{"id":5329,"date":"2026-03-31T08:29:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5329"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:29:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:29:41","slug":"the-forgiveness-of-sins-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/the-forgiveness-of-sins-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"The Forgiveness of Sins II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here<\/a>
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Throughout the season of Lent, we’re taking a close look at the Apostles’ Creed – one of the earliest and most concise summaries of what followers of Jesus believe.<\/em>
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Did you hear about the guy named Bubba who called 911 because his wife was going into labor?\u00a0
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\u201cPlease send an ambulance,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause I can\u2019t get my truck started.\u00a0We live on Eucalyptus Drive.\u201d
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The dispatcher said, \u201cCould you please spell that for me?\u201d\u00a0There was a long pause, after which Bubba said, \u201cIf I walk her over to Oak Street, could you pick us up there?\u201d
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When it comes to the hard work of healing damaged relationships, there are no shortcuts.\u00a0The number one relational issue in Scripture is forgiveness \u2013 and summoning the will and the desire to forgive was just as challenging in Bible times as it is today.\u00a0That explains the question that Peter poses to Jesus in Matthew 18:21: \u201cLord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?\u00a0Up to seven times?\u201d
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In other words, is there a statute of limitations on the hurtful behavior of other people?\u00a0Is there a point at which I can finally scream, \u201cEnough is enough!\u201d and then simply let them have it?\u00a0Peter asks, \u201cLord, is seven times a good cutoff point?\u201d
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In all likelihood, Peter was expecting to receive a smile and an attaboy.\u00a0After all, according to certain first century rabbis, the \u201cgoing rate\u201d for forgiving someone for doing the same thing over and over was three times.\u00a0One could respectably pardon someone on three occasions for the same act of malice or ignorance.\u00a0Only a saint could be expected to go beyond that.\u00a0Peter figures he is coming in at more than twice the Saint Rate.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0
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That\u2019s why Jesus\u2019 answer is such a shocker: \u201cI tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.\u201d\u00a0
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Actually, the bar might be set even higher than that.\u00a0The Greek in this verse suggests that Jesus could be saying, \u201cseventy times seven,\u201d or 490 times.\u00a0The bottom line?\u00a0There is no limit<\/em> to the number of times we must forgive our neighbor.\u00a0Why?\u00a0Because there is no limit to the number of times God is willing to forgive us.<\/em>
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That truth towers over the last paragraph of the Apostles\u2019 Creed, where followers of Jesus dare to declare that they believe in \u201cthe forgiveness of sins.\u201d That means more than just the inconceivable blessing of being forgiven by God. Those same words call us to extend forgiveness to those who have wounded us.<\/em>
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Jesus\u2019 Parable of the Unmerciful Servant illustrates both dimensions.\u00a0
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Yesterday we considered Act I, where a king graciously forgives the massive debt of one of his servants.\u00a0
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Ideally, this should accomplish more than just the greatest wave of relief this man has ever experienced. It should change his life.\u00a0Having received a tsunami of grace, is he now willing to shower such grace on everyone else he knows?
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Sadly, it appears his heart is petrified. Act II is essentially a betrayal of the gift he has received.\u00a0
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He tracks down another servant who owes him about as much as it takes to buy a bag of White Castle sliders. \u201cYou owe me!\u201d he says. \u201cNow pay up!\u201d\u00a0The second man cries, \u201cJust give me a little time and I\u2019ll get you the money\u201d \u2013 the very words the first servant had originally spoken to the king.\u00a0
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But there\u2019s no grace in his heart. He won\u2019t even consider a \u201cgrace period.\u201d\u00a0He immediately has this other man dragged off to jail.
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It\u2019s clear the servant has seriously missed the point.\u00a0The king (whom Jesus clearly implies is God) has already demonstrated that relationships aren\u2019t meant to operate on the Payment Plan.\u00a0We don\u2019t have to maintain active ledgers of what other people owe us.\u00a0\u201cYou owe me an apology.\u00a0You owe me an explanation. You owe me the fulfillment of the happy life you promised me when we got married.\u201d\u00a0
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When the king hears about the grace-less behavior of the man he forgave, his reaction is entirely predictable.\u00a0What comes next is painful.
