Christian Living

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Jesus began to tell a story of two individuals who went to the temple to pray [1]. One was a pharisee and the other a tax collector. The pharisee relates everything good he has done or is doing and seems grateful for being made more superior than the other individual. The tax collector, on the other hand, realises his sinfulness and seeks remission for his sins. At the end of the prayers one is forgiven and the other is not. Its not because of the favour of the Forgiver but it is because of the attitude of the ones who prayed. Both are sinners with sins to be forgiven but then the pharisee does not recognise the need and therefore does not ask for forgiveness. The lessons we are going to learn is about forgiveness considering the side of the sinner.

So much is emphasized on forgiveness, especially considering the side of the forgiver or victim. The extent of the emphasis makes it even a sin for one not to forgive the one. The question I will raise is about whether forgiveness is a guaranteed right to the one who has wronged the victim or there are more issues to consider before one is granted such forgiveness. Joseph takes his time to prove that his brothers have felt sorry for the fact that they intended to kill him in the first before selling to slavery, a fact that landed him holding a Prime Ministerial position in Egypt. He gives them several tests [2] in order to prove that they are worthy to be forgiven. One lesson we should learn is that for one to be forgiven, one needs to be sorry for what they did and that sorrow should lead to a change of action. One should stop doing that which hurts the other person.

On being asked about the number of times a single person can be forgiven, Jesus gives a very interesting answer. He says it be seventy times seven times and then adds a very important disclaimer. The disclaimer is that each time the offender comes to plead for forgiveness. This number represents a mammoth feat for both the offender and the offended to achieve. For a single person to offend another single person that many times may require a consented effort to offend. The important point, though, is the requirement for the offender to request to be forgiveness each time they offend the other person. A constant request for forgiveness should over time make it harder for the offender to repeat the same offence.

The Lord’s prayer consists of a portion that requires one to request for God to “forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those that have sinned against us. [3]” In Matthew 18:22-35 Jesus tells the story of an unforgiving servant. In the story the servant owes his master a very large sum while at the same time being owed by a neighbor a relatively smaller amount. The servant requests forgiveness and is granted the cancellation of the debt by the master. On the way back to his home, he meets the one who is indebted to him and confronts him. Against the pleas of the debtor for further time to clear the debt, he sends the debtor to prison. This is despite the fact that he, himself was forgiven for an even larger amount. Forgeting that forgiveness is availed to everyone who asks for it earnestly is a common sin that we all are prone. Simon of Bethany had the same problem concerning his attitude towards Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus [4].

In conclusion, Roman 3:23 summarises our condition as sinners and having “fallen short of His glory.” That means that we need forgiveness from the Saviour for Him to put us back on track to an unearned salvation. We need, therefore, to be sorry for our sins and request for Jesus to forgive us all our sins. The forgiveness that we receive is the good news that we need to pass on to each and every sinner on this planet. Our actions in forgiving others and relating also our own experiences with the forgiving Saviour should light upthe paths of sinners who are in the brink of losing all hope. Jesus is willing to provide that hope and we should allow His light to shine inside of us, so that more of us would appreciate the love He ha loved us with, “to forgive us our sins and entrench in us righteousness that we may never achieve when left on our own.

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