Celebrating his victory in the Congressional election in South Carolina Tuesday evening (May 7) Mark Sanford, the former governor, declared,
I want to acknowledge a God, not just of second chances, but third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth chances (“Guess Who’s Back!” New York Times, May 9, 2013)
Invoking God’s endorsement on this remarkable comeback in politics seems like a presumption and a warning sign that Congressman Sanford’s public embarrassments may not have ended. As columnist Gail Collins quipped, “Talk about the availability of eight chances seems to suggest the newly elected Congressman is leaving daylight for additional forgiveness opportunities in the future” (“Guess Who’s Back!,” New York Times, May 9, 2013).
Alexander Pope famously said,”To err is human; to forgive divine.” No one should question whether God has forgiven anybody, because it is, after all, God’s prerogative. It is God’s forgiveness that draws us to worship or love or serve in the name of God. Even service in government might originate from gratitude for God’s forgiveness.
But success in politics or business or the Super Bowl is no indicator of God’s forgiveness. Success is relative. Success in politics is not success in marriage or success in piety. It is winning the majority of votes by whatever strategies work at the moment, even debating cardboard cutouts of Nancy Pelosi. To say that God endorses an electoral victory is overstating the meaning of “forgiveness” and “grace.”
And success is fleeting. Grieving about the success of the “wicked,” the Psalmist prayed to understand why they were given power to rule. In a moment of revelation he says,
Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.
How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies. (Psalm 73:19-20)
“Slippery ground” describes the dangers of politics perfectly. The longest runs of political success can end precipitously. Ask former Congressmen Dan Rostenkowski (D. Illinois) or Tom Delay (R. Texas), both power brokers who resigned abruptly amid scandal. Political success is so fleeting, God would likely consider it a cheap reward for the faithful. So achieving political office can hardly be attributed to God.
But more personally, should voters forgive politicians who betray their trust? Should the governor of a state be forgiven for adultery, vanishing from the state without contact information, ethics violations, and trespassing in the home of his estranged wife? “Forgiveness” seems like the wrong word to describe whether the bond of trust can be renewed after it has been repeatedly fractured. Congressman Sanford’s wife might well forgive him his indiscretions, but that does not mean she should consent to be his campaign manager, as he had vainly implored her.
The Apostle Paul makes a good example of the dimensions of God’s forgiveness. After gaining a reputation for persecuting and arresting Christians for their faith, he was converted in one of the most dramatic encounters with God reported in the Bible. Blinded by a light from heaven, he was led to a house in Damascus, where he remained for three days “without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” Ananias received the unenviable call to go and lay hands on the zealot Paul and restore his eyesight. Of course he balked,
Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem ; and here he has the authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name (Acts 9:13-14)
In his vision, Ananias is constrained to go and heal Paul because, “he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel” (15). It is a testament to his faith in God’s forgiveness that Ananias went to Paul and prayed for his eyesight to be restored and for him to be “filled by the Holy Spirit.”
Thus began Paul’s career as Christianity’s greatest missionary–forgiveness for the most unlikely of people. The unsung hero in this story is Ananias, who took a mortal risk to approach Paul and invoke the forgiveness of God on a known enemy.
Paul never stopped telling the story of his past persecution of Christians to keep his evangelical success in perspective. He understood that forgiveness was not a license to do what he pleased. He understood that God would not let forgiveness become indulgence. Later he wrote to the Galatians,
Do not be deceived: God can not be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (Galatians 6: 7-8)
If forgiveness is available to Paul of Tarsus, it certainly is available to Mark of South Carolina. What Paul did with this forgiveness is instructive for Congressman Sanford, however. Paul never failed to mention his dark past, if it would keep his present success in perspective.
Remember the slippery ground, Congressman, remember the slippery ground.