (an offendor): PARDON <forgive one’s enemies>

I also like the definitions of "pardon":

The excusing of an offense without exacting a penalty
a release from the legal penalties of an offense
b: an official warrant of remission of penalty, excuse or forgiveness for a fault, offense, or discourtesy <I beg your pardon>

When you look at the teachings of Jesus in the Bible, it doesn’t take long to realize that His whole life was about forgiveness. In Matthew, Chapter 8, when Jesus teaches the disciples “The Lord’s Prayer”, one of the phrases is "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

When Jesus heals a paralyzed man in Matthew, Chapter 9, the first thing He says is, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." He also tells Peter that we should forgive our "brothers seventy times seven."

Jesus told the disciples in Luke, Chapter 7:47 about a woman who honored him by washing his feet with her tears and applying ointment to his feet (one of the highest honors of that time): "Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little."

One of his last acts while on the cross was to forgive the thief who was being crucified on the cross next to him. And finally, before he committed his spirit to God, he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

After Jesus died, a man named Saul was persecuting the Christians, yet Jesus called him on the road to Damascus and forgave him. Saul became Paul the Apostle after his conversion and went on to write the many scriptures of the New Testament.

Think about a time where you held onto the hurt that someone directed at you and see what manifested from holding onto that hurt. Much like an infection, it festered and caused more bitterness and more pain until you let it go and forgave. Now think about a time where you forgave someone and the feeling that came from extending forgiveness. Quite a difference, huh?

Many times the reason we do not forgive is because of our ego. After all, we couldn't let someone have the upper hand and get the best of us, right? Actually, when we forgive, we can continue with a clear conscience and can pray for the offender and ask God to bless them. In extending forgiveness, we are following Christ’s example of unconditional love.

I wish I could tell you that I’ve arrived and have forgiven every Judas in my life. I am a work in progress and, slowly but surely, God is working in my life to heal my heart so I can forgive those that are the hardest to forgive in my life. I have found that the more difficult it is to forgive someone, when I finally do, the miracles that come from that forgiveness are truly amazing.

Just recently, I looked up someone whom I loved very dearly, yet with whom I had had a falling out regarding something I had to confront her about. After the confrontation, she was very angry with me and called up other friends of mine and was trying to turn them against me. I always prayed for her and hoped she would change her mind about what the confrontation was about. When I found her on the internet through her high school reunion website, the first thing I did was to ask her forgiveness. After all, I should’ve never let her go by the wayside because of our confrontation. She wrote me back and was so thankful. She asked me for forgiveness and said I didn’t owe her an apology. We have since talked for several hours and picked up where we left off. She actually ended up thanking me for waking her up with the confrontation, because she needed to be told about what was going on. We are both free to continue the beautiful friendship that started 20 years ago.

So, back to God’s perfect plan. Could it be that those who offend us are actually there to teach us the valuable lessons we need to learn? I can think of many famous people who have taken the pain from their life and turned it into something that would benefit others. I had the privilege of meeting Corrie Ten Boom many years ago. She and her family had helped to hide Jews during WWII and all ended up being caught and sent to the death camps. Corrie was the only one who survived. Even after the Nazis had killed her family and millions of others, Corrie still said, ""There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still" and "God will give us the love to be able to forgive our enemies." When I met Corrie, she had the most beautiful glowing white countenance. I really believe that the power of forgiveness and God's unconditional love emanated from her. She had been to the pit, and yet God helped her to rise above the most ghastly things that humans can do to one another physically and spiritually. She chose love and forgiveness and went on to minister to others through the retelling of her experiences.

Betty writes in The Ripple Effect, "Why does evil exist at all? The answer is that our spirits grow stronger and faster through adversity. The pain of experiencing wrong-doing and loss burns into our souls and encodes itself into our cells and our energy. The lessons we learn from our troubles become part of our very essence. Negative experiences also grant us the power of empathy, to see others as we see ourselves, to comprehend joys and sorrows and all the human impulses. As our eyes are opened and we grow in empathy, our ability to love unconditionally increases. To develop our highest potential, to become like God, we need that love which only opposition causes us to gain. Without an opposing energy, our power to love would never be strengthened sufficiently to allow us to progress in the eternities."

During this holiday season, my prayer for all of us is that we ourselves choose the gift of God’s forgiveness and unconditional love and extend it out to the "Judases" on this planet. Let's be thankful for the lessons they teach us. Let's choose to be better and not bitter.

May we send Ripples of Unconditional Love and Forgiveness to all we encounter.

Love and Light,
Rita