That’s an epistle you’re referencing not a Gospel, so it’s Paul on forgiveness not Jesus on forgiveness. If you want to have that discussion, I might find some time to get around to it, but let’s dispense with the false attribution since the OP was talking about Jesus and not Paul.
Yes, it’s not easy. Sometimes it is even contrary to a country’s national interests. Still, we are called to do it. So that really doesn’t do anything to exclude anyone from forgiveness.
Fig tree, yeah, I don’t find it too unsettling that Jesus cursed a tree. It is a story telling us to bear fruit and not waste the gifts God has given us. I am not sure how it relates to forgiveness. Even if you take it absolutely literally, you’ve never cut down a tree? I have, it wasn’t out of spite. It seems like if anything this was a teachable moment for the disciples, “Live life to your fullest, or you risk withering and dying”.
Here is the passage that is referenced above:
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’[c]
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
Yes, if nothing else Jesus was here to change things, and by all accounts that is exactly what He did. Yet, It doesn’t actually say anything about failing to forgive, nor about being violent towards anyone does it?
As a matter of fact, Rev. Martin Luther King said something similar:
“We must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.”
Likewise in Gandhi’s work (Nonviolence in Peace and War, vol II) He states the following about Jesus
"What does Jesus mean to me? To me, he was one of the greatest teachers humanity has ever had."6 "Jesus lived and died in vain if He did not teach us to regulate the whole of life by the eternal law of love.".7
"Jesus, a man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act."8
"Jesus was the most active resister known perhaps to history. His was non-violence par excellence."9
"Jesus expressed as no other could the spirit and will of God. It is in this sense that I see him and recognize as the Son of God. And because the life of Jesus has the significance and the transcendence to which I have alluded, I believe that he belongs not solely to Christianity but to the entire world, to all races and people. It matters little under what flag, name or doctrine they may work, profess a faith or worship a God inherited from their ancestors."10
The Brick Testament clip, however, goes right into “turning against” and portrays it as murdering. I think though that Dr. King was familiar with the same passage and seems to have read it to mean create tension so that we can effect nonviolent change. Gandhi seems to agree. When the chips were down, and Jesus’s life was on the line, he admonished Peter to not use violence, and even healed the high priest’s servant whom Peter had injured. Which seems pretty forgiving since the guys were there to take Him away humiliate, torture, and kill Him.
Likewise, there is nothing above that states “Do not forgive”. Earlier in the same chapter (Mathew 10:8) Jesus instructs his disciples to go out and “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” Which doesn’t sound like a person who was harboring or inciting hatred toward people in general, much less family members.
Again, Jesus affirms the Law to be a good thing, but warns that it is not enough (you must be more righteous than the experts in the Law). It is He, Jesus Christ, who fulfills the Law, and He says to forgive our enemies and not to judge. If you go back to Matthew 10 it ends with “If you give even a glass of cold water to these little ones … surely you will not lose your reward.” Which sounds pretty forgiving to me.
I guess if you want to look at somebody’s Lego diorama and say “Ah HA! I’ve found the true nature of Christ!” That’s on you, but I feel more comfortable looking at recent figures in history who have used Christ as an inspiration for their successful and nonviolent social change. If nothing else, Jesus seems to have changed lots of things and to have done so nonviolently.