Today, January 27, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Since 2020 is the 75th anniversary of the liberations of the Nazi camps and the end of WWII, many stories will be told about the horrible murder of Jews, as well as heroic deeds of those who risked life and fortune to save some. We give thanks for all who did what they could to help victims of the Holocaust.
A dear friend once told me, “People can hate you, hurt you and try to destroy you, but they can never make you hate them. That is your choice.” Human beings are endowed by God to make choices. Everything may be taken from us - health, possessions, loved ones, even life. But one thing ever remains ours: the freedom to choose how we respond. God has given us that freedom through our attitudes and actions.
Jesus speaks of this in John 14:21, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Eva Kor and her twin sister Miriam were subjected to unspeakable experiments at the hands of Dr. Joseph Mengele in Auschwitz. Although the rest of her family died there, the twins miraculously survived and left to deal with their trauma which resulted in future miscarriages, cancer and tuberculosis. At a conference in 1995, Eva met a former Nazi doctor who told of the things he had done. He agreed to go with her to Auschwitz and sign a declaration of his deeds.
When she returned home to Indiana, she decided to send him a thank-you card for going. “But how do you thank a Nazi?” she asked herself. She decided she would write him - and other Nazis - a letter of forgiveness. “I discovered I had one power left in life; I could forgive the Nazis for what they did to me.” Although it took her four months to write that first letter, “I felt such freedom, for I was no longer a tragic prisoner.” she said. “I was free of Auschwitz and Mengele.” Others, however, have criticized her for doing so.
Even if we have endured horrors at the hands of others, God wants us to forgive. His Son Jesus of Nazareth came to earth to take our hateful thoughts, words and deeds and dispose of them on Calvary that we might be forgiven and be given the strength to forgive others, even those most hateful. One act of love is more powerful than a thousand acts of vengeance and hatred.
“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” (Matthew 6:12)
Rev. Bob Tasler www.bobtasler.com
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