When is a pardon not a pardon?
Andrew Jackson was our seventh President; he served from 1829 to 1837. His nickname was "Old Hickory," and he is well remembered for his exploits in the war of 1812, particularly the Battle of New Orleans. He was a rough-hewn Tennessee farmer, and he changed, at least temporarily, the way the Presidency was used and viewed by people.
In 1830, Jackson had an experience which, so far as I know, has never befallen another President. A man named George Wilson held up a coach carrying the U.S. mail, and in the process shot and killed the driver. He was tried and convicted, and sentenced to hang. For reasons we do not know, President Jackson issued a Presidential pardon for Wilson. But a strange thing happened -- Wilson refused the pardon. He was guilty, and he did not feel that he deserved a pardon.
Jackson was perplexed. He asked the Supreme Court to rule on the matter. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the Court's response: "A pardon is merely a scrap of paper unless it is accepted by the pardoned." Jackson's pardon of Wilson was worthless because Wilson refused it.
Micah 7:18 says, "Who is a God like thee, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in unchanging love."
God's pardon is far more enduring than a "scrap of paper," but it isn't a pardon until we accept it. No matter how willing God is to forgive, his forgiveness is of no value to us unless we accept it. We do that initially when we accept Christ as our Savior, and we accept it again each time we come to the Table, remembering the sacrifice that Jesus made for us and renewing our commitment to live as He would have us live. As with George Wilson, if we do not accept the pardon, the sentence stands.
(My thanks to Mel Mead who first used this meditation and credited Hugh Poland, Secret Place, Oct 10, 2006, for the original idea).
