Redemption Question — Fiction. How can we come back from some of the…
By: Rene Perez
Tags: Christian Fiction, Hope, Understanding, Redemption, Forgiveness

“Is redemption real?” Jessica stared straight ahead and didn’t turn to look at her sister. She muted the TV and then waited for an answer.

“What?” Maggie lowered her newspaper, placing her pencil on the table beside her. The crossword puzzle could wait. “Redemption? I believe it is.”

“I just can’t imagine how some of the things that people do on this earth are redeemable. How can they come back from something like…murder?” Jessica stood and crossed the room. She sat in the chair opposite Maggie and waited.

“Well, I’m not God.” Maggie removed her reading glasses and leaned closer to her sister.

Jessica laughed. “I didn’t ask if you were God.”

“I know. Some questions are just difficult to answer.” Maggie thought for a while and then said, “Remember back in high school when I had one of my not-so-great moments and teased Hilde?”

“Yeah, I felt bad for her, and I couldn’t understand why you, of all people, would behave that way.” Jessica had been the wild one, the one most likely to bully. She was more outspoken than Maggie but she kept her thoughts to herself in high school. “Hilde was no gem herself, but she didn’t deserve the things you said.”

“I know.” Maggie felt uncomfortable bringing the situation up again but this was the best way to explain things. “And when I had time to be alone and away from the laughter that I had caused at Hilde’s expense, I felt rotten. I wanted to crawl into my bed and cry. And I did.”

“You cried over it?” Jessia folded her legs beneath her and tugged a blanket into her lap.

“I did. Every time I thought of Hilde, I cringed. My stomach was in knots for weeks.” Maggie had never told anyone this part. She had never had the nerve to admit she had been wrong. But she did talk to one person. “After two weeks of misery, I found Hilde in the girls' bathroom, the one on the first floor near the bus ramp.”

“And?” Jessica was intrigued.

“I apologized. I blinked back tears and apologized to her.” Maggie had never liked Hilde. Hilde had been teased about everything and she had developed a nasty attitude. Instead of taking it as a lot of bullied kids do, Hilde became cruel herself. She said mean things to people in the hallway and barreled through groups of kids like they weren’t there. She had stopped caring.

“What did she say? I never knew this! Seriously, what did she say when you apologized?” Jessica couldn't wait another second without asking more questions. “Did she hit you? I might have hit you.”

“Jessica!” But Maggie laughed, setting the newspaper on the table with the pencil. “She didn’t hit me.”

“Then what? What happened?”

“Not much. I apologized and she laughed. I felt anger begin to bubble up inside and to tell you the truth, that was much better than the torment of the past weeks.” Maggie could still remember the look on Hilde’s face. The smug look that said Hilde had won after all.

“Wow.” Jessica was quiet.

“But then as I started to walk out of the bathroom, Hilde called me back. She said that she probably deserved it. I assured her that she didn't.” Maggie smiled.

“She did. Maggie! She did deserve it!” Jessica looked at her sister with wide eyes.

“No, she didn’t. Maybe she had turned into a hateful person, but years of teasing had caused that response in her. It was how she protected herself.” Maggie folded her hands in her lap and watched her sister’s face.

“I never knew that you were friends with her.” Jessica let out a long sigh.

“I wouldn’t call us friends.” Maggie shrugged. “But we did come to an understanding that day. I understood that I wasn’t cut out for bullying and Hilde realized that not everyone was out to get her.”

“I never noticed a change in her.” Jessica offered.

“Maybe not, you would probably have to look really hard.”

“Why are we talking about Hilde? I asked if you thought redemption was real. If it’s a real thing.”

“Definitely.” Maggie returned.

“Definitely?” Jessica rolled her eyes. “Prove it.”

“I don’t have to.” Maggie offered her sister a sly smile. “When I apologized to Hilde, she forgave me. I still felt the sting of the words I had spoken to her but her attitude toward me softened. My actions had been redeemed in her eyes. And as we passed in the hallway from that day until we graduated, she offered each other a smile.”

“Huh.” Jessica sat for a while, toying with the remote.

Maggie resumed her crossword puzzle and allowed 20 or so minutes to pass. “So do you believe that redemption is real now?”

“You didn’t commit a murder. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how someone comes back from that. How can they be redeemed?” Jessica seemed to toss the thought aside.

“I guess we’ve all done things in our lives we’re not proud of. We knew they were wrong but we did them anyway. But at some point, we were forgiven and we moved on. Without redemption, how do you think we could have moved on from all the terrible things we do to each other?” Maggie waited. “Think about it, guilt would eat us up until there was nothing left. Redemption has to be a thing.”

Jessica sat quietly for a while. It was clear to Maggie that she was thinking about her past. “I think you’re right.”

“Sometimes we just have to hope and pray for redemption. How else would we survive ourselves?” Maggie waited for a response but Jessica only smiled. The room was growing darker as the sun began to set. Maggie was content and happy with just her sister for company. She smiled and thanked God for the redemption she had received and for the redemption that was sure to be needed later in life.

Jessica put the volume back on the TV and resumed her show. But she seemed satisfied with her sister’s answers. Maggie had to wonder what had caused her to ask about redemption. But that was a conversation for another day.