For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26-28

 

Bernadette Mukakabera’s story is amazing. She forgave her husband’s killer and today their children are married.

 

This story of forgiveness and reconciliation comes from the country of Rwanda, where, in just 100 days, 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered by their Hutu neighbors after decades of hateful propaganda.[1] But a way around revenge is possible through new identity in Jesus. Following Jesus humbles us with our complete need for God, gives us membership in God’s family and we learn that following Jesus means loving others, above all.

 

The killer of Bernadette’s husband publicly apologized, and as his family sought to make amends, his daughter would come to Bernadette’s home to help around the house, eventually falling in love with Bernadette’s son. Bernadette gave her blessing, and their love story has encouraged many others to seek and offer forgiveness.

 

The Bible says that Jesus-followers are “…all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ….There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26,28).

 

The first Rwandan church to publicly repent of not rooting out discrimination made this statement: “[We] ask the people of Rwanda and the worldwide Christian family to oppose every rejection of God’s will for his creatures, to denounce and resist strongly ethnicity, regionalism and religious divisions. For God, there is no Jew, Greek, Hutu, Tutsi…We are all one in Christ.”[2]

 

[1] Bucyana, Yves. “Rwanda Genocide: ‘I Forgave My Husband’s Killer – Our Children Married’.” BBC News, BBC, 23 Apr. 2022, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61105532.

 

[2] Gatwa, Tharcisse. “Churches and Reconciliation in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda Delegations of Norwegian Church Aid, Churches of East DRC and the Council of Protestant Churches in Rwanda.” n.d., http://www.cpr-rwanda.org/documents.