Four episodes in and I’m still unsure of whether or not I like Hyouka. But little things, lingering questions, and small snippets of conversation keep me intrigued. For instance, in the last couple of minutes of this week’s episode, Chitanda expresses her fears that she’ll find out something about her uncle which will tarnish her image of him. Oreki emphasizes to her that it’s okay – whatever happened back then is history, literally.
All sorts of axioms came to mind as I watched the scene: “Forgive and forget,” “God forgets your sins,” “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it,” etc. All are connected to the idea of forgetting events that were painful or pain-inflicting. Chitanda doesn’t want to forget – she doesn’t even want to know! But Oreki nudges her forward to discovering her uncle’s secret, even if it’s something hurtful.
Remembering these “secrets,” or the vile parts of our lives that we may be hiding (even from ourselves), reveal how awful we can be. We cheat, lie, steal, and through carelessness and ignorance, hurt others and ourselves.
But it’s this remembrance that helps one to understand the fullness of God’s forgiveness. God doesn’t “forget,” but He loves us like He has. It’s as if nothing we’ve done ever happened – God’s grace says, “Even so, I love you.”
This is a powerful kind of love and one that’s seldom demonstrated. How often do we bring up something from the past when we get in an intense argument with a lover? We are, it seems, incapable of completely forgetting the most painful of hurts and betrayals.
But God is capable. And He does.
God is the party in this relationship that “forgets,” and we are the other, the one that remembers. In a way, Chitanda could be in that position to forget – to find out something earth shattering about her uncle, but to still say, “I know his heart and I still love him.”
It’s because of this knowledge of how God sees us that we can also know the depths of His love. It is not blind; instead, this love sees the darkness and is willing to look right past. In His eyes, we are His beloved – the question is, “Are you willing to be loved?”
