Why Forgiveness Matters
Forgiveness is self-care.
We often think of forgiveness as something we do for others, and it’s true that forgiveness can be the first step toward reconciliation with others. But forgiveness is first of all the brave choice to take care of our own hearts. Forgiveness keeps our hearts tender and alive. It is our greatest weapon against the temptation to shutter our hearts against pain—the slippery slope toward hardness of heart and bitterness.
When Jesus taught his disciples about forgiveness, he challenged them to operate in unlimited forgiveness. In response, the disciples said, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5 NIV). That kind of forgiveness feels impossible. When people hurt me deeply, all I want to do is close my heart off from the possibility of more pain. But in the end, a closed-off and hardened heart becomes its own kind of pain.
In response to his disciples’ cry for more faith, Jesus told them, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you” (Luke 17:6 NIV).
The NIV translates this tree as “mulberry,” but the Greek identifies it as a sycamine tree (sometimes called the sycamore-fig tree), which closely resembles the mulberry tree (1). Perhaps Jesus chose the sycamine tree for his lesson on the importance of forgiveness because it has four traits that make it a compelling metaphor for bitterness (2):
1. The sycamine tree has a very large and deep root structure, which makes it very difficult to kill. Unless the entire root structure is removed, the tree will grow back.
2. Sycamine wood is ideal for building caskets. Many places in the Middle East considered it the tree of choice for making caskets because it grew quickly and well in dry, hot climates.
3. The sycamine fig is very bitter. Sycamine and mulberry trees look similar, and their fruit looks identical. However, unlike the mulberry fig, which is sweet, the sycamine fig is very bitter.
4. Only wasps pollinate the sycamine tree. The wasp sticks its stinger into the heart of the fruit to pollinate the tree. The tree literally has to be stung in order to reproduce.
This tree gives us a sobering picture of the power of unforgiveness and bitterness to destroy our hearts. Yet, Jesus told his disciples that even when forgiveness seems impossible, all we need is mustard-seed-sized faith in order to uproot that tree of unforgiveness and throw it into the sea. In Jesus, forgiveness is always possible. He has provided the faith we need to uproot unforgiveness so that bitterness cannot bring destruction to our hearts.
Interestingly, the tree Zacchaeus climbed was also a sycamine tree (see Luke 19:4). It’s reasonable to guess that Zacchaeus, as a social outcast, had allowed bitterness to grow in his heart. Yet Jesus’ first words to him were: “Zacchaeus come down immediately. I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5 NIV). Coming down from the tree of unforgiveness was Zacchaeus’ first step toward welcoming Jesus into his life and choosing to make restitution for his wrongs.
The choice to forgive is one of the best things we can do for our hearts. When we come down out of that tree, when we uproot it and throw it into the sea, we are not saying that what happened was OK or that justice doesn’t matter. Instead, we are choosing to protect our own hearts from the toxicity of those harmful words and actions. The letting go of forgiveness is a beautiful invitation into freedom.
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1. Blue Letter Bible, s.v. “sykaminos,” Strong’s G4807.
2. Rick Renner, “Why Jesus Compared Unforgiveness to the Sycamine Tree,” renner.org/article/why-jesus-compared-unforgiveness-to-the-sycamine-tree/.