And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. (Matthew 6:12, ESV - Lord’s Prayer) Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34a, ESV - Jesus on the cross) And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:60, ESV - Stephen as he was being stoned)
As Joanne will attest, I am not a fan of eulogies, particularly eulogies given at Christian funerals and memorial services. Eulogies tend to focus on the individual, often portraying him (or her) in a very positive light, rather than focusing on God and on what Jesus has done for us. These eulogies, therefore, divert the focus of the service away from God and toward the deceased individual. Rather than emphasizing the poor, miserable sinfulness of the deceased and the incredible mercy and grace shone on that individual by our Lord and Savior, most eulogies tend to portray the dead individual as just this side of a saint, with overemphasis placed on his (her) accomplishments and how good a person he (or she) was.
In my opinion, all Christian services, and especially funeral services, should focus on Jesus and on the wonderful news of the salvation won for us by His death on the cross. For this reason, I had no interest in watching the memorial service for Charlie Kirk. However, Joanne did watch it while I worked on the computer just around the corner, from whence I could hear everything being said.
Much of what I heard was typical eulogizing, emphasizing all the good things Charlie had done, how he’d been a good father, a good husband, a good friend, a good Christian evangelist. Some of the politicians, particularly President Trump, couldn’t help themselves and interjected political opinions into their eulogies. However, all the speakers, at least the ones I heard, did talk about Charlie’s faith and his intense desire to share the Good News of the Gospel with those around him, especially those in attendance at his campus visits. This was good and I wish there were even more of it.
A short while after Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow, started speaking, I arose and went around the corner to watch her as she was speaking. Her eulogy to her husband was good, probably the first and only eulogy I’ve ever heard that I felt was appropriate for a Christian service. While she pointed out good things about Charlie, these were focused on his love for her, for his family and for the people, primarily college students, that attended his on-campus visits. She also emphasized Charlie’s devotion to God and his passion for sharing his faith with those around him.
When she spoke about Charlie’s assassin, her words were really touching and brought a tear to my eye. Rather than condemning him, she spoke of loving him, of forgiving him for what he had done to her beloved Charlie. She spoke of what it meant to be a Christian, to follow Jesus’ example, to love our enemies and to pray for those that persecute us. What Charlie’s killer had done to her, taking the life of her husband whom she deeply loved and murdering the father of her children was terrible, and while her pain at this loss was evident, she somehow found it within her heart to forgive this individual for this heinous act.
This is what it means to be a Christian, a forgiven child of God and on whom God has showered His love. When we recite the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God for forgiveness, indicating that we will, in turn, forgive those who do us wrong. While these words may be easy to say, living them out can be difficult, in Erika’s case incredibly difficult, yet Jesus has made it crystalline clear that this is exactly what we are to do. We are to not only forgive those who do us wrong, we are to love them, even to pray for them. This is completely contrary to the old man, the old Adam, that dwells in all of us, that believes in revenge, that seeks an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
"I forgive him." These three little words from Erika epitomize what it means to live as a Christian. We are to be in, but not of, this world. While we are to hate sin, and Charlie’s assassination was an awful sin, we are to love the sinner. We are to love Charlie’s assassin. We are to love those people with whom we disagree. We are to love those leaders whose ideology does not align with ours. We are even to love those individuals who hate us and what we stand for. We are to pray for them, even if they do us great harm. This is not easy, indeed without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit it may be impossible, but this is what we are called to do. We are to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, no matter how difficult doing so may be.
Jesus did the unthinkable. The second person of the almighty Triune God, creator of this universe so vast and amazing as to be incomprehensible, humbled Himself and took on the nature of a man. As a man He lived a sinless life, doing good and miraculous acts, sharing the wisdom of God, reaching out to sinners everywhere He went. Ultimately, He was falsely accused by the jealous religious leaders of the time, found guilty of no crime, but sentenced to death on a cross no less. As He hung dying on the cross, dying to take on the punishment for our sins, dying that His perfect righteousness could be exchanged for our filthy sinfulness, dying that we might spend eternity with Him, He forgave those responsible for His death.
While our ability to follow in Jesus’ footsteps is limited by our sinful human flesh, nevertheless we should strive to do so. We should forgive others that do us harm. We should love not only our families and friends, but also our neighbors and enemies. We should pray for all of them, and we should always, like Charlie, be ready to share our faith, our belief in a God who gave up everything including His life for us, with those around us.