Parables of Jesus – Forgiveness
Forgiveness.
Without forgiveness, you and I will not be brothers and sisters in Christ – one family in the Lord.
Without forgiveness, you and I would not be able to see God, much less, even hope to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Without forgiveness, you and I would never experience what the love of the Heavenly Father feels like.
Without forgiveness, you and I are nothing….
And since we desperately need forgiveness in our lives, why is it so hard for us to forgive?
Bible Passage: Luke 7:41-43; Matt 18:23-35
Jesus gave two parables concerning Forgiveness. The first in Luke was a straightforward one – the answer is simple. The one who has been forgiven much more will feel more indebted.
But the second parable highlights a condition that seems to be inside all of us.
We all want to be forgiven. We long for forgiveness. We will do anything to receive forgiveness. We want forgiveness to be freely given.
But when it is time for us to forgive, we are stingy with our forgiveness. In fact, many a times, we struggle to forgive…. justifying that the hurt or pain we have suffered is not something that can easily erased.
There are two types: one is God’s forgiveness for our sins. The other is our obligation to forgive others. So let’s look at what each means…
Forgiveness by God
We know where we came from. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and we have the stain of sin on the human race ever since. But God loves us too much to let us all be lost in hell. God provided a way for us to be forgiven and reconciled with Him. And that way is through Jesus….
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
~ John 14:6
God’s plan of forgiveness was to pay the highest price – the sacrifice of His only beloved Son Jesus.
That sacrifice was necessary to satisfy God’s justice. A holy and spotless offering had to be made in order to repair the broken relationship between man and God. Only Jesus could be this sacrifice.
Every Holy Communion we read these words…
For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
~ Matt 26:28
Then Jesus died on the cross, taking the all the punishment due to us and atoning for our sins.
He then arose! He conquered death! So that now, if we repent and are baptised, we receive God’s forgiveness. And with our sins forgiven, we have the chance of eternal life in heaven.
What a great forgiveness! What a high price was paid. All this for us… by our loving Jesus.
Forgiveness of Others
Now that our relationship with God is restored, what about our relationship with the people around us?
The Bible states that when someone hurts us, we are under an obligation to God to forgive that person. Jesus is very clear on this point:
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
~ Matthew 6:14-15
Wow! Refusing to forgive is a sin!
That elevates “forgiving others” to a higher level.
Since we have received forgiveness from God, we must also be willing to forgive others.
This servant that was forgiven of his 1000 talent debt forgot about this teaching.
He forgot that his great debt was wiped cleaned. He only saw the minuscule debt that was owed to him and decided to create hell for the debtor.
Are we like this?
I shudder to think that I am that servant. I hope I am not.
And yet… I wonder…
I know that there are times that I can be petty… and unforgiving.
My memory verse for today…
35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
~ Matthew 18:35
If I want forgiveness… I must be willing to forgive.
How about you?
2 Comments
YSL
Because forgiveness means to drop whatever wrong has been done to you, it’s hard. But god makes it so easy, because of his great love. I guess the power of love is great, and to love another beyond your own pride and self is so hard to do, especially if the person is not family.
Brian
I think there is one thing that most of us may know but is something that is not easily done, or sometimes even being ignored totally, and that is RECONCILIATION after forgiving others.
As what is being understood from Mt.6:14-15 that not forgiving others is a sin, so we all will try our very best to forgive those who have stepped on our tails. Sometimes if we are good, we can even forget what wrongs others had done to us.
But there remains a step forward – RECONCILIATION.
If we ponder deeper, God had forgiven our sins and He went on one step further to seek reconciliation with us.
Can we learn from His example, to forgive and forget, and then to RECONCILE with those who had wronged us?
To me, RECONCILING means to get back to the original state or maybe even better in the relationship/friendship.