Thomas Nelson recently published The Lucado Encouraging Word Bible. I’m enjoying it very much, mostly because it includes inspiring essays from Max Lucado, a uniquely gifted writer, and one of my favorite people. The application notes on Jesus’ teaching about the importance of forgiveness in Matthew 18 includes this captivating story.
“In 1882, a New York City businessman named Joseph Richardson owned a narrow strip of land on Lexington Ave. It was 5 feet wide and 104 feet long. Another businessman, Hyman Sarner, owned a normal-sized lot adjacent to Richardson’s skinny one. He wanted to build apartments that fronted the avenue. He offered Richardson $1000 for the slender plot. Richardson was deeply offended by the amount and demanded $5000. Sarner refused, and Richardson called Sarner a tightwad and slammed the door on him.
“Sarner assumed the land would remain vacant and instructed the architect to design the apartment building with windows overlooking the avenue. When Richardson saw the finished building, he resolved to block the view. No one was going to enjoy a free view over his lot.
“So seventy-year-old Richardson built a house. Five feet wide and a hundred and four feet long and four stories high with two suites on each floor. Upon completion, he and his wife moved into one of the suites. Only one person at a time could ascend the stairs or pass through the hallway. The largest dining room table in any suite was eighteen inches wide. The stoves were the very smallest made. A newspaper reporter of some girth once got stuck in the stairwell, and after two tenants were unsuccessful in pushing him free, he exited only by stripping down to his undergarments.
“The building was dubbed the ‘Spite House.’ Richardson spent the last fourteen years of his life in the narrow residence that seemed to fit his narrow state of mind.”
Lucado concludes the story, “The Spite House was torn down in 1915, which is odd. I distinctly remember spending a few nights there last year. And a few weeks there some weeks back. If memory serves, didn’t I see you squeezing through the hallway? No wonder God insists that we should ‘see to it that… no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many’ (Heb. 12:15).”
I’ve reprinted this story because the lesson is so needed today. Satan is using politics, racism, and a pandemic to divide believers from one another. Harsh things are being said, and ominous threats are being made within the family of God. Christian people are nursing deep wounds, and there is mounting resentment between fellow believers and even family members. People are so hostile they are plotting to get even and settle the score. All of us who claim to follow Jesus Christ desperately need to be reminded of the Lord’s command to forgive one another as God has forgiven us.
If you’re harboring resentment toward someone and seeking to administer your version of justice, please listen again to the sobering words of Jesus: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Wow! What a dire warning! Forgive for the sake of your own salvation. Forgive even if you don’t feel like it. Forgive, even if the offender doesn’t apologize and doesn’t change. Forgive even if you are totally in the right. Forgive even though it’s a long, difficult process, and it takes years to forgive seventy times seven. Will to forgive every day! And release your right to retaliate lest you live in a miserable, narrow “spite house” forever.
Listen again to the command of Romans 12:17-21: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
That’s pretty clear. Leave revenge up to God and reach out in kindness to the one who has offended you. Do it for your own peace of mind. As Max Lucado writes at the end of the above essay, “Revenge builds a lonely house. Space enough for one person. The lives of its tenants are reduced to one goal: make someone miserable. They do. Themselves.”
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command:’Love your neighbor as yourself’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other” (Galatians 5:13-15).
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