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Shamima Begum’s family may be hurt, grieving, embarrassed - but they still want her home. ‘We cannot simply abandon her’, they insist in their letter to the home secretary. A battle in the courts now looks inevitable over the government’s decision to strip her of her citizenship. But should she be forgiven? When I was confronted with this question yesterday, it seemed to me that I was the wrong person to ask, because forgiveness can only be offered by someone who’s been directly hurt - by those who’ve seen their loved ones tortured and killed by the people she supported, for instance…by any of the unknown numbers who’ve been forced to exist through a nightmare of fear….by the family which she abandoned four years ago, which refuses to abandon her now. They’re the ones who’ve suffered, the ones at the sharp end of any challenge to forgive. But should she be shown mercy? That’s a different question. The law allows justice to be tempered by mercy, mitigating factors to be considered, allowances made. Any sentence applied can be affected by the degree to which a person accepts that they’ve done wrong, and their prospects of being helped to turn their life around and make a new beginning. For people of religious faith, such mercy reflects the character of God’; and for Christians, it's the supreme generosity of God which led to Jesus giving his life for humanity on the cross. Blessed are the merciful, he taught, for they shall receive mercy. Which is by no means easy to live out: the desire for vengeance can run very deep. I’ve encountered people over the years whose lives have been wrecked. They’ve lost careers, relationships, sometimes their liberty because others have told lies about them; and they’ve never lost their bitterness, either. Their primary purpose has become the downfall of anyone they believe contributed to their own. The injustice they’ve suffered continues to spread its poison. But there have also been men and women like the Rwandan who lost his father in a massacre and witnessed many other killings. He’s devoted his life to the work of reconciliation - but not without a painful struggle to see that Jesus’ prayer on the cross, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’ applied even to his own worst enemies. I’ve never forgotten his words about the cost. ‘I often tell people,’ he said, ‘If you hear anybody talking about forgiveness lightly, it means that they have never forgiven.’ Most of us never have to decide how to react in face of such extreme horrors, and I’m grateful for that. But there are still many situations in which mercy needs to be a conscious choice.