21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
This parable is so true of the nature of man. Though as Christians we see and feel the enormity of God's grace and what was done at the cross on our behalf, we simultaneously hold grudges and cannot forgive our fellow brothers for offences small or large against us. This is how we are wired. What God is telling us to do by forgiving our brother goes against the nature of man. I think this is possible if die to self and act as Jesus would and has done for us. When reading this passage I think about all of the little grudges and large ones I have held in the past and find them all so trivial. The grudge holder that cannot forgive probably harms themselves more than the offender. I imagine it to be so freeing and wonderful if we could truly live graciously and mercifully forgiving those who wrong us.
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4 comments:
thanks for a very insightful reflection, christine. i think your comments on the human inability to forgive are so true. forgiveness is a completely unnatural activity. unless a divine miraculous work has been done within our hearts, forgiveness is not only unnatural but effectively impossible. we are keen to remember every penny of the "100 denarii" that is owed to us, but forget the "ten thousand talent" debt that we were forgiven of by the Lord. either we forget that we have been forgiven of the debt, or we have no idea of the staggering amount that was forgiven. if our sins are as "countless as the sands on the seashore", then our debt is literally so great as to be unpayable. the more we are aware of this mountain of "debt", the greater our ability to forgive. in fact there is probably a direct proportion between the two.
hey christine, we missed the Lee family on Sunday!
i am so uneasy, whenever i think of this parable... kind of like when i pray "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors..." i am uneasy because i know i want to be forgiven but am unwilling to forgive and/or perhaps i just don't fully appreciate the gift of grace...hmm
Thanks for your insight!
Christine, I think you are so right when you said
"I imagine it to be so freeing and wonderful if we could truly live graciously and mercifully forgiving those who wrong us."
In my own life, I can see how I forfeit much peace and even the chance to change and grow when I refuse to humble myself and forgive or refuse to do what it takes to be forgiven.
Also, I think it's hard to forgive when I think about what rights or things I've lost because of someone but am reminded that everything I have was given to me by God.
Matt 10:8 says "Freely you have received, freely give."
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