The Gospel of Matthew 18:21-35
Peter came and said to Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So, the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Let us Pray: Dear God give us the strength to forgive those we have wronged and those who have wronged us. As we remember the words of our Lord “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”. Amen
Forgiveness is a difficult word to hear because we find forgiveness difficult, both to receive and to give. However, it is also an urgent word, because receiving and giving forgiveness is central to our faith. We received God’s forgiveness. We can pass on only that which we have received. Having experienced forgiveness at the hands of God and God’s people, we are then called to make it possible for others to experience it. Thus, the circle of Christ’s love expands ever wider to encircle one more lost sheep—and another—and another.
Remember forgiveness is not cheap grace. Jesus isn’t suggesting that we regard offenses as unimportant. Nor is he suggesting that we wink at sin. He is calling us to take sin seriously, and then to take forgiveness equally seriously. When we take forgiveness seriously it allows us to break through the resentment barrier that separates us from each other. Forgiveness, of course, is the virtue we most enjoy, and least employ, in our Christian experience. We all love to be forgiven mainly because we expect it and want it. But we find it a struggle to forgive; we resist it and refuse oftentimes to do it.
Perhaps many of us have the same difficulty, as did the Apostle Peter. He too was faced with this same problem, the problem of forgiving his brother. In Matthew 18, in a great passage in which our Lord has been dealing with the question of relationships between those who belong to him, we find Peter, in his impetuous bluntness, coming to Christ with a question. Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21-22 RSV) I wonder, as I read this account, if Peter was not actually thinking of his literal brother, Andrew. Peter and Andrew were brothers and had grown up together. They had joined the band of those transparent people who can never hide anything. I tend to feel that he actually has in view some offense of Andrew here. Something Andrew did that completely annoyed Peter and Peter got upset and now he feels remorse. As we give up our prayers to God do we always include our siblings, sometimes we forget that our siblings our brothers and sisters are not our enemies and we need to make sure we include all in our prayers. So, we wonder here if that was what Peter was struggling with.
To free ourselves of the heavy burden we have been carrying we will need to forgive the person who wounded us. Hopefully in this process we can get rid of the resentment and anger that is poisoning us. If we are not able to forgive the other person, we may be the one who carries the heavier burden. True, it is not easy to let go of our anger and hurt. However, if we can place our anger, hurt and resentment into God’s hands, over time God will heal our resentment, hurt, and anger. However, it may take a long time. Jesus does not expect us to deal with these hurts and resentments alone. Jesus walks with us, encourages us and over time, gives us the tools to let go and hopefully to also forgive the one who hurt us. However, we have to be patient with this process. And we need to keep coming back to Jesus and ask him to help us forgive. Jesus wants us to ask him to free us of this burden, this pain. Jesus is with us, and He will answer our prayers!
God and His Son Jesus are always ready to forgive.
Reflections by Bob 