March 31 - Forgiveness

“Then Peter came to him and asked, ‘Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?’ ‘No, not seven times,’ Jesus replied, ‘but seventy times seven.’”

Jesus then told a parable, the message of which is that those who have been forgiven completely by God should also forgive each other, and that those who refuse to forgive those in their debt will not be forgiven by God.

I do not believe that Jesus is saying that God’s forgiveness is conditional upon our forgiving others. In the first place, forgiveness that’s conditional isn’t really forgiveness at all, just fair warning, and in the second place our unforgivingness is among those things about us which we need to have God forgive us the most. But the point of the parable is that being unwilling to forgive is REALLY serious.

To forgive the incessant provocations of daily life—to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son—how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us.” We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it is to refuse God’s mercy for ourselves. There is no hint of exceptions and God means what he says.

I simply know that when we refuse to forgive, the bitterness that grows in the place of forgiveness wounds and damages our soul like blight on a rose. But when we forgive we are relieved of the burden we bear and our soul is lifted in freedom. Nothing more need be said.

Prayer: “Forgiving Father, make my soul so smooth with grace that I am eager to forgive. Wipe the bitter taste of anger from me and give me a graceful spirit. Amen.”