Matthew 18:21-22
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Matthew 5:43-48
Loving Your Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Luke 23:32-38
Jesus Forgives Those Who Are About to Crucify Him
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS KING OF THE JEWS.
For man forgiving others is hard...For Jesus is seems quite a natural thing to do...G. K. Chesterton said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting...It has been found difficult; and left untried.”...And when Chesterton said this I believe that in the Christian ideals that there are many teachings that Jesus taught that are hard and difficult, and therefore left untried...Forgiving, as Jesus discusses, is difficult and hard...And so, God and His Son know the difficulties we have of both loving and forgiving...Peter knew that Jesus was going to give him an unconventional answer about forgiveness, because His Master is an unconventional Man...So when Jesus tells Peter that we should forgive people seventy times seventy, we know that He is asking us something that is difficult to do...And when He tells His listeners and Disciples to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, this to is very difficult...
Forgiveness is a part of love...Loving is better than not loving...And when forgiveness is necessary, forgiveness is better than not forgiving...And as forgiving is difficult, so is loving your enemies...When Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, we might also believe that loving one's enemies is linked with forgiving your enemies...The ideas of not loving our enemies or not wanting to forgive our enemies, had to have started at a specific point in time and in our lives...Let us remember, each of our enemies was born and a child once and is a man or a woman like each of us...So when we think about this and being able to accomplish this, we can first forgive our enemies and then love them, or can we first love our enemies and then forgive them...Both processes are very difficult and hard, being human are often left undone and untried..
God is Perfect and full of Grace and Mercy...God has forgiven us and He LOVES us...Our own personal grace and mercy must help us both forgive and love others, including our enemies...If we want to continue with not loving our enemies or forgiving them, that can easily happen and does most of the time...Just look at the world around us...Our enemies have sinned against us as we have sinned against God...God has forgiven us...So if we want to get along with our neighbors and our enemies, we must want love more than the harm and the hate and the dislike that our enemies have caused...We must want love above all things (and there are times when we don't)...But as stated earlier love is better than not loving...
Jesus faced His enemies on the night of His arrest and during His brief trial and His crucifixion...All the while, He forgave them and LOVED them...Through prayer and forgiveness, we can be more like Jesus...Praying for our enemies can help us let go of certain things, and is a start...Let us pray, that we can repay the harm and injustice our enemy (or enemies) have done with love and forgiveness and prayer, instead of our hate and our angry, mean feelings...Love is better than not loving...Only love can help us forgive...Only love can help us prayer for our enemy...