“No strings attached” means without limiting conditions or restrictions. For example, I loan you some money without setting a deadline for paying me back. Or, for example, I agree to overlook something negative that you did, without requiring that certain other positive things be done.
If you’re tried in a court of law, you’re adjudged “Guilty” or “Not Guilty”. And, if you’re adjudged “Guilty”, there probably will be certain conditions or restrictions placed on you. In the worst-case scenario, you could be sentenced to death, long-term imprisonment, or severe fines and other penalties.
When Jesus was being crucified, as they were nailing him to the cross, he prayed “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34)
What do you think of Jesus’ decision? Naïve? Lacking in experienced judgement? Unsophisticated? Simplistic? Credulous? Dumb?
No, you probably wouldn’t dream of using words like that in reference to Jesus’ behavior. But, in practice, you also probably wouldn’t be so generous in forgiving as was Jesus, were you in a similar situation.
You doubt it? Well, just think of the Gospel story of the return of the prodigal son or, as it is often called, the parable of the lost son. (Luke 15: 11-32)
What do you think of the Father’s decision? Naïve? Simplistic?
What do you think of the older son’s reaction to the situation? Just? Balanced? More thought out? Reasonable?
It’s reasonable to take cognizance of someone’s history of behavior when making a decision. However there is a huge difference between a reasonable legal judgement and an act of forgiveness.
You might say it’s the difference between law and love, especially between the law of God and the love of God.
Paradoxically, the law of God is love! And, love can defy logic, prudence, and practice! Love isn’t naïve or simplistic; it’s not something earned or merited; it’s a grace, a gift—by its nature not deserved.
Mercy, pardon, forgiveness, forgetting by their very nature have “no strings attached”. They are gifts freely given, unconditional.
If abused, it is against their nature to be withdrawn—but they may not be repeated!
What is the best course of action if someone who has ignored your advice, squandered your hard-earned money, and has been out of touch for a long, long time suddenly reappears, appears to be contrite, and asks for forgiveness and to be reinstated in your good graces.
Before you act or respond, first ask yourself are you thinking of yesterday’s person or today’s person? Are you thinking of the person who was or the person who is? To be alive means that we are constantly changing, that we are ever developing.
Today’s person is not one hundred percent yesterday’s person—maybe better, maybe worse—but never exactly the same!
In a court of law, what is being ascertained is always about yesterday’s person, about what that person actually said and did.
Jesus wasn’t—and isn’t—so interested in what each person was before. His boundless mercy is rooted in his concern for what each person is right now, today, not yesterday.
Thanks be to God that our final encounter with him, our “last judgement”, will not be a measure of our yesterdays, just of the still existing, ever-changing person that we are at that moment of encounter—in other words an experience of mercy and of love!
No strings attached!
12 March 2023