Readings:
Daniel 3:25-43; Psalm 25; Matthew 18:21-35

May the contrite soul, the humbled spirit be as acceptable to you as holocausts of rams and bullocks.
Daniel 3:39

Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.‘
Matthew 18:21, 22

Jesus goes on to tell a parable about forgiveness. The king, taking pity on his debtor, forgives him a debt of ten thousand talents, a few million pounds in our terms. But this debtor, meeting someone who owes him a few denarii, a few pounds, has him thrown into prison until he pays up the tiny sum. The king learning of this, said, ‘You wicked servant. I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?’ And in his anger the king handed him over to the torturers. Jesus ends the parable, ‘And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.’

‘Seventy times seven’ is not to be taken literally. It means we must always be ready to forgive, and the need to practise this gentlest of virtues is expressed in a most threatening parable.

In the parable, the king’s anger is at the unjust debtor’s failure to appreciate what he has been forgiven. If we are to learn forgiveness, we must first appreciate how much we have been forgiven. For many this is not easy because our religious upbringing can leave us much more conscious of our wrongdoing and guilt than of God’s generosity and forgiveness, more aware of our badness than of God’s goodness. The more incapable we are of forgiving ourselves, the more condemnatory we are likely to be of others. A useful exercise for those who find self-forgiveness difficult is to imagine Jesus on the cross, suspended over the world, as in the Salvador Dali picture. Tell him, ‘Lord, I believe that you have reconciled all things by your death on the cross, but do realize, dear Lord, that you have met your match in me’!

It is easy to say that God forgives and that we must forgive one another, until we do some serious harm, or are seriously harmed. It is important to possibility of our own forgiveness, for this difficulty is our meeting place with God. We prefer to avoid it, throwing off our own guilt by blaming others, and nursing our resentment at the damage done to us. To forgive is divine. The first step for us is to acknowledge our own inability to forgive, begging God to take over and forgive within us.

True forgiveness does not demand pretence. If you have done a serious wrong, or have had a serious wrong done to you, then replay the incident in imagination, and in imagination express your feelings and thoughts as freely as you can. You may like to take out your frustrations on a cushion or pillow, representing your offender. Then pause, and let your offender speak and give their reasons. Then bring Jesus into the scene and listen to what he has to say to each of you.

We can feel forgiven for an offence, or able to forgive a particular wrong, on one occasion, then later something happens and we realize our guilt, or our inability to forgive returns as strongly as ever. Do not be surprised if this should happen, nor let it make you doubt your previous sincerity. We can sincerely forgive and realize we are forgiven at one level of consciousness, but circumstances can reveal to us deeper and unredeemed layers within us. How many of these layers are there, as many as seven? ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy seven!’ The inner journey is a journey through these layers, but as we move into deeper layers, the veil hiding God from us grows thinner!

Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, and give my heart’s dry roots your nurturing rain. Save me from the unbelief of lingering guilt, from harbouring grudges and nursing resentments. Open my eyes to the limitlessness of your goodness when, on the cross, you absorbed the violence of our sinfulness and gave us life in return. May your forgiving Spirit live in us now and always. We ask you this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.