30 Days - an Overview of the Bible in Just Thirty Daysਨਮੂਨਾ

Forgiveness

John Plummer was a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. He helped organise a napalm raid on the village of Trang Bang in 1972, a bombing immortalised by the prize-winning photograph of one of its victims. In the photo, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, a naked nine-year-old girl, burned, crying, arms outstretched, runs toward the camera with plumes of black smoke billowing in the sky behind her.

For twenty-four years his conscience tormented him. He badly wanted to find the girl to say that he was sorry. On Veterans’ Day 1996, John met Kim at the Vietnam Memorial. Kim had come to Washington D.C. to lay a wreath for peace; John had come with a group of former pilots still searching for freedom from the past. In a speech to the crowd, Kim, now a Christian, said that she forgave the men who had bombed her village. John pushed through the crowds and managed to catch her attention.

He identified himself as the pilot responsible for bombing her village twenty-four years before, and they were able to talk for two, short minutes. ‘Kim saw my grief, my pain, my sorrow… She held our her arms to me and embraced me. All I could say was ‘I’m sorry; I’m sorry’ – over and over again. And at the same time she was saying, ‘It’s all right, I forgive you.’

They met again later the same day, and Kim reaffirmed her forgiveness. They since became good friends and remained in regular contact.

Matthew 18:21-35

Forgiveness is never easy but it is vital. We are all human. We make mistakes and we hurt each other. Lack of forgiveness is at the root of so much anger, quarrelling, division, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. The teaching of Jesus in this passage is crucial for all relationships: for marriage, family life, church life, relationships at work and in the community and for our eternal destiny. In this passage today, we see three important things about forgiveness.

1. Unlimited forgiveness is commanded by Jesus

The apostle Peter presumably had difficult relationships. He asked Jesus how many times he needed to forgive. The contemporary teachers taught that we should forgive three times, at most four (on the basis of the Old Testament book of Amos).

The apostle Peter offers to go further and forgive seven times. He believed in forgiveness. The people believed in it. Nearly everybody believes in forgiveness. They would say, ‘It is right to forgive… up to a point. But there comes a point where a person has gone too far and we are justified in not forgiving.’ The radical part of Jesus’ teaching is that he requires unlimited forgiveness.

It does not mean that we condone sin as Christians. There is a place for the law and for justice. The New Testament distinguishes the actions of the state from our responses in personal relationships. What it does mean is that in our personal relationships we lay aside all malice, revenge and retribution. Forgiveness is hard, but it is possible.

2. Unlimited forgiveness is a reasonable response to the unlimited forgiveness we have received

A talent was the highest unit of currency, equivalent to 6000 denarii. The annual revenue from Galilee and Perea was 200 talents. The total revenue of a wealthy province might be 300 talents. 10,000 was the highest Greek numeral, and 10,000 talents was an immense amount, the highest figure imaginable – it was the equivalent for us of ‘untold billions’.

In the story, the servant was required to sell his family, not just to repay the debt but also as a form of public humiliation. He pleads for time, which is absurd. He could never pay back the debt. It is the hope of a desperate man.

We see in the person of the servant’s master what God is like. He does not simply give him time to pay; he is moved to show compassion by cancelling the debt and giving the whole family their freedom. He goes way beyond what is required by showing unlimited forgiveness. Then the forgiven servant finds his fellow servant who owes him one six hundred thousandth of his debt and aggressively demands payment.

In this brilliant short story, we side first with the underdog and then are shown the absurd hypocrisy of a forgiven sinner standing on his rights. Next, we find ourselves accusing not the man in the parable but ourselves. The only reasonable response to the unlimited forgiveness we receive from God is to forgive others without limit.

3. Unlimited forgiveness is necessary if we want to be forgiven

The king turns the unforgiving servant over to the jailers ‘to be tortured’. Lack of forgiveness tortures the soul. As is often said, ‘It’s like drinking poison in the hope that the other person will die.’ All it does is allow them to live rent-free in your head.

The clear teaching of the New Testament is that we must forgive. We do not earn forgiveness. It is made possible through the cross. Your willingness to forgive is evidence that you know God’s forgiveness. Once you recognise your need for unlimited forgiveness and have received it, you must forgive others ‘from your heart’, which means totally.

Forgiveness is an act of the will. If there are those whose names come to mind, choose to forgive them and as an act of the will release them into God’s hands. You will probably need to ask for God’s help. If you are dealing with very painful issues, it may be wise to seek someone in leadership or a Christian you know and respect to pray with. Ask for God’s help to make forgiveness a lifetime habit. You can forgive, not in your own strength but out of the overflow of forgiveness that God has shown you.

Prayer

Lord, thank you that you do not put a limit on how much you forgive me. Help me to cultivate the same attitude towards forgiving others as you have towards me. Just as I have been forgiven, I choose to forgive…

References

© Nicky Gumbel, 2024

This reading plan is adapted from the book 30 Days by Nicky Gumbel. It is published by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK, and by HarperCollins Christian Publishing in the USA.