In Sunday’s Gospel according to Matthew, Peter asks Jesus,
how many times do I have to forgive a person who's wronged me? “As many as seven times?”
Peter wants to know “when do you stop
forgiving.” Jesus responds with an outrageous number, “seventy-seven times.”
Jesus then makes HIS point with a parable about a king and two workers. The king forgives one worker a huge debt (say $100,000) yet that same worker won’t forgive a fellow worker a small debt (say $1,000).
The point of the parable is simple: God forgives us so much; so why can't we forgive one another so little.
Let me illustrate forgiveness with a favorite book of mine, The Hiding Place. Some of you may have read the book. The author, a concentration camp survivor, lectured in post-WWII Europe about the need to forgive one another. After one of her talks, a former Nazi guard came up to her. He didn’t recognize her but she remembered him. When this remorseful man extended his hand to shake hers, she, who had preached so often about forgiveness, kept her hand at her side as she had raging and vengeful thoughts about him.
And then she remembered: Jesus Christ died for this man and forgives him. “Lord Jesus,” she prayed, “forgive me and help me to forgive him.” She tried to smile, to raise her hand. But she couldn’t.
And so again she breathed a silent prayer: “Jesus, I can’t forgive him for what he did to my sister and so many other people. Give me your forgiveness.”
She suddenly discovered that forgiveness depended not upon her, but upon God’s grace. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he also gives us the grace to love.
To forgive as Christ forgives is sometimes impossible on our own. But Christ doesn’t ask us to forgive on our own. He simply asks that we participate in his gift of forgiveness. Forgiveness is an act of the will that overrides feelings about someone who has wronged us, however much we are resentful. God has already forgiven those who are truly sorry—all he asks us to do is to participate in his forgiveness.
Forgiveness is possible, not when we try to forgive on our own but when we trust God to bring about healing and reconciliation to our broken relationships.
God never gives up on us even though we may give up on God. God loves us, forgives us, and accepts us unconditionally.
I pray that God will
give us the grace to participate in the forgiveness of Christ, so that we can
be at peace with ourselves and one another and with God, true disciples of
Jesus, our way, our truth and our light and our life. Amen.
