Community Service: Forgiveness

We all long for community, but rarely count the cost of belonging to a community. Modern culture has the desire for relationship without the recourses and resources to maintain relationships. The result is a web of shallow, superficial, arms-length connections that can be dismissed at a moment’s notice. In contrast, Jesus calls his disciples to an entirely different way of relating to one another - the way of radical forgiveness.

Jesus gives very practical, matter-of-fact commands: Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you MUST forgive him.” What is simple and straightforward in theory is actually very hard in practice. This teaching shows why forgiveness is so needed, what makes it impossible, and how we can get the power to do it.