Sunday, September 27, 2009

More on Forgiveness

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

In the book of Matthew Jesus commands us to forgive not just once or twice, or even seven times. He commands us to forgive seventy times seven times. For those non-math people like me, that is 490 times. Now I have to say, this passage sort of bothered me because if someone is treating you badly, you could interpret this to mean that you are just supposed to let them abuse you and you keep forgiving them. But, I don’t think that’s what it means. I am no bible scholar, far from it, but I have pondered this scripture and my own feelings about the character of Jesus and I think he is talking about our own hearts. Let me try to explain what I believe.

Consider how you feel about someone who has wronged you, trespassed against you in a terrible way. You meditate on that person, the wrong that was done and decide that its time to let go and set yourself free from this hurt. So you do, in whatever way that you use to let go of wrongs in your life, whether it be via prayer, or a counselor, or over a glass of wine with a friend, but you let it go. You forgive that person completely and you vow to release it within your heart. A miracle happens. Your heart feels a little bigger at that moment, sort of like the Grinch, it grows a little bit because it’s not weighed down by the heaviness of that bitterness. You go on as a better, wiser and freer person.

Now fast forward. Something happens that brings this wrong back into your life. Whether it be another interaction with the same person, or a similar interaction with another, but the entire trespass against you comes crashing back into your life. We are only human and we are made up of memories. We can’t help it. That memory, that hurt, that pain, comes rushing back into your heart. And you cry. “I let you go! Go away!” But it won’t. It sits there simmering and congealing like overcooked gravy. That is where the words of Jesus come in. You have to forgive again. Seventy time seven times. I think sometimes it takes 490 times to let something go.

I reflect on to the major hurts in my life, the major “wrongs” that were done against me and there are times when I think I have really let them go and moved onwards towards healing. But then BAM something happens and those wrongs are back in my life, back in the forefront of my heart, and I have to forgive them all over again. I have to let them go again and again. I think that is what Jesus was talking about. Our own human hearts.

Forgiveness is essential to living a full and complete life and to truly let your heart grow in love and tenderness. Ponder on how you feel when you are full of bitterness. Think about the Grinch. He couldn’t appreciate or understand how the Who’s could be full of joy because his heart was so full of blackness. But when he let go of that blackness, his heart “grew three sizes that day.”

Can your heart grow three sizes today? Jesus and the Grinch. Both good lessons for a Sunday morning.