10 - The quest for forgiveness and reconciliation

Summary

Forgiveness and reconciliation have been two recurrent themes in the discourse of the Christian churches since the genocide, including the Catholic Church and the Presbyterian Church, whose histories are narrated in this book. ‘The priority for Rwandans is reconciliation,’ the Catholic bishops declared in their first joint message after the genocide. ‘Now that the genocide is over, the preachers keep talking of reconciliation,’ a survivor wrote with a touch of irritation in Bâtissons, the newsletter of the Presbyterian Church. Such emphasis is not surprising. Reconciliation, the Rwandan theologian Laurien Ntezimana pointed out, is at the centre of the Christian message. In his second epistle to the Corinthians, Paul wrote that God ‘reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation’ (2 Cor 5:17). Christians are encouraged to reconcile with those who offended them as God does with those who offended him by committing sins against him.

Forgiveness is no less a central part of the Christian message. ‘Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us’ (Mt 6:12), Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer, implying that those who want to be forgiven by God have to practise forgiveness themselves. Jesus’ last utterance on the cross was a call to forgive those had put him to death because they did not know what they were doing (Lk 23:24). One should note, however, that if forgiveness is unconditional on the part of God and the believers who follow his example, the people who want to be forgiven are expected to admit their guilt and repent. Peter, who had betrayed Jesus three times, repented before being forgiven. The proof that Jesus did not hold a grudge against him is that he made of him the ‘rock’ on which the church would be built (Mt 16:18). But Peter had to admit his guilt first. Judas felt remorse but he did not repent. The Gospel suggests that he was not forgiven (Jn 17:12). It is this part of the Christian message that proved the most problematic in post-genocide Rwanda.