[The Amish] know, of course, that God’s gracious activity in Jesus Christ came long before they were born–and long before Charles Roberts made forgiveness necessary at Nickel Mines. “The main ‘forgiveness’ was when Jesus gave his life for our sins,” wrote one correspondent in the Amish newspaper Die Botschaft shortly after the shooting. At the same time, the Amish see God’s forgiveness of human beings as both present and future, an offer of grace that can be secured only if one shows grace to others. This cross-stitch between divine and human forgiveness also appears in Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant…In the parable, the king’s forgiveness, representing divine forgiveness, comes first, before the servant’s actions. But although the king’s graciousness does not initially depend on the servant’s actions, the continuation of his graciousness does. When the servant is not willing to treat others with grace, the king withdraws his forgiveness.

This story clarifies the Amish view that God’s continuing forgiveness depends on their willingness to forgive. Even though they are aware of God’s gracious activity in the past–in the world, their churches, and their lives–they are clear that they continue to need God’s grace. They not only anticipate a judgment day when God will reward the faithful and punish the unfaithful, but they believe their actions will influence how they will be judged. To the Amish, granting forgiveness to one’s debtors is an act that God requires of those who seek divine forgiveness.

Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher, Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy, 97-98.

Of course the root of forgiveness is Jesus himself, and God’s work of salvation, once for all through him. In a real, even though secondary sense, in Jesus we partake of this grace of forgiveness, not only to be received for ourselves, but for us in Jesus to give to others.