Forgive and forget? (Genesis 45:1-15)
Forgiveness is hard, and it’s hard for Joseph’s brothers to trust it.
To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up.
For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.
“Forgiveness is hard.” I often utter this truism to others, always in the hope that someone somewhere will disagree and offer some profound advice for me, as I seem to struggle particularly with this most important of virtues. No luck so far. All I usually get back are nodding heads and knowing sighs. Yes, true forgiveness is hard—for both the forgiver and the forgiven.