For my money, this is the right thing to do with our money.  According to today’s New York Times, a federal appeals court has ruled that the U.S. discriminates against the blind and those of limited vision because its paper currency is the same size regardless of a bill’s value.  Of the 180 countries which print paper currency, ours is the only one which does not make different sizes for various denominations.  That may change soon, and should, in my opinion.  Those with sight limitations deserve such consideration.

By contrast, Jesus’ fifth Beautitude assures us, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7).  We have learned that “mercy” is more than consideration—it is not getting or giving what a person deserves.  It is to forgive, to pardon.  Why pardon those who deserve your punishment?  For four reasons.  As we learned yesterday, we forgive to stop the cycle of pain which hurts us more than the person we want to punish.  And we pardon others so we can be pardoned.  If I am too legalistic to forgive your mistakes, I am too legalistic to accept forgiveness for mine.

In one of the churches I pastored, I was once hurt deeply by a member.  Every time I saw him, I felt my anger well up in my soul.  I became short, irritated, on edge with others—and especially with myself.  But the day I released my anger and chose to pardon that man, I found a new freedom with myself.  A new willingness to be loved and forgiven by God.  If every injustice must be punished, we cannot forgive others.   Or ourselves.

Here’s a third reason: pardon to break the circle of revenge.  If I must return your hurt, then you must return mine.  And I must return yours.  Calvin Miller warns us that an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is a rapid way to a sightless, toothless world.  It must stop somewhere.  It has been truly said: you can no more win a war than win a fire. But when you pardon me, the cycle stops.  I have no cause to hurt you, and abundant reason to love you and learn to love myself as well.

Here’s a fourth reason:  to show others the love of Christ.  Jesus identified this guarantee that others will know we love him: “By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you have love one for another” (John 13:35).  Pardon proves that God’s love in us is real.

During the Cold War, people in a particular East Germany town began throwing trash over the Berlin Wall into the West German town on the other side.  The West Germans, for their part, responded by tossing food and clothes to the East Germans.  With this note:  “Each gives what he has.”  What do you have?  Let’s continue tomorrow.

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