Revenge

Wednesday May 10, 2023

You shall not take revenge, nor bear a grudge against the children of your people. Leviticus 19.18

Revenge

Pastor Dritan Perroj was shot several times in front of his children. He had committed no crime, but under a strange code of honor – the “kanun”, still in force in some parts of the Balkans – someone in his family had to die. And it fell on him. Dritan's only fault was being related to a man of his clan who had killed another man. Blood calling for blood, the other family took revenge and he was chosen as the victim.

Many are the men or teenagers who hide for years in their house, never leaving, because they know that someone from another clan is going to kill. But they don't know who the killer is and who the chosen victim is. And of course, when he will take action.

After living in fear for a long time, the pastor had decided to ignore it and continue to serve God, in particular by visiting families affected by this kind of revenge. It cost him his life. Despite their immense pain, his wife Elona and his children chose to forgive and break the endless cycle of revenge.

God, whom we have all gravely offended, has also forgiven ; he allows to live free from hatred and fear because he offered his only Son to definitively pay any debt. You still have to accept this gift.

Claude Siefert

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Proposed reading : 1st book of Samuel, chapter 25, verses 2 to 39.

Source (Live Today)