Scripture:Then Peter came to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy times seven’. (Matthew 18.21-22)Reflection:Rabbinic teaching stated that a man had a duty to forgive three times, but no more - as in the Three Strikes of American Law. Peter thought he was being very generous in suggesting forgiving somebody seven times, and must have felt rather deflated by Jesus’s answer. Obviously Jesus doesn’t mean keep count of the times people have offended you and give up after 490! He is saying that our whole lives must be lived in a spirit of forgiveness, modelling the loving forgiveness of God. It’s helpful to remember that just before Peter’s question Jesus had been speaking about dealing with grudges by talking to the person who has offended you and seeking a peaceful solution. Forget about the 490, or even the seven, and commit to putting things right as you go along. It calls for patience and humility and won’t always be easy. But this is what, as Christians, we must aspire to.Revd Rosemary
Scripture:‘If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. (Matthew 18 15 & 1Reflection:How do you normally deal with conflict? We all have different ways of handling this - some of us resort to retaliation, some use the vehicle of social media, others through gossiping - each one of these methods invariably causes more harm than good. In this passage, Jesus gives us a blueprint for how we should deal with someone when they have ‘sinned against us’.If someone hurts you, angers you, saddens you, or does you wrong in any way…you go and talk to them about it directly, one on one. Not only does this way of working out difficulties lead to forgiveness, it also does so in a graceful way. The offended party isn’t dragging the offender through the mud. If it gets worked out here, no one else needs to know.Forgiveness is available without fear of embarrassment & it can be done quietly. Lovingly. Gracefully. If this does not resolve the issue - only then should you employ the assistance of others - remembering to do so in the spirit of love and forgiveness. Lyn Hayes ALM
