Jesus came to teach us the language of love, and the language of love is always the language of forgiveness.

Jesus came to teach us that we are called to forgive seventy times seven, infinitely. Jesus came to teach us to break our cycles of revenge. Jesus came to teach us to forgive ourselves and other people, no matter how painful that may be.

Jesus came to teach us to forgive ourselves and other people, no matter how difficult that may be. Jesus came to teach us not only to forgive our friends and people that we  like but also to forgive our enemies and people with whom we have deep conflicts.
Jesus came to teach us that forgiveness is the master key of all human relationships.

 

Why is forgiveness so important? Why is forgiveness the master key of all human relationships? Why is forgiveness absolutely necessary in order for you and me to live with any degree of happiness at all? The answer is obvious. … In order to live with normal people like you and me, normal people who are irritable, moody, sassy, angry, imperfect, selfish, impertinent, you need the gift of divine forgiveness to live with each other. O, you can live in conflict, frustration and anger with all those normal and imperfect people around you, but you cannot live happily with imperfect people without the divine gift of forgiveness.

People do not change: that is, people will always be imperfect. People will always be irritable, moody, sassy, angry, selfish and impertinent. People will always be imperfect, and the only way to live with imperfect people like you and me is through forgiveness. … Forgiveness is as necessary for life as is air, water and bread. You cannot live without air, water and bread and so also, you cannot live life happily nor effectively in this world of ours without the gift of God’s forgiveness.

God’s forgiveness is overwhelmingly abundant, and there is no way that a human mind can comprehend the magnitude of God’s forgiveness. There is no way to comprehend the height and the depth of God’s forgiveness and there is no way that we could repay God for the enormous debt that God paid for our sin. God persistently forgives us for our temper tantrums, our irritability, our losing our temper, our rage, our robbery, rape, murder, incest, apathy, selfishness, suicide. The list of our sins goes on and on and God repeatedly forgives us for our sins. There is no bottom to the well of God’s forgiveness. This parable tells us about God’s overwhelming and abundant forgiveness.

God forgives not only our individual sins but our social sins and social injustices as well. We hear of people dying of hunger and starvation, that half of the world goes to bed hungry at night. We do nothing or close to nothing. And God repeatedly forgives us: again and again and again, day in and day out during our lives.

The purpose of God’s magnanimous generosity is inspire us, lift us up, and motivate us to be forgiving people in all of our relationships. We are to forgive…what your husband or wife did to your marriage some fifteen years ago and you cannot really get over it. What the rapist did to your body. What the drunk driver did to your child or spouse when that child or spouse was killed in that car accident so long ago. What your brother or sister did to you when you were growing up? What your mother did to you? What your father did to you. How your children repeatedly did not live up to your expectations.  How your friend talked painfully behind your back. How that person at work repeatedly hurts you.

The purpose of God’s overwhelmingly generous forgiveness is to motivate us, lift us up, and inspire us to be forgiving people, so that our souls do not dry up with the white heat of rage, anger and bitterness. We are not to be stingy, penurious or frugal with our forgiveness to others when God’s forgiveness towards us is so incredibly generous.
Sermon by Rev. Edward Markquart