“Forgive Others as God Has Forgiven Us” by Colleen O’Sullivan

 “Forgive Others as God Has Forgiven Us” by Colleen O’Sullivan

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

Remember that your compassion, O Lord, and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me, because of your goodness, O Lord. (Psalm 25: 6, 7bc)

Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart; for I am gracious and merciful. (Joel 2:12-13)

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22)

Piety

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Study

God is forgiving, gracious, and merciful. We see that in the Scriptures over and over again. Melanie Rigney wrote about the Parable of the Prodigal Son in her Daily Tripod last Saturday. In the story, God is the Father who’s out looking for his son. God is the One who sees his boy in the distance rehearsing what to say as he trudges home, the Loving Parent who doesn’t wait but runs, arms wide open, to welcome the wayward son home and the Joy-filled Dad who throws a party for the wanderer who has come back.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he included the line about receiving forgiveness from God to the extent that we have forgiven others who have sinned against us. Today Peter asks the Lord if somebody sins against us, is it sufficient to forgive him/her seven times. I picture Jesus saying, “What are you talking about? Seven times? It’s more like seventy-seven times!”

I think Peter is asking the wrong question. It’s not how many times he needs to forgive, but how many times God (or his friend, Rabbi Jesus) forgives him. How many times has Peter experienced God’s kindness and mercy? How many times has he stumbled, only to feel the compassionate hands of God picking him up, dusting him off, and setting him back on the right path? When he grows older, he will look back to the night he betrayed his friend Jesus three times and remember the Risen Lord looking at him after breakfast on a beach with love and forgiveness, even proclaiming Peter the Rock upon which Christ builds the Church.

We probably wouldn’t be much good at forgiving even once, let alone seven or seventy-seven times, without knowing God’s forgiveness ourselves. Forgiving others doesn’t always come easily. It’s the endless number of times God has picked us up out of the dirt of our sinfulness and its consequences, forgiven us, and given us another chance that enables us to forgive another person who has hurt us.

Action

Lent is a good season for considering how many times we have turned our backs on God or hurt one of our brothers or sisters. When we do that reflection, we can then recall all the grace and mercy that God showered upon us when we returned to God with all our hearts. Remembering the moments when God forgives us makes it easier to forgive those who have hurt or wronged us. Reflecting on this might be a worthwhile way to spend your prayer time today.