“If your brother sins against you, go, show
him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained
back your brother. But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you,
that at the word of two or three witnesses every accusation may be
established. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If
he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax
collector.
If two agree on earth concerning
anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For
where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the middle
of them.”
Then Peter came and said to him,
“Lord, how often shall I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “Not
seven times, but seventy times seven.
The kingdom of God is like a king
who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began, one was
brought who owed ten thousand gold talents. Because he couldn’t pay, his lord
commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and
payment to be made. The servant knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, have
patience with me, and I will repay you all!’ The lord of that servant,
being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave the debt.
“But that servant went out, and
found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred days wages, and
he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’
“His fellow servant fell down at
his feet and begged him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you!’ But
he wouldn’t, and cast him into prison until he should pay back what was due.
When his fellow servants saw
what was done, they were distraught, and came and told their lord. His
lord called him in, and said, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave your debt because
you begged me. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I
had mercy on you?’ He delivered the man to the jailers, until he should
pay all that was due. So my heavenly Father will do to you, if you don’t
forgive each other from your hearts.”
Reflection
One of the sad facts of human
nature is how resistant we can be to forgiving others even after we’ve
experienced forgiveness ourselves. Do you find yourself falling into the trap
of imagining you deserve to be forgiven while others don’t? Do you tend to call
your sins “mistakes” while seeing malicious intent in what others do?
Prayer: Help me show grace to
others, Lord, in the extravagant way you have shown it to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment