What Does It Take to Forgive Someone like Dylann Roof?

REUTERS / Jason Miczek / RNS
Police lead suspected shooter Dylann Roof, 21, into the courthouse in Shelby, North Carolina, on June 18, 2015. Photo via REUTERS / Jason Miczek / RNS

What does it take to forgive someone like Dylann Roof? How does one muster the courage, the conviction, the moral fiber to grant such a gift to someone who has already taken so much? To serve a feast of forgiveness to a person who hasn’t even ordered a single serving?

The story of Collier’s astounding forgiveness reminds me of another ancient one. Baking in the sun, an innocent Nazarene named Jesus hangs from a Roman cross. He’s losing blood at a rapid rate. His weeping mother is crumpled at his feet, adding emotional agony to his unbearable physical torment. Jesus opens his mouth to speak, but what will he say? Will he curse his executioners or cry out against those complicit in the broken trial that landed him there in the first place?

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