I will remove their heart of stone and will give them a heart of flesh. Sometimes it is necessary to forget the past in order to perceive what is new in the present. The events of Holy Week make many demands. But disillusionment and disappointment are necessary to break the power that the past has over us. The great Paul Tillich wrote many years ago, We cannot be born anew if the power of the old is not broken within us, and the power of the past is not broken so long as it puts the burden of guilt upon us.
Forgiveness means that the old is thrown into the past because the new has come.
Part of the meaning of Holy Week is that the power of the past has been broken. Do you not perceive it. Paul had proud of that past. He had been proud of his Hebrew heritage, of having come from the tribe of Benjamin, of having been a Pharisee. He was even proud of having been a persecutor of the church, because it demonstrated his zeal and commitment.