I love Peter’s story that Matthew’s Gospel has been taking us through over the past several weeks. Peter is a character that many people relate to easily. He is brash, shrewd and even sometimes obnoxious. But perhaps where Peter differs from many of us is that he is not afraid to question Jesus. At the beginning of this week’s Gospel reading, Peter
asks Jesus how many times we must forgive those who have wronged us. Jesus responds: “Not seven times, but seventy times seven.” Little did Peter know that in just a few chapters, we would be reading about his denial of Jesus in his darkest moment, and Peter himself would be in desperate need of this very forgiveness from God.
Like the stingy servant in the parable, Peter was trying to determine how much
forgiveness is right to offer others who had wronged him. He neglected to consider the immense forgiveness he has received and will continue to receive from God. How often do we, too, withhold forgiveness from others for whatever reason? Both giving and receiving forgiveness are closely linked, as Jesus clearly tells us in this passage, as well as in Matthew 6:12 and Matthew 7:1.
We cannot truly forgive others
if we don’t first comprehend how much we have been forgiven. Similarly, we cannot truly appreciate our forgiveness until we learn the value of forgiving others. The two go hand in hand. There’s a kind of resonance, a mutual correlation, between the mercy we give and receive. As Jesus says elsewhere in Matthew: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged” (Matthew 7:1) and “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).
Can you relate to Peter’s story? Do you sometimes struggle to forgive others, even though God has forgiven your transgressions? How can we cultivate a practice of both receiving and offering forgiveness?
Reflections by Rev Joe Taylor
