forgivness

back in 1993, a tv show called Babylon 5 premiered and would last until 1998



one of the episodes in the show's third season was titled "Passing Through Gethsemane" in which a monk, played by Brad Dourif, has horrifying visions of a murder and hears voices calling out the name Charlie



I should point out that the issues of revenge and forgiveness are central to this episode, in an earlyer part, albeit in a condensed form, Leviticus 24: 17-23 is brought up when two characters are discussing punishment

upon investigating all of this, Brother Edward discovers, to his horror and anger, that the Charlie in question is in fact himself, in the episode's plot: before Dourif's character was a monk, he was a serial killer with the first name Charlie and when he was caught, he was sentenced to a mind wipe and became a new person with the name Edward



When Edward discovered who he really was, he was angry and horrified at what he had done and at all the blood on his hands, in a conversation with his abbot (head monk) Brother Theo, Edward brings up three points: what more has he done, can he be forgiven and the only course of action is atonement



in reply Br. Theo tells him to leave it all in God's hands and that he is forgiven





Edward: How can I confess my sins to God if I don't even know what they are? The mind forgets, but the stain remains with the soul. The blood of innocent people is still on my hands. My memories are the creation of somebody else, and my soul is the soul of a killer, and everything that I have done has been a lie.





Theo: That's not true, Edward! You've helped people, cared for people.





Edward: It's not enough. Who knows what other crimes I may have committed that they never found out about. That I don't remember. I am a murderer, Theo. The sins of my former life must be atoned for. There must be justice. I know that now.



Theo: Edward, Edward! If you ask God to forgive your sins, he knows what they are, even if you've forgotten. Leave it in his hands.



in the end, Edward is confronted by the families of the people who died while he was Charlie and one of them steps forward and attacks him, Edward is later found by Theo



before he dies, Edward says to Theo:



Br. Edward: "I always wanted to know, if I would have the courage to stay at the garden at Gethsemane. Now I know."





after that, Theo reads Edward his last rights and assures him that he is forgiven



in the end, the man who killed Edward is arrested and mind wiped as well, before Theo departs the station, he gives a small artifact to the station commander that Edward was working on for him, the two have a conversation about forgiveness and how hard and painful it is to forgive someone



at this time, a new monk walks up to the two men and is introduced as Brother Malcolm, the station commander is shocked when he sees that Malcolm is the man who killed Edward



Malcolm holds his hand out to Sheridan, the station commander, but Sheridan refuses to return the handshake as he is still angry about Edward's death and he is angry at the killer, Sheridan wants to attack Malcolm until Theo says to him:



"You were saying that forgiveness is a hard thing, but something ever to strive for.”



this scene is a reference to Matthew 5:38-39:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also."



that last scene shows, in its own way, the essence of the aformentend Leviticus and Matthew chapters



Sheridan wanted to attack and harm a fellow man's killer until he was reminded of forgiveness and to turn the other cheek by Theo



what can we learn from this?

forgiveness is hard to do and even though we want to take the easy way out, that is not the Christian way