One
of the most iconic scenes in Little Women is when Amy burns Jo’s book
manuscript. In a fit of rage over the loss of her hard work, Jo attacks Amy. When
Marmee urges Jo to forgive Amy and not let the anger overtake her, Jo is
resolute. As she tells her mother, “It was an abominable thing, and she don’t
deserve to be forgiven” (Alcott 80).
Louisa May Alcott named the chapter in which this
incident takes place “Jo Meets Apollyon,” based on Christian’s encounter with
the fiend in The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. The entire
story of Little Women draws on Bunyan’s work, as reflected in the
preface. Based on this, readers understand that Jo has encountered a mighty foe
that she must overcome, just as Christian had to fight Apollyon with the
weapons of his faith. Her opponent is not a terrifying, winged monster, but a fiery
temper.
As much as we might recognize the need for Jo to forgive
her sister, her reaction is relatable. Think of the last time someone hurt you
and you thought, “(insert name) don’t deserve to be forgiven.” I am sure we all
can think of a time when we nursed the wounds inflicted on us by another person.
Our anger quickly festered and turned to bitterness and ended with an infection
of unforgiveness.
We can understand, then, why Alcott named the chapter as
she did. Anger and unforgiveness were Jo’s Apollyon. Sometimes those things
become our monsters to fight as well. When the hurts are deep and trust is
lost, struggling with anger and unforgiveness can seem like a battle.
The
question we are faced with is: How do we fight against the natural inclination
to withhold forgiveness?
The answer lies in where we place our focus. Naturally,
Jo fixated on Amy’s act of burning her book. We can easily stay do the same and
focus on our own “burning book,” but doing so only hurts ourselves. Our focus
needs to rest on something else.
During
seasons when unforgiveness gnaws at us, we need to set our eyes on Christ. He
died for us while we were still sinners, enemies against Him (Romans 5:8). Notice
that Jesus did not wait to die an atoning death until humans started acting
remorseful. He died for us while we were still sinners. We do not
deserve the salvation He died to give us.
Based
on Jesus’s model, we can understand that grace and forgiveness have nothing to
do with the other person’s actions. Instead, forgiving those who hurt us is
tied to our relationship with Jesus. He forgave us for all the terrible things
we did and gave us a new life, even though we did not deserve it. Because of
Christ, we can extend that same grace to others.
Armed with a clear picture of what Jesus did, Colossians
3:13 becomes clearer: “Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (NIV). When we forgive,
we are not negating the wrong another person did to us or saying, “It’s
okay.” Instead, we are extending grace to another person, just as Jesus showed us grace. Choosing to forgive
allows us to start healing from the poison of bitterness in our hearts, and we receive freedom from the heavy burden of unforgiveness.
We can relate to Jo, agreeing that the people who hurt us
“don’t deserve to be forgiven.” We can also agree that we did not deserve
Jesus’s forgiveness. Yet, by His love and grace, He died for our sins. With His
help, we can forgive just as we have been forgiven.
Forgiveness
is a battle, but we do not have to fight alone.
Works
Cited
Alcott, Louisa May. Little
Women. Sterling Children’s Books, 2004.
The Bible.
New International Version. Bible Hub, 2023.
Resources
for Further Study
If you want to delve
further into forgiveness, I suggest this
video from Dr. Charles Stanley. He summarizes insightful principles from
Scripture about forgiveness.
Another resource that I
found helpful when I struggled with unforgiveness was Peter Scazzero’s book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. For anyone battling anger, bitterness, or
unforgiveness, this book could assist you in addressing
difficult emotions.
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