Love the Sin and Hate the Sinner
Now is it sanctity or is it fear
That moves a man in public to declare
Forgiveness? Is it love, and is it love?
When bodies lie but scarcely cold, and words
Are said, are we so holy, or are we
Just ordinary, moved by earthly things
To speak before a peep of penitence
Evinces sorrow for the injury?
The Lord is readier to hear than we
To pray, and giveth more than we deserve.
Can we improve upon what God has done,
And volunteer our people for destruction?
‘Forgiveness,’ so they said.
‘Offenders, just like you,
Must be let off scot-free instead,
If you’d have faith kept true.’
‘And now’, she thought, ‘I must
Relinquish all pursuit
Of justice in this vale of tears.
It’s for the Lord: stand mute.’
No prayers would she apply
For justice to be won,
No psalms of imprecation here
To Heaven’s only Son;
She’d seek no redress now
In this life: this was what
The pastors taught about the grace
Of God. The way was shut.
‘Do not report the deeds
Once done in darkness, thrice
Or even seventy times sev’n;
For this is Christ’s own price.’
A muffled scream, a cry
Of terror in her heart;
His body downward pressing tore
Her innocence apart.
How meekly, meekly she
Avoided him at school,
Forgave that beast that outrage, too,
And even played the fool.
While several other girls
Had been his guileless prey,
The truth was hidden in their hearts
And never saw the day –
Until he was to go
A shepherd, ‘fish for men’
In Christ’s own name, a goatish wolf
That ravened in the glen.
What could she do? One voice,
And others silenced. Lord!
Even her brother would not hear,
Much less take up the sword.
Is this what Jesus meant when he gave word
To conquer nations by his gospel, this
What crucified he paid for? God forbid.
His sword divides the soul and spirit now
And cuts the erring nations to the heart.
Is this, the God whose Levites once cut down
Three thousand in a day, now telling us
To let things go, to have an idol stand
While churches worship at its burnished gold?
Shall staunch Phinehas lie forgotten, then?
Arise, take up the javelin, impale
That false forgiveness through its blackened heart.
-Lue-Yee Tsang
