Forgiveness?

Ever had trouble with forgiveness? I know I have. It can be hard, but it is something we really have to think about.

In the Bible in Matthew 18, Peter, one of the disciples of Jesus, was obviously concerned/thinking about something that had happened in his life, probably just like the rest of us, and he asked Jesus, "How many times must we forgive someone who does wrong things to us? Up to seven times?" Good question, actually.

In the office where I worked....

I related so well to that question because, as an assistant to my boss, it was pretty hard going.

I know a lot of staff at that time felt the same way. I could relate so well to how others were feeling. He was so adamant about things that we all had to "jump to".

Have you had anyone like that in your life?

Back to Peter's question....

In answer, Jesus replied (much to Peter's shock), "I tell you Peter, not seven times but seventy-seven times seven."

Jesus was pretty keen to tell him and also to get through to us that God is so ready to forgive us, regardless of what we have done. God wants us to come to Him, ask His forgiveness, and accept Him into our lives. Because God is ready to forgive us our sins, we should be more than ready to forgive others who have hurt or sinned against us.

Jesus told another parable or story to reinforce what he was saying about forgiveness. If you like you can read it for yourself in Matthew 18: 23-31. It was about a servant who owed the boss a lot of money. A strange thing to have happened. He got into a lot of debt, ten thousand bags of gold - now, that is what I call a lot of debt.

As Jesus told the story, I guess he wanted to show that this huge debt could be repaid. In those days, the debtor had to be put in chains as well as his family until he paid the debt back to the boss. The boss had to obey the rules, I guess, and would have put the young bloke in prison along with his family, but at this, the servant fell on his knees and said:-

"Be patient with me, and I will pay you back everything". The servant's master took pity on him and cancelled the debt and let him go. See Matthew 18: 23-27. That must have been really something, considering that in today's world it amounted to millions of dollars that the servant owed.

In the story, the servant was totally incapable of repaying anything at all, let alone millions of gold pieces that he owed to his boss.

Back to the office.... 

This man certainly came across as the boss. He made all of the office decisions. He was certainly in charge of running the place and making decision after decision, even though sometimes I personally felt the decisions may not be the right ones.

There was really no turning back. He and I never really got on together. Sometimes it is hard to get along with someone, especially if you have to work with them. But nevertheless, life went on, and we worked together for many years.

We had to attend the usual number of meetings together, but things between us started to take on a peculiar feeling. Well, I guess because he and I had really managed to know each other so well, I guess we could relate to each other's feelings and attitudes.

Back to the parable/story. Jesus continues:-

The servant went out from his master, and he found one of his fellow servants who actually owed him a hundred silver coins. So different from the millions of gold coins he had owed to his master and ruler.

He grabbed him and began to choke him. "Pay back what you owe me!"  he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, "Be patient with me, and I will pay it back." But he refused, Instead he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could repay the debt.

When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

Back to the office....

There was a young lady secretary who commenced with us; she'd only been there a few months. She and the boss spent a lot of time in his office. Well, things deteriorated. They ended up having an affair. Sadly, because of this, the young lady's marriage failed. His marriage didn't actually fall apart, but of course, things were very strained. Both he and the young lady eventually left the company.

Shame really, he was good in the office and worked pretty hard, and so did she.

We all make mistakes, and unfortunately, none of us is immune. He made a mistake and had to pay for it, and so did the young lady. When we make mistakes, we often have to pay the price.

His wife forgave, but things were never the same again for them. So many times we make mistakes, and so many times we can't forgive. Jesus tells us that forgiveness is absolutely necessary if we are to come to Christ at all.

Back to the parable/story

The master of the place then called the servant in. "You wicked servant," he said, "I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" 

In total anger, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all that he owed.

It was quite the parable that Jesus told all those years ago. The upshot of it is that if we don't forgive all the bad things that have happened to us over the years, and we hold it all inside of us and hang on to so much hurt and anger, then, unfortunately, at the end of our lives, we will have to pay the price. God will not forgive us if we don't forgive others.

God bless you this week, and I hope to see you next time.