Matthew 18: 21-34
Then Peter came and said to him, "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.
Have you ever needed forgiveness? Have you ever been forgiven? Did you deserve it? Did you “earn” it or was it just given to you? This is grace. The right to stumble and fall, to hurt someone else through our actions, to screw up royally, — and still be given the chance to get up and try again do better.
Every one of us has been a recipient of grace given by other people and grace given by God. When Peter is asking Jesus about forgiveness in today’s reading, he’s asking how many times he is required by “the rules” to offer grace. He assumes there is a limit somewhere beyond which we are no longer required to grant forgiveness – we’ve done enough. Jesus’ answer is "seventy times seven", which basically means “as many as it takes.” And then the rest of the reading deals with what comes after. While the giving of grace or forgiveness is not a transactional event, there are still certain expectations that come along with grace given and received.
We get this particular story through Matthew, and Matthew, as we know, was not always a very forgiving man and — we need to remember — had a tendency to place his own anger at the Jewish people who had rejected Jesus, into Jesus’ mouth. First he quotes Jesus as saying to forgive as much as is needed, and he then ends the story of the Unforgiving Servant, with the master handing the offending slave over to be tortured — which I do not for a moment believe would be God’s action, nor Jesus’ intention in originally telling this story.
What we can clearly take from this reading is that having been forgiven so much ourselves, we should never stint in giving forgiveness to others. And, yes, I know there are cases where that can be extremely difficult, even impossible – if we try to do it on from our own will -- but we do not have to do it alone. We do it with God’s help. And remember, I’m not the one who told the story in the first place — that would be Jesus, and I’m not inclined to argue with him.
We, unfortunately, live in a world right now where harm is done on a daily basis. Where thoughts and actions occur with no concern for anyone else’s feeling or well-being. Where some people appear to believe they can do whatever and say whatever they want, whenever they want. And feel no need to ask forgiveness. That is why it is so important for those of us who occasionally manage to be humble enough to recognize how much grace we are given every day, free of charge, to be open-handed with the grace we, in turn, offer others.
There is a wonderful quote, from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that we should probably all write on a post-it note and stick to our bathroom mirror so we see it every day. It goes like this: "Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude."
Forgiveness – grace -- is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.
Dear God, may we all have the grace to develop and hold this ‘constant attitude’ within ourselves.
Amen
Every one of us has been a recipient of grace given by other people and grace given by God. When Peter is asking Jesus about forgiveness in today’s reading, he’s asking how many times he is required by “the rules” to offer grace. He assumes there is a limit somewhere beyond which we are no longer required to grant forgiveness – we’ve done enough. Jesus’ answer is "seventy times seven", which basically means “as many as it takes.” And then the rest of the reading deals with what comes after. While the giving of grace or forgiveness is not a transactional event, there are still certain expectations that come along with grace given and received.
We get this particular story through Matthew, and Matthew, as we know, was not always a very forgiving man and — we need to remember — had a tendency to place his own anger at the Jewish people who had rejected Jesus, into Jesus’ mouth. First he quotes Jesus as saying to forgive as much as is needed, and he then ends the story of the Unforgiving Servant, with the master handing the offending slave over to be tortured — which I do not for a moment believe would be God’s action, nor Jesus’ intention in originally telling this story.
What we can clearly take from this reading is that having been forgiven so much ourselves, we should never stint in giving forgiveness to others. And, yes, I know there are cases where that can be extremely difficult, even impossible – if we try to do it on from our own will -- but we do not have to do it alone. We do it with God’s help. And remember, I’m not the one who told the story in the first place — that would be Jesus, and I’m not inclined to argue with him.
We, unfortunately, live in a world right now where harm is done on a daily basis. Where thoughts and actions occur with no concern for anyone else’s feeling or well-being. Where some people appear to believe they can do whatever and say whatever they want, whenever they want. And feel no need to ask forgiveness. That is why it is so important for those of us who occasionally manage to be humble enough to recognize how much grace we are given every day, free of charge, to be open-handed with the grace we, in turn, offer others.
There is a wonderful quote, from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that we should probably all write on a post-it note and stick to our bathroom mirror so we see it every day. It goes like this: "Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude."
Forgiveness – grace -- is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.
Dear God, may we all have the grace to develop and hold this ‘constant attitude’ within ourselves.
Amen
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