Tag: forgiveness

 Eucharistic Gospel Reading for Sunday of Proper 19: Year A

Matthew 18:21 to 35

 “But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’  (Matthew 18: 28 – 35)

This gets back to our Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.”  But, do we really want to forgive, or pardon those who have hurt us? 

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did many things that we are not able to do. He healed the paralyzed, he gave sight back to the blind, he restored hearing and speech; and he even brought the dead back to life.  We can do none of these although we sometimes come close through medical science. 

However, the one thing that Jesus did that we can do if we set our hearts to it, is to forgive.  In order to forgive we must first want to.  It hurts.  When we have been wronged, or betrayed, or abused or lied to, or assaulted , or perhaps a combination of these. It hurts. Such pain can often lead to anger.

We should plead with those whom we have offended for their forgiveness, and whether we receive forgiveness or not, we must have compassion for those who come to us and plead for the same. We all admit that we are fallible.  Therefore, it should not surprise us when we err.  We must remember that when we see the unrepentant, that except for the grace of God, there goes us.

Sometimes we make mistakes.  Sometimes we are just wrongheaded. In any case, a time of reflection should make us aware of our transgressions and cause us to want to walk it back. As painful as it might be, it needs to be done in order to set us right before God and our neighbor.

So, the same is true for those who wrong us. Jesus’ point is that though it might happen more than once, if we are counting the number of times, we are harboring resentment.  I do believe that we must guard ourselves against intentional evil but we also must use our God-given reason to protect ourselves.  We shouldn’t count but we must be accountable. We are not created to misuse or to be misused. 

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Let us pray: Proper 19 The Sunday closest to September 14 (BCP p.233)

O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Daily Office Readings for Saturday of the 3^rd Week of Easter: Year 2

Morning, Psalms 30 and 32; Evening, Psalms 42, 43;

Exodus 25:1-22; Colossians 3;1 to 17: Matthew 4:18 to 25:

“Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Colossians 3:13)

God, and ourselves are all we have. God never makes mistakes, and we make them all the time. We think, say, and do, things that we often regret. We hurt each other, and in doing so, we hurt ourselves. Perhaps the first lesson we ought to learn is to realize when we have offended, and how to respond with, “I’m sorry.”

Sometimes we are taught in our families to go and tell someone, “I’m sorry.”  The trouble is, that we didn’t realize we had offended in the first place. Sometimes however our offense was intentional; sometimes it was unintentional.   From our family, this idea of required apologies grows even to the international stage.  I have heard national leaders say that some other country will not be pardoned unless they apologize for some wrong-doing they have done, often many years in the past.  I think if I have to tell you that you have offended me, demanding you to apologize, is a waste of time, mine, and yours. The only time this is not the case is when the offense was not intended to be offensive.  However when explained that it was taken as offensive, the appropriate, “I’m sorry,” is welcomed. Sometimes in my life I have had to reflect on my past behavior and realize I needed to apologize to someone. And when I realized it, I apologized accordingly.

So, the words of the letter to the Colossians are worth heeding: “Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

Today we remember Saint Mark the Evangelist, (April 25 NT), and his information may be found at St. Mark the Evangelist.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Let us pray and confess our sins against God and our neighbor. (BCP 79)

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Daily Office Readings for Thursday after the First Sunday of Lent: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 50; Evening, Psalms 19 and 46;

Genesis 39:1 to 23; 1^st Corinthians 2:14 to 3:15; Mark 2:1 to 12:

“Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and take your mat and walk”? (Mark 2: 9)

Even today, in too many cases, medical science is not able to restore nerve tissue that would enable a paralyzed person to walk again when that nerve has been severed. So forgiving others, while not impossible, is the easier of the two.

Forgiveness can be taught in the family but often families will tend to see the incident as plain bad behavior, thus, making forgiveness hard to come by. Forgiveness can be hard to come by internationally also. Sometimes cruelty can paralyze even nations who are crippled by their own ideas of what they think is “rightfully” theirs as in the Russia – Ukraine war.

Maybe forgiveness begins in the Church with corporate pardon. A classic example of this is the Amish community of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the milk truck driver attacking their school house.  On  October  2^nd 2006, 10 Amish girls were shot in their school house by Charles Carl Roberts IV who took hostages and shot eight out of ten girls (aged 6–13), killing five, before committing suicide in the schoolhouse.

Five died and five survived – and their families immediately bestowed their forgiveness.”  Also, On the day of the shooting, a grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls was heard warning some young relatives not to hate the killer, saying, “We must not think evil of this man.” Another Amish father noted, “He had a mother and a wife and a soul and now he’s standing before a just God:”  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Nickel_Mines_School_shooting).  The point is, this Amish community is a Church that really practices what it means to forgive.

We all should practice forgiveness at home, in Church, in school, at work, nationally and internationally. Perhaps it starts in our spiritual families. The continual reading, studying, discussing, and above all, praying and practicing forgiveness, will help all of us to at least look at the healing power of forgiveness. Maybe forgiveness of self is the first step to nerve regeneration. Maybe, just maybe, our Lord Jesus had it right all along, “Your sins are forgiven, stand up and take your mat and walk.”

Today we remember Photini, The Samaritan Woman at the well, (c. 67) and her information may be found at:  Photini

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Let us pray: (BCP p. 360)

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of Proper 10: Year 1

 Morning, Psalms 26 and 28; Evening,  Psalms 36 and 39;
1^st Samuel 19:1 to 18; Acts 12:1 to 17; Mark 2:1 to 12:

“And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.”  (Mark 2:4)

I am amazed at what we can actually do through love and faith.  The friends of the paralytic man were determined to get their paralyzed friend to our Lord Jesus.  The huge crowd would not prevent them. Jesus was amazed at their faith.  He was so amazed that he used their faith to wash away the paralytic’s crippling psychological hold on him.  He forgave the man of his sins.

When questioned about whether or not Jesus has the power to forgive sins, our Lord Jesus explains that while there are some visible things we humans can do, like bringing a friend to Jesus against all odds. There are in some invisible things we simply cannot do, or, can we?

 Jesus goes on to explain that while we can see the physical things that he can do, we ought to know that there are some invisible things he can do as well. We need to know that our Lord Jesus is very God of very God; Jesus is Lord over the seen, and the unseen. Given that the walking, talking, teaching, healing and forgiving Jesus was in fact God Incarnate, then of course Jesus can do all these signs and wonders – seen and unseen.

But here is the thing, we, you and I, can do more signs and wonders than we are doing now. There are some medical marvels that we still can’t do, for example, people who suffer from some spinal injuries must still live the rest of their lives paralyzed. Some midlife blindness is permanent.  Some psychological disorders are also irreversible.  While our Lord Jesus could bring about changes to these physical impairments, he also did what we all can do if we allow ourselves; he forgave sins.

To say, as the scribes did that, “Only God can forgive sins,” is a copout. With compassion, we too can relieve truly penitent people of their pain, such as this man in our Mark reading today.  It’s understandable if we don’t want to forgive someone who denies their wrongdoing, or tries to minimize it. But for someone who has given up on life because they are so hurt by what they have done, surely we should find some mercy within our hearts to forgive them.  No, we do not have to be God to forgive. Forgiveness is a part of us that makes us created in God’s Image. I pray that one day our God-given medical skills will enable us to cure disabilities. But God has advanced our capacity to forgive a fallen brother or sister who is truly remorseful. We just need to use it now.

 As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Let us pray:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours, now and forever. Amen.