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Themes: "Grace, The Law mdr In 1991 in urban Philadelphia, a young Korean man named In-Ho-Ho had graduated with honors from Eastern College and was in the process of attending graduate studies in medicine. One night, while mailing a letter to his family in Korea, he was surrounded by a gang of teenagers, robbed of the meager change in his pocket, and beaten to death. The ugliness and callous nature of this murder sent shock waves even through the city of Philadelphia, which had grown somewhat used to violence.
A massive, city-wide search began for the killers. On the third day of the search, three murderers were apprehended. They turned out to be homeless boys who had grown up on the streets. They were illiterate and unskilled. They thought that they had learned by example that the only way to survive on the streets was through cold-blooded violence.
A trial date was set, and In-Ho-Ho's parents flew in from Korea to be present. By now, interest in the case had died somewhat among newspaper reporters, and many of them had moved their attention to other captivating, and equally violent, happenings in the city. However, the few reporters who were present sat along with In-Ho-Ho's parents through the duration of the trial. All throughout the long days of the trial, In-Ho-Ho's parents sat, motionless and impassive.
When all the arguments were presented and the closing statements were made, the father stepped forward and approached the judge's bench. Kneeling down in front of the surprised judge, the father begged for mercy for his son's murderers. He begged that the boys be released into his care so that he and his wife could give them a home and the care they had never had. He went on to explain that he was a Christian, and that he wanted to show something of the grace that he and his family had received from the Lord, even to those who had done them such gross evil.
The judge, who had a reputation for being hard, calloused and unemotional, was moved. The surprised newspaper reporters present said that he had tears in his eyes as he explained to In-Ho-Ho's parents, "That is not the way our system of justice works."
Unlike Jonah, in our story, who did not think Ninevites should be forgiven for the sin of disobedience that he himself had been forgiven for, the parents in this story were willing and ready to forgive. They had been forgiven for their sins by Christ, who had died on the cross. Now they wanted to show similar forgiveness to the young boys who had done them so much harm. What a comment on our society today that society was unable to comprehend or accept that forgiveness, and how sad that "that is not the way our system of justice works."
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Peter Orasuk
