Pastor Jesse Lusko: Forgiveness Sets You Free
In his sermon, Lusko explained why that encounter was so significant to him. When Lusko was a child, a family friend “deceived our family” and “sexually abused me in a severe and brutal way,” he told congregants. Because the pastor still deals with the trauma and ramifications of that, he understands “the concept of justice in a unique way.”
Lusko’s father, who was a Christian by that point, comforted his son, saying God would turn his story into a “Joseph story.” His dad said God would “save people through my suffering and that God had a purpose and a plan. And he told me I was like a superhero.”
As a child, Lusko was obsessed with Batman. But as he got older, he wanted to be like Batman to get revenge. “I told my best friend my only purpose in life was to find the man who raped me and murder him,” said Lusko.
“But when you allow bitterness to fester in your heart, it twists you and you don’t become like Batman. You become like Arthur Fleck. You become like the Joker,” said Lusko.
Revenge also affects your relationships, Lusko said, “and that person who stole something from your past starts to steal something from your present and from your future.”
Lusko compared the anger and rage he felt to what Jonah experienced after preaching to Nineveh. Understanding Jesus and the gospel helped him begin to heal and find forgiveness, joy, and peace.
The pastor, who has spoken previously about being abused, continued:
My dad told me I was like a superhero. The day before his funeral, I got to share the gospel with the Joker. And then at his funeral, I stood on stage with thousands of people watching, and I said the name of my abuser, and I said, “I forgive you.”
Lusko concluded:
Forgiveness allows you to seek justice without it spiraling out of control into vengeance. Forgiveness sets you free to really have a heart that wants forgiveness, not just one that goes crazy and wants the whole city to burn, like the Joker. And that’s what God’s grace, that’s what the gospel did in my life. And I think it was pretty profound that God allowed that to happen the day before my dad’s funeral.
, Lusko described the encounter with his father’s favorite actor—the day before his father’s funeral several months ago.){kind=link}