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\u201cWho do you think you are?\u201d he asks the servant.\u00a0\u201cI canceled that impossible debt of yours.\u00a0Can\u2019t you forgive somebody else a few lousy bucks?\u00a0Apparently you want to operate on the basis of Pay Me What You Owe Me.\u00a0As you wish<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0And with that, he instructs his treasurer to re-enter the sum of 10,000 talents into his debit column. \u00a0\u00a0
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Few places in the Bible are scarier than Matthew 18:35, where Jesus says, \u201cThis is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.\u201d
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Here we need to catch our breath.\u00a0God is not saying, first<\/em> forgive everybody else, and then<\/em> I will forgive you.\u00a0That would be putting a Mt. Everest-size condition on God\u2019s love \u2013 a condition that none of us could possibly fulfill.\u00a0God has given us both a gift and a task.\u00a0We receive his grace so that<\/em> we ourselves might become grace-providers.\u00a0
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But the\u00a0gift and the task must always come in that order.<\/em>\u00a0
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We cannot give away what we have not received.\u00a0And we dare not make others pay for what God has given us for free.\u00a0
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We learn a great deal about ourselves when someone hurts us.\u00a0Are we able and willing to forgive?\u00a0To what degree has God\u2019s love penetrated our hearts?\u00a0
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You may have heard that forgiveness requires us to forget<\/em> traumatic wounds and painful moments.\u00a0But such a thing is rarely possible.\u00a0Forgiveness is not to be confused with amnesia. Instead we refuse to weaponize our memories and nurse our grudges.\u00a0We humbly ask God, by his Spirit, to gradually heal the hurts associated with the things we remember.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0
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Forgiveness is not denial, either. It is not announcing that a wound never happened, or that it didn\u2019t actually hurt.\u00a0That would be distorting the truth.\u00a0
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Nor is forgiveness saying that evil shouldn\u2019t be punished.\u00a0Justice must be brought to bear where justice is due.\u00a0Forgiveness, at the personal level, means tearing up the debt sheets that we hold over other people.\u00a0Instead of saying, \u201cYou owe me,\u201d we lower our buckets into the deep aquifer of God\u2019s grace and mercy and treat others as God has treated us.\u00a0
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I distinctly remember over the years writing sermons on forgiveness and thinking that I was unqualified to write on the subject. That\u2019s because I had never been seriously wounded or betrayed.\u00a0Maybe I would make it through my entire adult life unscathed.
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That didn\u2019t happen.
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From out the blue came a handful of work-related shattered relationships. I have never felt such anguish.\u00a0The cumulative pain robbed me of my sleep, my optimism, and my hope that life would ever feel safe and normal again.\u00a0I began to empathize with author Anne Lamott\u2019s lifelong wrestling match with unforgiveness. For years she went around saying, \u201cI am not one of those Christians who are into forgiveness.\u00a0I am one of the other kind.\u201d
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That remark had always earned her a laugh.\u00a0But then it started to be too painful.
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Lamott decided to begin forgiving people who had harmed her either directly or indirectly over the years.\u00a0She remembered that theologian C.S. Lewis had once said that if we really want to learn how to forgive, we should probably start with something easier than the Gestapo.\u00a0So she decided to forego her \u201cmajor enemies\u201d and shoot lower.\u00a0
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Even so, she was immediately assailed by contrary emotions. She realized that she didn\u2019t want <\/em>to forgive.\u00a0\u201cI had such awful thoughts that I couldn\u2019t say them out loud, because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.\u201d\u00a0
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It didn\u2019t take long for me to realize that I didn\u2019t want to forgive, either.\u00a0Years went by.\u00a0I was imprisoned by my own resentments.\u00a0I either rationalized my emotions or tried valiantly to bury them.
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I once heard someone say that the resources of heaven are always aligned with those who choose to forgive \u2013 or who at least pray for the\u00a0desire <\/em>to forgive.\u00a0So as an act of raw obedience, I decided to speak aloud the names of the people who had hurt me:\u00a0
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\u201cI forgive So-and-So.\u201d\u00a0My heart wasn\u2019t really in it, and I felt rather foolish.\u00a0But for several days I kept at it nonetheless.
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And then the strangest thing happened.\u00a0I felt an inward stab of kindness.\u00a0My heart softened.
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That\u2019s how it starts.\u00a0
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I gradually began to experience a power beyond myself.\u00a0Every now and then, I even began to wish those individuals well.\u00a0The more I opened myself to the possibility of God\u2019s love and power, the more my heart began to thaw.\u00a0

I\u2019ve learned that there are no shortcuts and there’s still plenty of work to do.\u00a0But the process of releasing deep hurts is underway.\u00a0
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Wise people have pointed out that forgiveness means giving up all hope of having a better past.
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Why would we ever do such a thing?
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So we can welcome the hope of having a far more gracious future.
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The longer we live, the easier it is to see why the earliest Christians insisted that forgiveness be one of the finishing touches of the Apostles\u2019 Creed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here\u00a0Throughout the season of Lent, we’re taking a close look at the Apostles’ Creed – one of the earliest and most concise summaries of what followers of Jesus believe.\u00a0Did you hear about the guy named Bubba who called 911 because his wife was going into labor?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cPlease send an ambulance,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1080,76],"class_list":["post-5329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apostles-creed","tag-forgiveness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5331,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5329\/revisions\/5331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}