In this joyful season of Lent, I bring you Good News.  I bring you Great News!  YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS.  God, in His mercy, has given you the gift of being forgiven.  And equally as wonderful: God, in His mercy, has given you the ability to forgive.

Actually, we are given not just the ability but also the responsibility to forgive.  Sometimes we (and I write “we” in the hopes that I am not the only one) may treat that responsibility as a burden, viewing the act of forgiving as the price we pay so that we can be forgiven.  We do it grudgingly, sparingly.  We reserve the right to rescind that forgiveness if the offending party offends again.  Like Peter, we ask, “Lord, how many times?”  When Jesus responds, He says in essence, “You are asking the wrong question because you do not understand.  Don’t count.  Don’t sit in judgment, determining if the number or the severity of transgressions exceeds the limit of what you are to forgive.  You are being called to forgive far less than God has already forgiven of you.”

Of the lessons that emerge from Jesus’ parable, two really caught my attention:

1. My being forgiven is inextricably linked to my forgiving others.  These are two sides of the same coin.  Jesus must really want us to know this because he states it more explicitly in two of his most famous teaching episodes.  His Sermon on the Plain states, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).  In the Sermon on the Mount, He includes “forgive us . . . as we forgive others” in the Lord’s Prayer, then immediately follows the prayer with: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).
   
   
2. Forgiveness is an all or nothing enterprise.  He is instructing Peter not to bother with counting.  Just forgive, and keep forgiving, never partially or with limits, but repeatedly and endlessly.  You can’t dole out forgiveness case by case or person by person.  You either are someone who forgives or you are not.  Forgiving partially or conditionally is not an option.

Don’t count, Peter (and the rest of us), because that conflicts with forgiving.  Remember, Jesus commanded us to love one another as He has loved us (John 13:34), and love keeps no record of wrongs (I Cor 13:5).  In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “you do not notice that as long as you are still counting, for that long you are still reckoning that earlier sin against the person, for that long you still have not really forgiven that person, not even for the first time.”  As long as we keep track, we still hold onto the first (and second and third) wrongs done to us, and they are festering, ready to hurt us over and over.  The mere act of counting, of adding to the list, dredges up painful memories. 

So forgive, instead of counting, as an act of obedience that yields immense benefits.  Recognize that being able to forgive fully and completely is not a burden, it is a blessing.  When we are able to forgive, we are freed from feelings and forces that harm us and those around us.  We can let go of anger, hatred, bitterness, hurt, even judgmental self-righteousness.  Letting go frees us from those pains (and from the chore of keeping count), and it allows us to change our focus away from what was done to us so that we can recall the many good things done for us.  You may not feel that the person who offended you deserves to be forgiven – but you deserve the blessing of being able to forgive.

Gracious and merciful Lord, thank you for forgiving us.  Help us to forgive so that we can follow you with our whole hearts.