Father, forgive them for they know not what they do

On 24th March,6 pm, two of our school children Kave Teronpi of class VII 14 years old and Rebecca Teronpi of class III 11 years old were studying in their studying room attached to a family at Hidim Teron village Manja Karbi Anglong district of Assam. Mrs.Rebecca Timungpi a 40 year old lady living close to their home was a mental patient. She had a fight with her husband and the family fight led her to take the knife and physically attack the children. The elder one trying to persuade and prevent the lady from attacking the children recegived most of the attacks, two of them were seriously injured, one with seven stichss on her shoulder. The elder sister Kave Teronpi multiple assaults. Together with the villagers we did whtever was possible, took her immdetialtly to the hospital, an FIR was lodged, she needed blood, and the foolowing day she becace conscious and was out of danger. Two days later she was taken to Dimapur for CT scan and the doctors say that she will have to be on the bed for another two monts to reconver from the physical injuries. The mental agony of these children and the physical pain was something unbearable. But even in these days of terrible agony they did remind me about Jesus who forgave his executioners. Both the children are Christians, their faith imprint was something unforgettable.

Frequenting the children everyday one question that I used to ask her was this; do you feel anger, can you forgive her for what she has done, with smile on her face with intense pain she would say, “it is ok”, “she is sick that is whey she did this to us”, “Jesus taught us to forgive”. I used to ask the same question to Mr.and Mrs.Biren Teron the parents of the injured children who do not have any formal education but they are all Christians. They too gave me the same answer ‘It happened because she is sick, and we forgive her. The greatest inspiration during this Holy season was this forgiving attitude of this little girl and on my way back home the first words of Jesus from the cross used to resound in my mind. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”.

Rather than calling on God to damn and punish those people who were crucifying and killing him, Jesus’ heart was full of compassion for them, rather than rage. The normal thing was to swear, curse, use foul language at his tormenters but Jesus’ heart was just the opposite. Jesus called out for God to forgive his tormenters rather then to punish them.

Forgiveness of people killing you is not easy. It is not easy to love our enemies and mean people. It is comparatively easy to forgive your friends during an argument or forgive your parents for acting so ridiculously or forgive your children for doing stupid things. That kind of forgiveness is somewhat easy. But it is not easy to forgive your enemies and those people who kill you. That was not easy for Jesus either. But that is what Jesus did from the cross. Jesus loved those who were hurting him and killing him. That is what is amazing.