Beyond Calculation: The Reach of God's Forgiveness
Daily Scripture
Matthew 18:21-35
21 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Should I forgive as many as seven times?”
22 Jesus said, “Not just seven times, but rather as many as seventy-seven times [Or seventy times seven]. 23 Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle accounts, they brought to him a servant who owed him ten thousand bags of gold [Or ten thousand talanta, an amount equal to the wages for sixty million days]. 25 Because the servant didn’t have enough to pay it back, the master ordered that he should be sold, along with his wife and children and everything he had, and that the proceeds should be used as payment. 26 But the servant fell down, kneeled before him, and said, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.’ 27 The master had compassion on that servant, released him, and forgave the loan.
28 “When that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred coins [Or one hundred denaria, an amount equal to the wages for one hundred days]. He grabbed him around the throat and said, ‘Pay me back what you owe me.’
29 “Then his fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.’ 30 But he refused. Instead, he threw him into prison until he paid back his debt.
31 “When his fellow servants saw what happened, they were deeply offended. They came and told their master all that happened. 32 His master called the first servant and said, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you appealed to me. 33 Shouldn’t you also have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 His master was furious and handed him over to the guard responsible for punishing prisoners, until he had paid the whole debt.
35 “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if you don’t forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Some rabbis in Jesus’ day said forgiving a sin three times was enough. That’s likely why Peter thought forgiving seven times was huge. But Jesus’ story said God, not us, sets the forgiveness standard. The debt the servant in the story owed was a whopper, equivalent to 60 million days’ wages (about 170,000 years of work)! Yet the king (i.e., God) forgave even a man who owed “a gazillion dollars.” Then the freed debtor refused to forgive someone with a much smaller debt.
- Pastor Hamilton wrote, “More than any other world religion, Christianity… veritably shouts forgiveness. Yes, some of our preachers dwell too long on guilt…. a Christianity obsessed with guilt is no Christianity. Christianity is a faith whose central focus is not guilt, but grace, redemption, healing, forgiveness, and mercy.” * In what ways has God’s forgiveness set you free? How can practicing “healing, forgiveness and mercy” sustain and deepen your closest relationships?
- “At the heart of Judaism and Christianity lies the belief that, though human actions matter very deeply, forgiveness is possible and, through God’s love, can become actual. Jesus assumes that we will need to ask for forgiveness not on one or two rare occasions but very regularly…. There is, however, a condition… we ourselves must be forgiving people…. The heart that will not open to forgive others will remain closed when God’s own forgiveness is offered.” ** How did Jesus’ story show that he expanded “forgiveness” way beyond “natural” expectations?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. And even as I ask for your mercy, which I need every day, help me be merciful to those who wrong me, so that they and I may be free. Amen.
GPS Insights
Emily Stirewalt
Emily Stirewalt, who serves as Resurrection's Silverlink Pastor specializing in pastoral care of elderly adults, wrote today's Insights. She is an ordained Elder in the Missouri Annual Conference and has served since 2007. She is married to Randall, a special education teacher. They have two daughters, Elliott and Marlowe. Emily enjoys binge watching "Friends" or "Golden Girls."
Forgiveness has been on my mind a lot lately. Specifically, I have been paying attention to a recent Tik Tok trend that has been showing up often in my algorithm. The trend is about saying certain parenting phrases and letting your kids finish the sentence. For instance, a mom might say “Children should be seen and…” The hope is that your child might complete the sentence with “loved!” instead of “not heard” like some of us grew up with. It is a powerful trend for parents who are trying to know better and do better, and I inevitably cry each time I watch one.
I had a very difficult relationship with my mother, and struggled to forgive her many, many times in my life. In many ways, my mother was the child, and I was the parent. I was in charge of her emotions, and they were unpredictable and damaging. She was enmeshed with me and did not understand that I was my own person. As I got older, I realized that I had very poor self-esteem and self-confidence. Therapy helped me name why that was a struggle for me compared to my peers. I spent the next decade of my life (from about 20-30 years old) defining myself out of my family system and different from my mother. And along the way, I discovered that my mom had deep pain from her own childhood and unaddressed mental health issues for generations.
My mom died in January 2023 from pancreatic cancer. She had refused to go to the doctor for years regarding concerning symptoms and ultimately chose a very painful end. I sat with her in the hospital as she took her final breaths. I really did not know what to say, so I just told her that I hoped she would find peace in heaven since she had such a difficult time finding it on earth.
I am a mother now and every time I tell my girls how deeply I wanted them (one is adopted, and one is the result of five years of infertility woes), I feel like I am forgiving my mother. Doing genetic testing to see if I can take control of my health in a way my mother never cared enough for herself to do is another way I am forgiving her. I am not a perfect mom, not by any means (2 girls 17 months apart was never my plan) and I am beyond nervous for what the teenage years are going to bring. But every time I mess up, I tell them that I am sorry, and I will try to do better, and that feels like forgiving my mom too.
For years, I felt like an orphan, with my mom being emotionally abusive and my dad being emotionally distant. It has taken me realizing that I am a child of God first to be able to forgive my mom and be genuinely grateful that even though she may not have wanted me, she had me and my life is an incredible gift. Breaking cycles is how I forgive her. Every day. I hope forgiveness has a hold of your life in a powerful way like this too. It is a gift, one that is deserving of at least seventy times seven times.
© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Adam Hamilton, Forgiveness: Finding Peace Through Letting Go. Nashville: Abingdon Press, p. 17.
** Wright, N. T., Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 (The New Testament for Everyone) (pp. 59-60). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
