2:6 This
punishment which was inflicted by the
majority is sufficient for such a man, 7 so that, on the
contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest
perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. 8 Therefore
I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. 9 For to this end
I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all
things. 10 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if
indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes
in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us;
for we are not ignorant of his devices.
This subject of forgiveness is avoided for the simple reason
that it is painful. Satan has many devices and one of them is twisting our
thinking and tempting us to look at things backwards or upside-down or from any
perspective but the right one. When it comes to forgiveness the most common
warped thinking is the idea that "If I forgive I'm saying what they did
was ok." Nothing could be further from the truth. What we are doing when
we forgive is starting the healing process. It is step one toward the offense
never occuring again. It's not by any means a guarantee that healing will occur
but not forgiving is a guarantee that it never can. It leaves an open would
that can never be closed up for the offender or the victim.
Now back to our story or rather Jesus' story. He told of a
king that forgave an impossible debt only to have the forgiven man harshly
throw another man in prison who owed him very little. When the king found out
what he had done do you know what the king did?
18:31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been
done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been
done. 32 Then his master (the king), after he had called him, said to
him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged
me.33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just
as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him
to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of
you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
Maybe you are thinking "Wait a minute, the king is
suddenly very unforgiving. What's up with that?"
It's a fair observation. However to say the king is
unforgiving is to deny the rest of the story. The king never intended to go
back on his forgiveness of the man. He had extended grace full and free. The
problem was the man never received it. It had no effect. Forgiveness is meant
to break the cycle of guilt, shame, pain, etc... Love awakens love. In this
story that never happened. Because it never happened the king was forced to
resort to a much less desirable method, not to appease his own hurt, but to protect
his other subjects from this cold hearted man who couldn't be won by
compassion.
Jesus is the king in the story and when you walk through His
life here on earth there was ever only one thing that made Him angry - the
mistreatment of others. He never got angry over things done to Himself. He got
angry over pain caused to others, particularly by those in a position to know
better.
So does all this mean that I am free to refuse forgiveness to
those I think should know better? Can I turn my back on those who have abused
my compassion?
We'll look at that tomorrow...
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