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The Rev. Christopher Brdlik
December 31, 2006 - First Sunday after Christmas

In September 1974 I began my theological education, enrolling that month in Virginia Seminary, located in Alexandria, just across the Potomac from Washington, DC. Most of the first week for us first-year students was orientation, culminating in a Saturday night picnic at which the Dean, a very formal person, wore Levis blue jeans, pressed, starched and creased. The next day was Sunday, September 7^th. I remember the date because it was my birthday. A local parish, Immanuel on the Hill, used the Seminary chapel for its Sunday services. That day Immanuel Church’s new young curate, the Rev. Pat Merchant, preached one of her first sermons. It was on forgiveness. In the congregation that morning was a man who had worshipped at Immanuel for more than twenty years, ever since moving to Alexandria from Michigan. But it was going to be his last Sunday in the pews at the Seminary chapel. For, one month earlier, he had taken a new job that required him to move — not far, only across the Potomac — to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. The man was Gerald Ford, and he had just become President of the United States. 

Jerry Ford heard that young woman’s sermon on forgiveness, and the next day he pardoned Richard Nixon for any and all crimes the former president may have committed against the United States. President Ford’s decision was immediately unpopular. The reason given was that the pardon prevented justice from being done. Justice was not served by a pardon in advance of conviction and punishment. Now “justice” is a powerful concept politically — but I want to talk about it theologically, where it is also a powerful motivation. The main concern of the famous Old Testament prophets — Isaiah, Amos, Micah — was justice, or rather justice not being done. Basically, justice means things being put in right order according to a universal standard of fairness. To the prophets doing justice was a social norm. It meant eliminating oppression of the poor and weak by the rich and powerful. The prophets warned of God’s disfavor about the lack of justice. Speaking more broadly, when applied to sin, crime, or wrongdoing, achieving justice means requiring punishment. In American popular culture, however, especially Hollywood movies, justice is too closely linked to vengeance. How many Westerns have we seen whose plots swing on vengeance? How many songs or stories have we heard in which vengeance is the theme? To some justice and vengeance are the same. This link in the American psyche is why reaction was so strong to President Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon. Justice wasn’t done, people said. Justice requires punishment. But let me point out: justice is not a concept important in the New Testament. 

The sermon Gerald Ford heard that Sunday morning was on forgiveness. It didn’t plant the seed of pardon in his mind — the sermon more like watered or harvested it. Mr. Ford already had thought of pardoning his friend and predecessor. Perhaps the sermon made him think: now is the time. Forgiveness as a theological concept, however, requires admission of guilt. Some form of confession is necessary, and in the Bible, especially the Old Testament, it is assumed forgiveness is offered only after it has been requested. Forgiveness is the answer to the question of confession — may I be forgiven? — and the petitioner recognizes amendment of life is necessary and promises to live better in the future. 

President Ford’s pardon doesn’t really fit this category, either. There’s no evidence Richard Nixon asked to be pardoned, nor anything to indicate the promised repentance. People accused Ford and Nixon of making a deal before the presidential resignation. But Ford adamantly maintained “there was no deal.” Ford had a reputation for honesty, and, other than his political adversaries, most people believed him. But strictly speaking, the pardon was not forgiveness, because there was no confession or repentance. This, too, was part of the reason the pardon was so unpopular. 

Rather than justice or forgiveness, what Gerald Ford did to benefit Richard Nixon (whether he knew it or not) fits another very powerful Biblical concept — this one from the New Testament — and one that wound up benefiting the country, too. What President Ford did, consciously or not, was an act of reconciliation. Reconciliation contains a built-in paradox. Paul explained it as an act of God through Christ in which, while God hates sin, while sin is still the enemy of God, yet God acts to overcome it. No admission of guilt is required, no confession necessary. Because God in Christ is the actor, the motivator, all human beings do is accept reconciliation. But then a new creation is formed, a new community of reconciliation has been founded upon God’s gracious act. And now the whole creation can be reconciled to itself, as well as to God. This is something much bigger, more cosmic, more comprehensive, than a personal act of absolution for an individual, even a person who has been as powerful as a President of the United States. Instead, reconciliation has a corporate or universal scope to it that transcends personal sin and creates new community. Strictly speaking, Paul maintained that because of what God did in Christ on the cross, reconciliation is now possible for everyone, the whole world — in fact the world becomes a new world. 

Gerald Ford described his pardon in this way. It wasn’t just for his old friend, Richard Nixon, a personal favor, or a political payback. It was to reconcile the whole country, and get the nation back on course. I think it turns out that he was right. It wasn’t justice, nor forgiveness, but reconciliation that describes the pardon. As we celebrate President Ford’s life this weekend, perhaps we can examine the most controversial thing he ever did in this different light. And perhaps we might gain a different, more cosmic, more creative perspective into the mess our nation’s in now if we aim at reconciliation, if we head in a new direction, a new community of reconciliation.

© copyright 2006, Christopher Brdlik

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