The Heart of Forgiveness
Oil on canvas 3' x 5'
The details of this story (including all quotes in the following) are recorded on pages 109-110 of the book, Jesus Freaks, published by DCTalk and the Voice of the Martyrs.
In the Jiangxi province of China during the Red Guard Era, a pastor and two young women from his congregation were arrested for their faith in Jesus and for their participation in an underground church. They were imprisoned and tortured. After extensive torment, those in charge eventually took the pastor aside and offered him his freedom if he would agree to shoot the young women arrested with him. Broken by the torment he had endured, he agreed to do so.
The officials then went to the girls and informed them that they were to be executed that day. For this, they seemed ready. But they must have been surprised when they came around the corner and found that the man who was to shoot them was their own pastor! For a moment there was silence between the young ladies, Chui-Chin-Hsui and Ho-Hsui-Tzu; then they whispered briefly to each other, bowed respectfully before their pastor, and one of them began to speak. A fellow prisoner, watching through the bars of a window above, listened intently to the final words the girls spoke: "Before you shoot us", one of the girls said, "we wish to thank you for what you have meant to us. It was you who baptized us, you taught us the ways of eternal life, you gave us holy communion with the same hand in which you now hold a gun." She continued, "You also taught us that Christians are sometimes weak and commit terrible sins, but that they can be forgiven again. When you regret what you are about to do to us, do not despair like Judas, but repent like Peter. God bless you, and remember that our last thought was not one of indignation against your failure. Everyone passes through hours of darkness. May God reward you for all the good you have done to us. We die with gratitude. |
I think it is unusual to think of boldness and grace in the same context; nor is it most common to find forgiveness thought of as an assertive element in relationships. This is what captured my attention on the stage of this story, the finding of these two beautiful characteristics – grace and forgiveness – dressed in such uncommon costumes. Facing abuse, betrayal, and automatic weapons, these young and otherwise powerless women proved that the invisible weapons of our warfare are actually more powerful than all that the gates of hell had sent against them.
It is my prayer that this painting will inspire the possibility that the sacrifices we as individuals are called to make for Jesus Christ would similarly be marked with bold grace and triumphant, courageous forgiveness.
In addition to the work of researching the physical and historical aspects of this painting, I spent quite a while pondering how I could artistically represent the girls' profound offer of forgiveness and gratitude. After considering different options of what I could place in her hands to convey these characteristics, I chose to paint the one girl offering up her beating heart in her extended hands, symbolic both of the cost and power of forgiveness. Poised as they are, armed with such confident grace in the face of violent persecution, I see the girls as the only truly empowered people in the scene, even as the pistol recoils and the bullet flies through the heart on the way to its target.
Finally, I added the presence of an angel in this painting. Although there is no mention of it in the historical testimony of this martyrdom, I added the angel in part as a visual balance to the violent character of the story. Also, drawing from the occasional mention of such assistance in the testimonies of many other martyr's accounts and from scriptural mention of similar assistance (e.g., Matt. 4:11, Acts 23:11; 27: 23,24) and the promise of Mathew 10:19 ("When they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say."), I painted the angel as representative of heaven's participation, aid, inspiration, counsel, and encouragement that I believe are present and available to anyone during such a test of faith.
A final note on the actual story: it was witnessed that as soon as the tormented pastor had shot the two girls, the guards placed him against a wall and shot him as well, breaking their promise to free him if he complied with their twisted wishes. I include this detail to point out the depth of evil resident in these men as they tried to break the pastor's will and get him to turn from his faith. And I include this detail as a solemn reminder to each of us never to give in to the temptation to establish freedom that is based on any form of compromise. Never make a deal with the devil.
It is my prayer that this painting will inspire the possibility that the sacrifices we as individuals are called to make for Jesus Christ would similarly be marked with bold grace and triumphant, courageous forgiveness.
In addition to the work of researching the physical and historical aspects of this painting, I spent quite a while pondering how I could artistically represent the girls' profound offer of forgiveness and gratitude. After considering different options of what I could place in her hands to convey these characteristics, I chose to paint the one girl offering up her beating heart in her extended hands, symbolic both of the cost and power of forgiveness. Poised as they are, armed with such confident grace in the face of violent persecution, I see the girls as the only truly empowered people in the scene, even as the pistol recoils and the bullet flies through the heart on the way to its target.
Finally, I added the presence of an angel in this painting. Although there is no mention of it in the historical testimony of this martyrdom, I added the angel in part as a visual balance to the violent character of the story. Also, drawing from the occasional mention of such assistance in the testimonies of many other martyr's accounts and from scriptural mention of similar assistance (e.g., Matt. 4:11, Acts 23:11; 27: 23,24) and the promise of Mathew 10:19 ("When they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say."), I painted the angel as representative of heaven's participation, aid, inspiration, counsel, and encouragement that I believe are present and available to anyone during such a test of faith.
A final note on the actual story: it was witnessed that as soon as the tormented pastor had shot the two girls, the guards placed him against a wall and shot him as well, breaking their promise to free him if he complied with their twisted wishes. I include this detail to point out the depth of evil resident in these men as they tried to break the pastor's will and get him to turn from his faith. And I include this detail as a solemn reminder to each of us never to give in to the temptation to establish freedom that is based on any form of compromise. Never make a deal with the devil.
Peculiar Graces: The Heart of Forgiveness. The graces of Mercy and uncommon Wisdom are peculiar to this ‘story within a story’. All 3 of these Chinese Believers were being held captive and persecuted, on their way to being martyred. The pastor had been so direly tortured that he had dissociated from his true Self in Christ. He had such a history with the girls it was as if they knew him as Pastor-Father. In facing their end, they chose mercy over judgement. Like the Lord on the cross, in mercy they in effect cried out “Father forgive him, he doesn’t know what he is doing.” In God given wisdom, they perceived that it was evil that was having it’s “night”. They knew it was principalities, powers, and authorities in the spiritual realm that were at work. They understood that the unseen realm is very much a part of the ‘picture’ of daily life. In the midst of horrendously hard and painful circumstances, they were given the graces to keep their spiritual heart and sight.