OT.XXIV.Sir. 27:30-28:7; Rom. 14:7-9; Mt. 18:21-35

French author Victor Hugo has a short story titled, “93.” In the midst of this tale, a ship at sea is caught in a terrific storm. Buffeted by the waves, the ship rocks to and fro, when suddenly the crew hears an awesome crashing sound below deck. They know what it is. A cannon they are carrying has broken loose and is smashing into the ship’s sides with every list of the ship. Two brave sailors, at the risk of their lives, manage to go below and fasten it again, for they know that the heavy cannon on the inside of their ship is more dangerous to them than the storm on the outside. So it is with people. Problems within are often much more destructive to us than the problems without. Today, God’s word would take us “below decks” to look inside ourselves concerning the whole matter of forgiveness. 

 

In the Bible there are many personalities who can be projected as the epitome of forgiveness. Jacob deceived his father and received his blessings disguising as Esau. To escape from the anger of Esau Jacob fled to Laban. When he heard that his brother Esau was looking for him he was scared. When they finally met, Esau ran to Jacob and hugged him and kissed him and showed forgiveness and mercy. (Gen 33) Joseph’s brothers became jealous and eventually sold him into slavery. When Joseph revealed himself, they were shocked to know he was alive. They even feared for years that he would seek retribution. But he comforted them, and spoke to them kindly.” (Gen. 50:19-21). Knowing that Saul wanted to Kill David, he fled for his life. He later had the opportunity to Kill Saul, but he spared his life, because he had a forgiving heart. Stephen was stoned to death when he preached a courageous sermon in which he condemned the unbelief of the Jews. When he was dying he asked God to forgive those who were putting him to death.

 

Since God forgives us so much, we are bound to extend our forgiveness to our brothers and sisters who sin against us. But it is one of the hardest things to practice. We live in a society which glorifies revenge. When a person seeks revenge rather than healing, he is committing spiritual suicide.

"Being unable to forgive is the greatest obstacle to holiness!" Many are unable to proceed with their sanctification because they cannot find it in their hearts to forgive. Man has no right to seek vengeance.  “Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord. To God belongs the right of vengeance and rewarding; the unrighteous soul will fall in due time for the day of disaster is approaching and it will quickly arrive. [Dt. 32:35]. Still, Jesus’ message was to forgive, and Jesus could forgive those who murdered Him [Lk. 23:33-4]. Hence, it should not be difficult for us to forgive. Our act of forgiveness can make the world a better place to live in.

Forgiveness does not mean condoning evil: Neither in God nor in the Christian community, do forgiveness and reconciliation mean the indefinite tolerance of evil and unjust behavior. The king in the parable was perfectly ready to forgive the senior official. But how could reconciliation take place when the official later behaved in such an abominable way to a brother? We can be ready to forgive the sinner indefinitely, but we must fight against sin without counting the cost. God and the Church can forgive the repentant sinner, but they cannot condone unrepented behavior that is a source of real evil and suffering.

 

Forgiveness is release from imprisonment. The wealthy slave, whose debt was inconceivably enormous, is liberated to go about his life, but he uses his regained freedom to imprison the poor fellow slave who owes a tiny amount. He has been freed from debt but he becomes ever more imprisoned in his greed and lack of compassion. The prison door is open, but he becomes ever more incarcerated in selfishness. 

It was the Rabbinic teaching that a man must forgive his brother three times. Peter thought that he was going very far when he asked whether it was enough if he forgives seven times. But Jesus’ answer was that the Christian must forgive seventy times seven. That means, our forgiveness should not be just once or twice, but ongoing forgiveness; day after day, week after week, years after years, this should be done without counting.

 

When we hear the teaching of Jesus, “forgive seventy times seven, we conclude that it is an utopian idea. It can only be taught but not practiced. But in every age and in every generation, there are thousands of human souls that do it literally. We see them; we talk to them; we live with them; but we do not recognize them. A mother cannot but forgive her child, whatever it does. The child might disobey the mother; the child might hurt the mother; the child might show ingratitude to mother; but nothing stops the mother from forgiving her child, hour after hour, day after day, week after week and  year after year. The mother’s life is a long story of forgiveness to her children. What enables the mother to forgive her children seventy times seven or even seven hundred times seven is her love for them.

We must forgive in order to be forgiven. Jesus explains this after teaching the prayer, Our Father, saying, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Mt 6:14-15). James offers this warning in different words: “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy” (Jas 2:13). This means that Divine and human forgiveness go hand in hand.

 

Let us begin to practise the virtue of forgiveness in little measures, in the family, in the public places, in the work place, and in the place of worship. A constant and conscious attempt to practice the virtue of forgiveness will help us to master it and forgive any offense against us. With practice, we can all learn to forgive the little offenses of every day.