Song of the Three Young Men 2-4, 11-20a (in some Bibles, this is Daniel 3:25-27, 34-43; in others it’s in the Apocrypha); Psalm 25:3-10; Matthew 18:21-35
Forgiveness again. Jesus is unrelenting, the Gospels are unified, the tradition is clear. And yet, until we’ve experienced the freedom that forgiveness brings, it’s just hard to take in. When I was teaching I learned that people need to hear something seven times before they really hear it; maybe by the end of Lent this message will sink into all of us.
The image of the master who condemns the unforgiving servant can be a barrier to accepting forgiveness. Even as we hear about God’s forgiveness, the parable suggests that this forgiveness is revocable if we don’t shape up. God will change “His” mind and punish us if we don’t forgive. I think this problem is due to the limits of metaphor rather than the nature of God.
It is a spiritual truth that we cannot experience forgiveness and the freedom it offers if we do not forgive. God may forgive me, but if my heart is hardened I won’t know it or feel it. It will be for me as though I’m cast into prison. I will look to see who imprisoned me, and think that God did not forgive me after all. But that’s an illusion. The truth is that I’m the one imprisoning myself.
It doesn’t matter whether the person to be forgiven is another, or is myself. I can’t know that forgiving love without forgiving. The Lord’s Prayer isn’t a petition so much as an affirmation of that truth: We are forgiven as we forgive. We know forgiveness as we forgive. God forgives us every second, has forgiven us, but God won’t force us to acknowledge that. We are free to live in prison if we choose.
Come out. Unlock the doors of your prison, and of those you would hold in bondage. Turn to God. Read Psalm 25. Then go forth, forgiven and forgiving. And delight in your day!
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