Fr. Michael Williams

One of the key elements in Jesus’ doctrine was the concept of forgiveness. He taught that God was a God of forgiveness. God was always willing to welcome back the repentant sinner. For example, in the parable of the prodigal son Jesus told the story of the Father who welcomed back his repentant son with open arms, even though the son had squandered his inheritance on loose living. The parable of the prodigal son, shows us that the Heavenly Father will quickly forgive the repentant sinner, who recognises their failings. Jesus was keen to emphasise that God is a God of mercy.

Of course there was no discrepancy in what Jesus taught and what he practised. Jesus taught forgiveness and he practised forgiveness. This is most clearly seen when Jesus is dying on the cross when He says, “Father, Forgive them they do not know what they are doing”. That prayer to the Father was not only made for the people who actually engineered His crucifixion; that prayer of forgiveness was for each one of us because our sins put Jesus on the cross. So Jesus forgives the human race whose sinfulness leads to His suffering on the cross.

So we can see that Jesus taught forgiveness and practised forgiveness. In some sense Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness was a new departure. The Jewish mindset at the time of Jesus was generally, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. In other words if someone does something wrong to you then you pay them back. But this was not how Jesus thought. Jesus stated that forgiveness was to a central element in His teaching.

Because Jesus forgave he expected His followers also to forgive. Today’s parable is a clear illustration that the Lord’s disciples must be people of mercy and forgiveness. The King who represents God is seen as someone who is willing to be merciful and wipe the slate clean. After the servant makes his appeal the king the debt is cancelled. But the servant who receives mercy and forgiveness, then refuses to practice mercy and forgiveness to his fellow servant. He received mercy, but didn’t then give mercy, which displeased the king greatly. God wants us to be merciful as He is merciful.

Receiving God’s forgiveness is conditional upon us forgiving others. Remember in the Lord’s prayer we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”. By saying this prayer we will be given the strength to forgive.

And when we do forgive we truly reflect God’s image in which we are made. To forgive someone who wrongs us is a divine action. When we forgive it is because God’s grace is active in us. Let’s pray that we will allow God’s grace to flow through us and so be able to forgive someone, even if they wrong us seventy-seven times.