Forgiveness or ???? Matthew 18:21-35

 Matthew 18:21-35 

John D. Rockefeller built the great Standard Oil empire. Not surprisingly, Rockefeller was a man who demanded high performance from his executives. One day, one of those executives made a two million dollar mistake. Word of the man's enormous error quickly spread throughout the executive offices, and the other men began to make themselves scarce, not wanting to cross his path. One man didn't have any choice, however, since he had an appointment with the boss. So he straightened his shoulders and walked into Rockefeller's office. As he approached Rockefeller's desk, he looked up from the piece of paper on which he was writing. "I guess you've heard about the two million dollar mistake our friend made," he said abruptly. "Yes," the executive said, expecting Rockefeller to explode. "Well, I've been sitting here listing all of our friend's good qualities, and I've discovered that in the past he has made us many more times the amount he lost for us today by his one mistake. His good points far outweigh this one human error. So I think we ought to forgive him, don't you?"

Dale Galloway, You Can Win with Love, in The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Charles Swindoll, Word Pub., p. 215.

Apparently the servant in the story Jesus tells made a 12 million dollar mistake !  But he was forgiven.  Then he could not forgive the one who owed him less than 15 dollars!  You see the problem.

The word for forgive is " aphíēmi (from 575 /apó, "away from" and hiēmi, "send") – properly, send away; release (discharge)."  biblehub.com  greek of Matthew 18:21

Why don't Christians forgive each other and close the loop on issues?  " The society of the forgiven has no meaning if those who are forgiven are themselves unforgiving."  RVG Tasker in  The Gospel According to St. Matthew.  I saw these thoughts on forgiveness and thought they were at least a beginning."

Forgiveness is a complex process that can be challenging to navigate. Here are some tips that might help you:

Acknowledge your feelings: Recognize and accept the emotions you are experiencing, such as anger, hurt, or sadness. It’s okay to feel these emotions and to take time to process them.

Understand the situation: Try to understand the situation from the other person’s perspective. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with their actions, but it can help you gain some insight into why they acted the way they did.

Communicate: If possible, communicate with the person who hurt you. Share your feelings and try to listen to their perspective as well. This can help you both move forward and find a way to repair the relationship.

Let go of resentment: Holding onto resentment can be harmful to your mental and emotional well-being. Try to let go of negative feelings and focus on positive aspects of your life.

Practice empathy: Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and understand their feelings and motivations. This can help you develop empathy and compassion for them.aw these thoughts on forgiveness and thought they were a beginning:"

---Now what is the Scriptural response?  If we just hold on to hurt eventually that will probably eat us up to some extent....You can see who is trying and who is not.   Matthew 18 talks about a process of going to the other person, and trying to work things out.  If the other person is uncooperative, the Church has a responsibility to intervene at some point according to Matthew 18.  

When people put their own feelings and pride about Christ and His Body there is a continual problem.  It may take a lot of time to resolve, but there should be a prayerful process that does not just ignore people and their responsibility to the Head of the Church.. That is Christ.

I close this with an illustration that seems to cover all the points well:

" Jim Talley and Terry Benner in their book True Colors tell the story of a man named Joe who decided to take an afternoon walk through the foothills just above a lake where he had been fishing. Joe was comfortably dressed in shorts, a T-shirt, and tennis shoes. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his leg as he stepped over a small log. It was then he noticed a large diamondback rattler slithering into the undergrowth beside the log.

He looked down at his leg and saw that he was bleeding from two small puncture wounds in his right calf. “I must get to a hospital,” he told himself. “But first, I’ll find that blankety-blank snake and kill it!”

And so Joe began a frantic search for the rattlesnake that bit him. He spent precious time looking under logs and turning over rocks in search of the snake. Meanwhile the venom quickly coursed through his body with the exertion of the search, leaving Joe dizzy and weak. He turned to go back to his car. But after only a few steps, he collapsed on the path and lay there as the venom traveled to his heart, ending his life.

Hours later the sheriff found Joe’s body and called the paramedics. They concluded that Joe had died of a snakebite, but they couldn’t understand the reason; he had only been five minutes from his car and twenty minutes from the nearest hospital. (1) Joe could have survived his encounter with a rattlesnake. It’s simply that, in his anger, he wanted revenge on the rattlesnake more than he cared about the seriousness of the rattlesnake bite.

We’re all familiar with the slogan: I DON’T GET MAD, I GET EVEN.

Well, there is a better option. It is to forgive.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus was so adamant that his disciples practice forgiveness in all their relationships?....

1. We forgive because it's in our best interest to do so.

2. Forgiveness and true happiness go hand-in-hand.

3. Forgiveness is part of our commitment to Christ.

4. Forgiveness makes it possible for relationships to be maintained." from sermons.com

Conclusion.  Much like the snake, some of us have trouble letting go of the anger, hurt and resentment.  We are not very forgiving. God has made allowance for that.  He gives us strong commands to let it go and truly forgive someone from the heart.  He enables us to believe in His Son for salvation. Now we need Him to help us on the journey through life with its pitfalls, difficult people and lessons we must learn.  We may be one of those difficult people.  Let go.  Be enable by God to do His will, in the freedom of total forgiveness.  

Amen.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.