I have mentioned that I have found at least three ways that we are made in the image and likeness of God – 1. We can love as God loves. 2. We can create, taking what God has given us and helping the world become what he has intended it to be. And 3. We can forgive as God forgives.
The second two flow from the first. Love by its very nature creates and when creation goes astray, love by its very nature restores. Today, the Lord is very clear that we must forgive if we are to enter the kingdom of God.
Love is an interesting thing. Love intends what is good for the other, not what is evil. If I am a loving person, I want what will make you whole, not what will diminish or destroy you. The desire and the absolute human need for love is part of the human condition. Yet, one must experience being loved before he or she can authentically love another. It’s a learned phenomenon. It’s very tough to love someone else if you have never experienced what love looks like and feels like. Forgiveness finds its origin in love. It’s easy when you are doing what is right. It gets a little harder when you are doing something that is hurting others.
And here is where the parable of the unforgiving servant helps us out. Peter was being quite benevolent when he suggested forgiving another seven times. Seven is a perfect number symbolizing completeness. It seems to make sense and there were probably nods of agreement from the other disciples when he said it. But Jesus is insistent that it is not even close.
The meaning of the parable is clear. We can only forgive others to the degree that we ourselves have been forgiven. The point of the story here is that just like the this servant, we have been forgiven a HUGE debt. Every sin we have ever committed or will commit has been forgiven by Christ in his one perfect sacrifice on the cross. Yet, we have to experience the enormity of that forgiveness. Otherwise, we will not be able to give that same gift to others.
That is why the sacrament of reconciliation is so important. It’s one thing to know intellectually that one’s sins are forgiven. It’s quite another to experience that definitively in the confessional.
I always encourage folks to get to confession about once a month. I don’t know about you, I can’t go a month without sinning. In the sacraments we kneel at the foot of the cross and sometimes the best we can do is say, Lord be merciful to me, a sinner.
Confession is good for the soul, and frequent confession is the source of grace we need to forgive others. In a way, it’s like making frequent adjustments to the steering wheel. If you do it often enough, the adjustments are pretty minor. But if you wait too long then the adjustment is much more severe. If we wait too long, our negligence can have eternal consequences. Don’t delay.
Christ has forgiven you everything. Should you not do the same for those who sin against you? Love wants what is best for the other. Should not you who have been loved and forgiven, love and forgive the one who sins against you? It is not easy, but if the Cross teaches us anything, it is that it is possible.
As I said, I have found three ways in which we are made in the image and likeness of God. 1. We can love. 2. We can create and 3. We can forgive. Let us forgive one another as we ourselves have been forgiven.