On the importance of forgiveness

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I just read a short story that made an impression on me. It is “The Human Wind” by Boris Philnak, translated from Russian by Thompson Bradley (from Great Soviet Short Stories, Dell Publishing Co., 1962) The following selections give some idea:

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And, here, over the years, there had always been the memory of a foul, autumn evening permeated with a stifling human smell: that was the evening he had driven his wife out. Before that there had been the wild grasses of dawn, the spring floods in the fields and nights with the words “I love you, I love you, forever, forever!” ... Then a child was born of their joy — new Ivan. ... And then there was that horrible evening, the kind of evening when it is lonely and terrifying on earth because of the suffocation of human flesh.

It was not evening: it was midnight. An autumn rain poured down outside, and inside he had to throw it all in her face. A candle burned on the table and dripped wax on that same tablecloth which was never changed. Her eyes swelled, and there was little wrinkles around her eyes. He stood next to the table, she next to the door.

She said:

“Ivan, try to understand, it’s all a lie, forgive me. It was an obsession. After all, we’ve had great happiness, we really loved each other.”

Ivan Ivanovich bent over the candle and for the hundredth time spelled out the words on the scrap of paper which she had written: “Nikolai, it’s an obsession, but I cannot be without you. My husband will not be at home today, the gate will not be locked. Come at eleven, when everyone is asleep ...”

Ivan Ivanovich put the scrap of paper in his pocket, turned away from the flame and, pronouncing each word said slowly:

“There is nothing to forgive here. The word has no meaning here. I’m not concerned about obsessions. And obsession has nothing to do with it. You simply lay naked in my bed with a naked man. Get out!”

“Ivan we have a baby. We have a son! ...”

Ivan mimicked her derisively:

We have a b-a-b-y. Quite so, but I don’t have to let you have stallions. Get out!

And then the little wrinkles disappeared from around her eyes, leaving eyes full of hatred, contempt, and outrage. She whispered to him, also pronouncing every word: “W-r-e-n-c-h! I love and love him — I love him and not you!”

Momentarily at a complete loss, Ivan Ivanovich said nothing in reply. She turned abruptly and slammed the door. He did not go after her. On the other side of the door it was quiet. He stood motionless. Probably a quarter of an hour went by. He rushed to the door. On the other side of the door it was empty, the baby’s bed was empty, a candle was burning on the table next to the bed. The outside door was open. He dashed into the passageway, into the heavy smell of the lodging house. The door to the courtyard was open. He rushed out into the yard in the rain. The street gate was open. Then he screamed helplessly, very humiliatingly and pitifully:

“Alyonushka!”

No one answered him. The street disappeared into the gloom and rain.

In the morning a woman brought a note: “Ivan Ianovich would you be so kind ...!” In the note he was asked to send her and her son’s belongings with the messenger. He gathered up all the things, collected them all day long; the woman helped him with it. Twice the woman left to eat, at tea and dinner. He did not think about food for himself, and, when she was off, he wrote a long letter.

Toward evening the woman carried the things off on a hand-cart and the letter next to her breast. Ivan Ivnovich helped her take the hand-cart out to the street where he shook her hand and asked her not to forget to bring back an answer. The woman felt awkward shaking hands, and, withdrawing her hand, she said soberly:

“I’ll bring back what I’m told; after all I’ve got my own two feet”. There was no answer that day, nor the next, nor the day after that. But on the day after he learned that his wife had left town and gone somewhere by train with all her things, probably for good. And indeed she had left for good. Ivan Ivanovich never saw her again. A year later he found out that she was living somewhere in Moscow — three years later he learned that she had a new baby boy, a boy named Nikolai. The boy’s last name was his — was Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov’s — Nikolai Ivanov.

“No man passes harsher judgment than a man does upon himself.”

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- excerpted from Great Soviet Short Stories. Edited by F.G. Reeve. Dell Publishing Co. 1962

Ivan Ivanovich died an old, lonely man. I find it a very sad story.

This story is one that has happened, I am sure, with minor variations, countless times in the history of man. It is all about humankind’s weakness in regard to sexual temptation and the terrible consequences that can ensue from yielding to it. We are all weak. We are all human. We are all vulnerable. We can all make mistakes. Yet when injustice is done to us, when another has wronged us, it can be so very hard to forgive. People will spend their entire lives in anger and hatred at a mate for an infidelity or suspected infidelity. The story gave rise to the following thought: I think that of all the things that Jesus taught perhaps the most important is what he told us regarding forgiveness:

Mat 6:14-15 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your

heavenly Father will also forgive you. {15} "But if you do not

forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive

your trespasses.

Mat 18:21-35 Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how

often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to

seven times?" {22} Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up

to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. {23} "Therefore

the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to

settle accounts with his servants. {24} "And when he had begun

to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten

thousand talents. {25} "But as he was not able to pay, his

master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children

and all that he had, and that payment be made. {26} "The

servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have

patience with me, and I will pay you all.' {27} "Then the

master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him,

and forgave him the debt. {28} "But that servant went out and

found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred

denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat,

saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' {29} "So his fellow servant fell

down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with

me, and I will pay you all.' {30} "And he would not, but went

and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. {31} "So

when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very

grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.

{32} "Then his master, after he had called him, said to him,

'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you

begged me. {33} 'Should you not also have had compassion on

your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' {34} "And his

master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he

should pay all that was due to him. {35} "So My heavenly Father

also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not

forgive his brother his trespasses."

We are all sinners. We are all in need of mercy and forgiveness from God. It behooves us to forgive others when they wrong us. It behooves us to reflect on our own frailty and weakness.

The entire story of salvation is about forgiveness. God came down to this world (in the form of Jesus) and allowed himself to be crucified on a cross to save sinners.

God does have mercy on the repentant sinner. The key word here, however, is “repentant”. Repentant means true and honest repentance. The big problem here is that most people never repent of their sins. They refuse to admit that they have sinned. They become hardened, shameless, and so corrupted that they don’t know what right is. They may not even believe in a God.

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The evil implanted in man by nature spreads so imperceptibly, when the habit of wrong-doing is unchecked, that he himself can set no limit to his shamelessness. Cicero

I regard that man as lost, who has lost his sense of shame. Plautus

While shame keeps watch virtue is not wholly extinguished from the heart, nor will moderation be utterly exiled from the mind of tyrants. Burke

Sordid and infamous sensuality, the most dreaded evil that issued from the box of Pandora, corrupts the entire heart and eradicates every virtue. Fenelon

The body of a sensualist is the coffin of a dead soul. Bovee

Those wretches who never have experienced the sweets of wisdom and virtue, but spend all their time in revels and debauches, sink downward day after day, and make their whole life one continued series of errors. They taste no real or substantial pleasure; but, resembling so many brutes, with eyes always fixed on the earth, and intent upon their laden tables, they pamper themselves in luxury and excess. Plato

What if one might have all the pleasures of the world for the asking? Who would so unman himself as by accepting them to desert his own soul and become a slave to his senses? Seneca

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In our depraved, modern world I think there are very, very few who die honestly repentant for their sins. People have great difficulty admitting they are wrong. Many people today are atheists. They don’t even believe in a God. And if they do believe in a God they may not accept the authority of the Bible in regard to sin, accept as sin what the Bible says is sin. If you don’t accept a thing as being sin you can’t repent of it.

Jesus came down to this world preaching a message of repentance but he was rejected and crucified. Man doesn’t like hearing a message of repentance. He didn’t then and doesn’t now.

29 May 2022