Last week, we looked at the importance of forgiving our enemies. We learned that if we want to overcome evil with good in our lives, then we have to follow the example of Jesus and forgive our enemies. In today’s gospel reading, the disciple Peter asks Jesus how many times we are suppose to forgive those in the Body of Christ. As difficult as it is in our human nature to forgive our enemies, it seems that we as Christians find it even more difficult to forgive one another.
Perhaps it is because we expect more from Christians, because we share a common bond through Jesus Christ. So when our brothers and sisters hurt us, the pain runs deeper. It is much more painful to have someone whom we trust and love to betray us than for a known enemy to come against us. We expect or rather are not surprised by the arrows shot at us by our enemies. These are to be expected in life. It is those unexpected arrows aimed at us by our sisters and brothers in Christ that cause the deepest wounds, because they wound our hearts. An enemy’s wrath stirs up the anger within us, but the cuts of our loved ones stab our very souls.
So when Peter asks Jesus this question, from his viewpoint, he is already being most generous in offering seven times to forgive another member in Christ. Jesus’ response although given numerically actually means infinite. There is no limit to the times we are to forgive each other.
In Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible entitled The Message, we read,
“At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, ‘Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?’
Jesus replied, ‘Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.’”
Jesus then tells a parable about a slave, who after much pleading was forgiven his huge debt by his master the king, went to his fellow slave and demanded payment from him of his debts to him. When the slave could not pay him, he had him thrown into prison. When the other slaves saw how he showed no mercy to his own debtor after having received mercy from the king, they told the king of the slave’s unmerciful actions. This angered the king who had shown the slave mercy and had forgiven his huge debt to him. So the king ordered the unmerciful slave to be brought before him and handed him over to be tortured and imprisoned until he had paid the king back the entire debt the king had previously forgiven.
Then Jesus told his disciples, “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
There are many here who have been hurt one way or another by fellow members in the Body of Christ. Whether the pain happened here at this church or another church or within one’s circle of friends or family, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is how each one of us chooses to respond to being hurt, especially by someone we love. For it is the cut of a friend or loved one that cuts the deepest.
Our human nature pulls at us to respond by getting even or hurting the other person even more. Yet, this is not what the scriptures teach us. Even in the Old Testament where it is taught an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we read that God will punish those who take vengeance into their own hands. In the Old Testament reading from The Book of Ecclesiasticus in chapter 27, beginning with verse 30, we read today, “Anger and wrath, these are abominations, yet a sinner holds on to them. The vengeful will face the Lord’s vengeance, for he keeps a strict account of their sins. Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.”
An unforgiving spirit does us great harm. God holds our own sins against us when we refuse to forgive those who have sinned against us. I believe that when we do not forgive others this causes our own hearts to become bitter and eventually hardened even against the Lord. For when we have been greatly wronged and refuse to forgive, we hurt ourselves more than the sin that was done against us; because the refusal to forgive eats away at our very souls. Eventually it is manifested in our lives through our behavior and or physical ailments.
In a church, an unforgiving spirit can destroy the very heart of the church causing dissension, anger, and even rage. Instead of being a witness of Christ’s love to the world, a church with an unforgiving spirit becomes a place of conflict and division. It is only when forgiveness is given for one another that healing can begin. Forgiveness can begin from either side, whether it is the ones who have been wounded or the ones who have caused the wounds. What matters is that the unforgiving spirit is overcome by the spirit of forgiveness.
Jesus exemplified this spirit of forgiveness when He was betrayed by one of his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. “While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.’ At once he came up to Jesus and said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ and kissed him. Jesus said to him, ‘Friend, do what you are here to do.’ Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him.”
It was in Jesus’ power to call upon the angels of heaven to defend Him. It was in Jesus’ power to stop His betrayer and those who came to arrest Him. Yet, Jesus did not strike His betrayer or his enemies either with word or deed. Instead, Jesus forgave Judas, the betrayer, and allowed his enemies to brutalize and torture Him even unto death. Jesus had told his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also...” Jesus lived out His teaching of love and forgiveness by His own death on the cross for all of us. May we look to Him, who knew the wounds of betrayal and suffering, to help us to forgive those who have sinned against us.
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