READINGS AND REFLECTIONS : THURSDAY  :  13 AUGUST 2020 

EZEKIEL 12: 1-16                 PSALM 39: 11-15         MATTHEW 18: 21-19:2 

Collect:

God of awesome wonder:

Bless us with bold belief

Even in the darkness of the night

And the assault of life’s storms,

That we may be messengers of your peace and justice;

In the name of the One whom winds and waves obey,

And who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

One God, now and forever. 

Amen

Forgiveness, for Jesus, is not a quantifiable event. It is a quality; a way of being, a way of living, a way of loving, a way of relating, a way of thinking and seeing. It is the way of Christ. If we are to follow Christ then it must become our way as well. 

Does that mean the drunk driver? Yes. The cheating spouse? Yes. The lying businessman? Yes. The racist? Yes. The rapist? Yes. The bully? Yes. The abusive parent? Yes. The greedy  and corrupt politician  or corporation? Yes. 

We stand at that place every day of our life. If we look at the history of the world and you will see the Holocaust, the Killing Fields of Cambodia, the genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda, racial discrimination, economic oppression, wars and torture.  Look into your own lives and you will find broken promises, hurt feelings, betrayals, harsh words, physical and emotional wounds. Each one of us can tell stories of being hurt or victimized by someone. Beneath all this pain, all the wounds, all the losses, and the memories, lies the question of forgiveness. 

I would suspect, that we are all, in principle, in favour of forgiveness. “Forgiveness is a lovely idea, until there is something to forgive” C.S Lewis (Mere Christianity, p.115). What do we do then? What do we do when there is something to forgive? 

Some  of us will strike back seeking revenge. Some of us will run away from life and relationships. Others will let the darkness paralyze us. We may have done them all. We all know how hard forgiveness can be. We struggle with it and often try to avoid it.   All of  these actions leave us stuck in the past, tied to the sin of another,  deprived of our peace and the future which God offers us. 

Forgiveness is the only way forward. That does not mean we forget, or approve of what was done. It does not mean we ignore or excuse cruelty or injustice. It means we are released or freed from them. In this we are able to let go of the thoughts and fantasies of revenge. We look to the future rather than the past. We try to see and love as God sees and loves. Forgiveness is a way in which we align our life with God’s life. God’s forgiveness and human forgiveness are integrally related. 

That is more than apparent in today’s parable. The king forgives his slave an extraordinary amount. Ten thousand talents is about 3000 years of work at the ordinary daily wage. It seems there is no debt too large to be forgiven. This man, this debtor, was forgiven. That’s what the kingdom of heaven is like. That’s how our God is. This slave, however, refused to forgive his fellow slave 100 denarii, about three months of work at the ordinary daily wage. Far too often that’s what our world is like, it is how we are. 

We know it well. We acknowledge and pray it  “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We pray those words with ease and familiarity –  Do we live our prayer? Do our actions support our request?   “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.” 

Forgiveness is the healing of your soul and life. 

So how do we begin to forgive? There is no easy road to forgiveness. Don’t let anyone tell you, “Just give it up to God. Forgive and forget.” Simplistic answers only demean those who suffer and pick at their wounds. Forgiving another takes time and work. It is something we need to practice every day. 

Hanging between two thieves he prayed, “Father, forgive them” (Lk. 23:34). That is the cry of infinite forgiveness, a cry we are to echo in our own lives, in our families, our work places, our parishes, our day to day life. 

“Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.” 

Let us Pray: 

Our Father who art in heaven

hallowed be thy name

thy kingdom come

thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power

and the glory

for ever and ever.

Amen