The bumpy road to reconciliation

27 Nov, 2016 - 00:11 0 Views
The bumpy road to reconciliation

The Sunday Mail

Dr Justice Marwisa —
There are some issues that people are generally uncomfortable to talk about, and these issues are also usually difficult to resolve.  We often think that such things are best swept under the carpet.

Owing to our failure to openly discuss these things, we often tolerate one another at best. But at worst, we express outright dislike and hatred for those who are not like us or have hurt us.

Reconciliation of black and white people is one such issue that we are grappling with worldwide. This challenge can be seen even among Christians. For example, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr once said, “it is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning.”

But one can ask, “Why reconciliation?”

To talk about reconciliation implies that there is a relationship gap as well as ill feeling among the groups involved. In most cases, the people concerned have hurt one another in some way.

There could also be prejudices and injustices that transcend generations. Therefore, reconciliation suggests that there has been a break down in the relationship.

I have had the opportunity to mingle with people from different cultures and races and I have observed how difficult it is to be comfortable with people who are different to me.

One is not sure, for example, what others are thinking or what is left unsaid. Add this to injustices, perceived or real, the result is further separation of people with regards to how they relate to one another.

I have been involved in discussions on reconciliation and have found them to be highly emotional. In most cases those involved have been keen to blame the other party, demanding that some form of acknowledgement be made before reconciliation takes place.

In other words, the offender must take the first step on the road to reconciliation. In the process of wrestling with what needs to be done practically for reconciliation to take place, I have looked at how God reconciled Himself to us and have seen something that has challenged me.

When God wanted to re-establish the relationship with the people that He had created, He took the first step, reaching out initially to Israel and finally to the rest of us when Christ came down.

This is significant because it was the offended person who reached out, taking the first step on the road to reconciliation.  But what made this possible? It was forgiveness! God, the offended party, decided that He would forgive.

If God had not chosen to forgive, there would never have been reconciliation. Hence God was in a position of strength because reconciliation depended on Him.

Even if men and women had come to Him in repentance and asked for forgiveness, reconciliation would not have been possible if God had refused to forgive.

So, as we grapple with what to do about the injustices of the past in order to reconcile, I am of the opinion that it takes whoever is in the stronger position to reach out to the weaker and to offer the hand of reconciliation. And as we have seen, the person with the power to forgive is in the stronger position.

While discussions can go ahead as we try to prove who is right or wrong, it is difficult to agree on these things. But if the person who feels aggrieved makes a decision to forgive, it becomes possible for reconciliation to take place.

Are you prepared to forgive and reach out to the group that has offended you – whether white or black, Shona or Ndebele, MDC or ZANU PF?
The Road to reconciliation and healing begins with forgiveness. Are you prepared to forgive?
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