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SCRIPTURE READINGS: EXODUS 14:19-31, ROMANS 14:1-12, MATTHEW 18:21-35

REFLECTION

“Forgive” is the theme for our reflection. To forgive means to stop feeling angry or resentful towards (someone) for an offence. We shall discuss the following points

1. The Lord forgives the repentant but the unrepentant He does not forgive.
2. We must forgive because we have been forgiven.

Firstly, the Lord forgives those who fear Him and are repentant, In Exodus 14:19-31, we observe that God has been very merciful to Pharaoh and the Egyptians even after they had refused to liberate the Israelites from slavery and captivity. When the last plague of death struck the Egyptians, Pharaoh had to let the Israelites go but his heart became hardened again and He was bent on stopping the Israelites from leaving Egypt. God protected His people who were being liberated from captivity but destroyed the Egyptians. “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.”  So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. (Exodus 14:26-29). Beloved in the Lord, God does not forgive unrepentant but “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Secondly, we must forgive because we have been forgiven. We must understand that sin is like a debt, we once upon a time owed God and deserved to be punished yet He forgave our sins because He paid our debt with His own Son. By receiving this grace and forgiveness from God we must also forgive those who owe us or who have offended us.  In Matthew 18:21-35, we learn that a servant who owed his master was forgiven yet he refused to forgive another servant who owed him.“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.  Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:32-35), The servant was not righteous yet he judged another servant who was equally unrighteous. Forgiveness means acknowledging the fact that we are not righteous thereby refrain from judging others. Paul admonishes us, “… why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” (Romans 14:10-12). It is sometimes difficult to forgive but we have been greatly by Paul that “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” (Romans 12:17-20). Again Jesus teaches us that “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (Matthew 6:14) Dear friend in the Lord, to forgive is not a choice but an obligation which must be performed by a believer or a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is for this reason, Jesus said that “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

In summary, we have reflected on the theme “Forgive”, We discovered from our reflection on the Scripture reading that the Lord forgives the repentant but the unrepentant He does not forgive. Again, we must forgive because we have been forgiven. May the Holy Spirit strengthen us to forgive those who offend us so that we may continually please God and also be forgiven. Amen.