February 8, 2011
Read Luke 17:1-10
Luke 17:9
Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?
Forgiveness is hard in real life - more so if the same person continuously sin against you after you have forgiven him.
Jesus' command to conflicts is that we rebuke the person for the wronged done against us. And if he says sorry, we are to forgive. Never mind that he goes out again and does the same thing again - each time we are to confront him and if he apologizes - forgive him!
Assume that the person who wrongs us apologizes the first time, we forgive. Second time? On the same day? Probably the same thing? You go up to him and he says sorry again - you probably would have reminded him of his first wrong and secures a 'I will never do that again' promise. You turn your back and then he stabs you again - forgive him? Okay - as the gracious one, you decide to forget it again. Then the fourth time, the fifth time, the sixth time and then seventh time? Is it even humanly possible - to forgive and not hold it against this brother? Maybe by now, you would have turned around and ask the big question, "what brother?" You begin to wonder if he is even born again! Trust and faith is gone.
You may even begin to entertain thoughts like, 'i am better than him - i am acting more like a Christian than this guy!"
Ah - all your thoughts and focus are on this relationship between your sinful brother and you - and all human understanding tells you "He should be thankful that i forgive him!" or even "God, you should be proud of me - that i forgive that scumbag!"
Some of us may already be in that mode of thinking by the second time we confront the prodigal brother.
To their request for greater faith, Jesus gives an example of a slave and master relationship - what kind of an answer is that?
It all fits because the disciples were focusing on the brother that needed forgiveness. Definitely greater faith is needed for us to wipe out our memory of the sin done against us and forgive the same person 7 times in a row?!
Jesus says that is a wrong request because we are focusing on the wrong thing.
Jesus says, "Instead focus on my relationship with you. You are forgiven by God. You are now in this relationship with the Master. Should the master thank you, the slave for obeying His command to forgive?" (paraphrase from the passage)
No. Forgive simply because you belong to God. He is your Master.
Forgiveness is dependent on my relationship with God, not based on the relationship between me and the brother.
Try refocusing on your forgiven slave position in front of God next time someone takes advantage of you.
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I think forgiveness is also difficult when you're forgiving someone who never apologized or admitted they're wrong. But this kind of forgiveness still needs to happen regardless in order to set yourself free from the anger and bitterness, and whatever emotions/behaviour that prevents you from being able to fully honor God. When you give that person to God, it's between them and God. And with forgiveness I think it should come with wisdom. We can forgive 10 times and get backstabbed 10 times, but even if we forgave, does that mean our trust level in that person is restored to 100%? Probably not. In reality there will be a new set of boundaries and maybe less trust but hopefully this doesn't communicate 'unforgiveness' to the person.
ReplyDeleteYes - that is right. The trust issue is the hardest to conquer. With this teaching comes the other teachings - "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who persecute you". Combine this together, we then have to call ourselves to pray the Lord's prayer, "Forgive them for they know not what they are doing". Which triple the difficulty of forgiveness. That is Christ's style of loving. The way out of this is the act of prayer. Focusing on God and praying for that person inevitably helps us see the person through God's eyes and our tears of being wronged many a times become tears for a lost brother. THus is the way of our wise God. God is smart. :)
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