Love and forgiveness were tightly woven together in my mother’s life and teachings. These ideals cannot be separated. To love is to forgive. How can I ever forget these principles? But I do forget sometimes.
Jesus Christ willingly gave His life on the cross so we could be ransomed, forgiven, and saved from destruction. Think about it! The King of the Universe wants to forgive us no matter how much we have hurt Him. How important is it to forgive others? In Matthew 6: 14-15, Jesus said, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” The Greek word for trespasses is paraptōmata. It means: a falling away, lapse, slip, false step, error, trespass, transgression, or sin.
I love the poetry of George Marion McClellan. He was born in Tennessee in September 29, 1860, seven months before the start of the American Civil War. There is no record to indicate whether McClellan was born to slave or free parents; however, later he was able to go to college, where he earned a total of three degrees. McClellan was a minister, educator, writer, poet, school chaplain, and high school principal among other things before he died in 1934. Here is one of my favorite poems he wrote:
Christ washed the feet of Judas!
The dark and evil passions of his soul,
His secret plot, and sordidness complete,
His hate, his purposing, Christ knew the whole,
And still in love he stooped and washed his feet.
Christ washed the feet of Judas!
Yet all his lurking sin was bare to him,
His bargain with the priest, and more than this,
In Olivet, beneath the moonlight dim,
Aforehand knew and felt his treacherous kiss.
Christ washed the feet of Judas!
And so ineffable his love ’twas meet,
That pity fill his great forgiving heart,
And tenderly to wash the traitor’s feet,
Who in his Lord had basely sold his part.
Christ washed the feet of Judas!
And thus a girded servant, self-abased,
Taught that no wrong this side the gate of heaven
Was ever too great to wholly be effaced,
And though unasked, in spirit be forgiven.
And so if we have ever felt the wrong
Of trampled rights, of caste, it matters not,
What e’er the soul has felt or suffered long,
Oh, heart! this one thing should not be forgot:
Christ washed the feet of Judas.
McClellan wrote these lines after suffering the humiliation of being “forcibly evicted from a train in Alabama” in 1884, because he was African-American. He felt such hatred for those who shamefully abused him. It frightened him. Eventually he began to pray to have the hatred removed, leading him to forgive those who hurt him. He later wrote “all feeling of hatred for any human being left me forever.” Then McClellan was inspired to write the poem, The Feet of Judas.
Here we see Jesus humbly wash the dirty feet of his betrayer, as “…in love he stooped and washed his feet.” The pure skin of Jesus touched, caressed, and sought to cleanse the impure skin of Judas’ feet. Yes, Judas’ “sordidness complete…Yet all his lurking sin was bare” to Jesus in the borrowed upper room. The theme of forgiveness is expressed by the line “And though unasked, in spirit be forgiven.” This forgiveness in the poem is extended even to political matters, conveyed by the heartbreaking lines which said, “And so if we have ever felt the wrong Of trampled rights, of caste, it matters not, Whate’er the soul has felt or suffered long, Oh heart! This one thing should not be forgot, Christ washed the feet of Judas!”
To have a forgiving spirit, even when the other person isn’t sorry, is to be like Jesus. McClellan’s forgiveness gave him freedom in a way nothing else could give him. Forgiveness frees the one who has been hurt. It removes toxicity from one’s life and makes room for good things to happen, sometimes in surprising ways. Forgiveness can touch other people’s lives like ripples in a pond, spreading goodness far abroad. Forgiveness is the most powerful thing one can do. Forgive to be like Jesus and to be forgiven.
I believe in love and forgiveness.
Take care,
Charlyne
*The Feet of Judas, from Poems, by George Marion McClellan.