‘In His great mercy God offered complete forgiveness to all who came to Him with a repentant heart, confessed their sins, and made a sacrifice.’

Third Week of Lent: Tuesday

Reading: Matthew 18:21-35 Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times.

‘For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.  When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made.  So, the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.”  And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed his one hundred denarii, and seizing him by the throat, he said, “Pay what you owe.”  Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place.  Then his lord summoned him and said to him, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?” And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.’

Reflection

In this gospel passage we see where Peter had not yet fully understood  true forgiveness and what was required to achieve it. The Old Testament abounds with teaching on forgiveness, and it clearly states that in the first instance sin is an offence against God. In Psalm 51 the prophet Nathan confronts David with his adultery with Bathseba and David is moved to acknowledge his sin before God,

‘Have mercy on me, O God,

According to your unfailing love;according to your great compassion

Blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity.

For I know my transgressions

And my sin is always before me

And cleanse me from my sin.

against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. In the book of Isaiah we are reminded of God’s faithful covenant, ‘I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.’(Isaiah 25.)

 Levicitus (Lev. 4:20, 26, 31, 35) states ‘In His great mercy God offered complete forgiveness to all who came to Him with a repentant heart, confessed their sins, and made a sacrifice.’

Peter would have been familiar with the teachings of the Torah that acknowledged that sin was not only an offence against God, but another person is wounded by sin. Only the victim has the right to forgive an offence, the offender should repent toward the victim before forgiveness can take place. Someone who has hurt another person must sincerely apologize three times. If the victim still withholds forgiveness, the offender is considered forgiven, and the victim now shares the blame.

The 10-day period known as the “Days of Awe” – Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and the days between – is a popular time for forgiveness. Observant Jews reach out to friends and family they have wronged over the past year so that they can enter Yom Kippur services with a clean conscience and hope they have done all they can to mitigate God’s judgment. However, Jesus is instructing Peter in a new way of responding that asks us to offer total, unconditional forgiveness from our heart to another person so that we can receive the forgiveness of our heavenly father.

During this Lenten season we are asked to reflect deeply on our lives and how they reflect the gospel message of forgiveness and mercy.  We are asked to be honest with ourselves and acknowledge before God any failure to totally forgive anyone in our lives whom we perceive has offended us.  We are asked to offer total, unconditional forgiveness to all people and to build right relationships with each other. ‘As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility and meekness, and patience.’ (Colossians 3:12) There must be no resentments, bitterness, retaliation, grudges. We are asked not to keep a score of the ‘wrongs that have been done against us’ but to ‘be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.’ (Ephesians 4:32) We are reassured that ‘if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’ (Matthew 6:14) We are asked to come to God in humility and ask him to open our eyes to our own inner blindness about our failures in these areas so that like the man in the gospel who asked Jesus to restore his sight (Luke 18:41), the blindness caused by our sin may be healed. We know that ‘The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in merciful love.’ (Psalm 103:8) and he expects us to offer the same forgiveness to each other.  In all our relationships, we are asked to ‘clothe ourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.’ (Colossians 3:14) If this is the loincloth that we wear, our world will know God’s peace and healing and all people will be one. We shall respond to the invitation of Christ when he says, “be holy yourselves in all your conduct, for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  (1 Peter 1:15-16)

A true example of this way of living was offered by Nelson Mandela when on his release after twenty-seven years in prison he forgave all who had caused him and his family such intense pain. ‘As I walked out the door towards my freedom, I knew that if I did not leave all the anger, hatred and bitterness behind, that I would still be in prison.’  

Now deeply immersed in Lent, have you become aware of areas in your life where you have not totally forgiven other people.

With whom do you need to be reconciled.

You may feel that the hurt done to you has been too great to be forgiven, if so, a period of prayer and fasting may offer you the grace to contact the person whom you feel has hurt you so that the healing conversation can begin. When this has happened, you may wish to offer alms as a token of your gratitude to God for his mercy towards you and for the joy that you both now experience.

 Prayer

Lord, I thank you for your unconditional forgiveness of me and all your people.May I learn from you; may I lay aside any, bitterness or resentment that may separate me from anyone.

I make this prayer in your name O forgiving God, Amen.