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. That is why the Kingdom of
heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his
servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who
owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master
ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his
property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him
homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved
with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a
much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay
back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be
patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had him
put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw
what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and
reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked
servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you
not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger
his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole
debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your
brother from your heart.”
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Reflection:
Is it normal for us to harbor resentments? Yes of course for we are
humans with emotions. But after that short moment wherein we respond to our
feelings let us quickly allow Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness to take over our
selfish feelings.
In the gospel Peter asked Jesus, "Lord, if my brother sins against
me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus
answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times (Matthew
18:21-22).
This is a very simple yet very effective teaching on forgiveness for us
from Jesus. In other words He is saying to us that we should always be
forgiving. It’s normal for us to be hurt but let us not allow these hurtful
feelings to control us. Therefore, we can only be freed from the vicious
control of anger which by the way comes from the devil, if we forgive those who
have hurt us without any preconditions.
Try to observe yourself when you don’t listen to Jesus’ teaching on
forgiveness. Isn’t it that you carry a heavy burden in your heart? When you allow
unforgiveness to reside in your heart you allow yourself to be imprisoned and
controlled by the devil and your anger.
What if you follow Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness, how would you feel?
You will feel light and free. You will feel no burden in your heart. Don’t we
all want to feel light, to feel free and without any burdens and hurtful
feelings in our heart?
These are the two options before you: To follow Jesus’ teaching on
infinite forgiveness or you continue to punish and burden yourself by
unforgiveness. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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