Chinnamma’s voice trembled with anger as she recounted what had happened five years ago.
“Mollykutty killed her! She will pay for it!” she said, eyes flashing, as if it had just happened yesterday. Her neighbor, the elderly Anitakochamma—85 and frail—had died under deeply troubling circumstances. Chinnamma, who lived next door, claimed to have heard her cries even on the night she died. According to her, Mollykutty, her own daughter, had been abusive, and her death wasn’t just tragic—it was cruel.
Now, years later, Chinnamma was livid that Mollykutty had moved to the U.S. “Five years is nothing. God is just. You reap what you sow,” she said, as I handed her the immigration papers.
I sat in silence, unsettled by the conversation. The story was heartbreaking. If it was true, Anitakochamma’s final days were filled with pain no one should endure. But what shook me even more was how Mollykutty was described by others—gentle, kind, and deeply changed. Some even said she had become a follower of Jesus.
“She’s just hiding behind religion,” Chinnamma snapped. “She’s never going to escape God’s judgment.”
Honestly, that’s something many of us struggle with. Deep down, we all want justice. It feels right when punishment matches the crime. Someone can feel bad, they can regret it, they can apologize—but there’s still a part of us that says, “They should pay for what they’ve done.”
Imagine a courtroom where the judge lets a murderer go free just because he says he’s sorry. It would be outrageous. That’s not how justice works… unless the judge is God. And unless the person is one of His children.
Now that sounds scandalous. And it is.
Scandalous Grace
Grace is not fair. It never was. The Assyrians in the Bible were known for their brutality—some of the most violent people in ancient history. When God told Jonah to go and preach to them, Jonah didn’t run out of fear—he ran because he knew God would forgive them. And he didn’t think they deserved it.
Jonah wasn’t wrong about God. He is compassionate. He is quick to forgive. And when the Assyrians repented, God forgave. Just like that.
Jonah couldn’t take it. It seemed outrageous to him. But that’s what grace is. It’s undeserved, irrational, deeply unfair—and totally divine.
God’s Pain. Our Grace.
We often forget the weight of our own sin. In Genesis 6:6, it says God was grieved that He made man. That’s how painful our rebellion was. We hurt Him in ways we’ll never understand. Yet, instead of giving us what we deserved, He gave us grace.
Romans 3 says that none of us were righteous—not one. But we’ve been justified freely through His grace. We didn’t earn it. We didn’t deserve it. He gave it anyway.
The moment we believe, we’re made right with God. Not because we explained our sins in detail. Not because we worked our way back into His favor. But because we trusted in Jesus. That’s it.
What About Justice?
Justice was served—on the cross. Jesus took it all. And now, when God looks at us, He sees righteousness, not rebellion. He sees children, not criminals.
But this is where it gets personal. Because we like to receive grace, but we struggle to give it.
Jesus didn’t just forgive us—He asked us to forgive others the same way. He even included it in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us… as we forgive those who sin against us.” He wasn’t just suggesting a good idea. He was revealing a kingdom principle.
Becoming Like Our Father
In Matthew 18, Jesus tells the story of a servant who was forgiven a massive debt but refused to forgive someone who owed him a little. The master was furious. “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”That’s how God feels when we hold back forgiveness from others.
Grace is meant to be shared. It’s how people are drawn to God—not through guilt, fear, or shame, but through His kindness (Romans 2:4).
Yet, how often do we become the “Chinnammas” of the church world? Quick to accuse. Slow to forgive. Forgetting that we were once just as lost, just as guilty, just as broken.
A Better Way
There are people all around us who have been forgiven by God—but are still walking around carrying the weight of human judgment. We make it hard for them to move on. We keep pointing back to their past when God has already given them a future.
But grace calls us higher. It asks us to lay down our right to hold grudges. To love when it’s undeserved. To forgive even when it hurts.
Because that’s what God did for us.
Let’s Be Different
Let’s choose love instead. Even if it’s just a few of us, let’s be the ones who reflect our Father’s heart. Let’s be the people who don’t just receive grace—but live it, give it, and embody it.
Because when we forgive, we may not be able to change the past—but we absolutely can change the future.
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