Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent – Matthew 18:21-35
Today we have another challenging Gospel. Peter comes to
Jesus and bluntly asks him how many times he needs to forgive another, be that
his brother, his sister, friend or co-worker. Peter asks if he should forgive
the other person seven times? I wonder
if Peter had a family member, a spouse,
or a friend whom he had wounded multiple times. Or was Peter simply asking the question
because he wanted to hear how Jesus would answer it?
As often is the case, Jesus does not answer Peter’s question
directly. Rather Jesus bluntly tells Peter that he should forgive the other
person, not just seven times, but 77 times.
That is a lot of forgiveness! It
is easier to forgive another if the hurt or insult is minor. However, when a person has been betrayed or
slandered us, we may find it more difficult to forgive the individual. This is understandable because our trust has
been betrayed.
Was Peter surprised by Jesus’ answer? Was Peter thinking of a family member or
friend that he needed to forgive or was he remembering someone he had hurt or
wounded? Was Peter hoping that, at some point, he would be forgiven?
Hopefully, over time, we will forgive the person who wounded
us and, in this process, we will free ourselves also of the heavy burden we
have been carrying. Lack of forgiveness
usually has more effect on us than on the individual we need to forgive. Resentment and anger poison us. True, it is
not easy to let go of our anger and hurt.
If we can place our anger, hurt, and resentment into God’s hands, God will
heal us. It may take a long time.
The grace is Jesus does not expect us to deal with these
hurts and resentments alone. Jesus
walks with us, encourages us, and gives us the grace to let go and to forgive those
who have hurt us. We have to be patient with this process and we need to keep
coming back to Jesus and asking him to help us forgive. Jesus wants us to ask
him to free us of this burden, this pain. Jesus is with us and He will answer
our prayers!
Today may we place all our burdens, our anger, and our pain
in Jesus’ hands. This will lighten our loads immensely and will free
us also. Will we, do we, trust Jesus?
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