Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Forgiveness and Mercy  

Bible Reading: St. Matthew 18:18-27

Key Verse : Jesus answered  ‘ I tell you not seven times but seventy -sevnen times ‘ St. Matthew 18.22 ( The Living Translation)  

DEVOTION

Firstly let us focus on today’s Reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew Chapter 18 :18-27 that focuses on forgiveness and mercy . The Bible Portion focuses on how Jesus wants us to forgive those who hurts us and requests us to be merciful to those who offends us.
The topic of forgiveness is perhaps a much debated topic as conflict resolution even in the Church is an issue that impacts each of our lives. We often tend to deal with conflicts filled with emotions and that often leads to more resentment and additional conflicts . Thus we turn to today’s portion where Apostle Peter inquires with Jesus from feasible stand point on how many times does Jesus think we must forgive those who offend us and hurt us. Apostle Peter thinking seven was good number ,  quizzes Jesus,  however Jesus response to Apostle Peter was startling because Jesus indicated that we must forgive those who hurt us not seven times but “ seventy times seven “ . Now as we can see Jesus was not literally indicating that we should start  counting seventy times seven to forgive those who hurt us , however it was only an indicator that we forgive those who hurt us, as many times as possible. This may seem hard because today’s culture teaches us on retribution, on paying back and being  vengeful and that is when Jesus offers us the message of forgiveness to be merciful to all those who hurt us. 
Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that ‘ Blessed are the merciful ‘ that they will be shown mercy and  ‘ Blessed are the peacemakers ‘ for they will be called the children of God.  Thus its important we understand how important it is  to show mercy and be peaceful so that we truly become the children of God. 
We are in the midst of Great Lent Season and today is perhaps the day we have to take stock of situation and do an introspection on who are the people around us , who have hurt us , that we need to show mercy and forgiveness. We need to look at our family members, our relatives , our friends , our neighbors, our church members  or even our associates and colleagues at work that we need to forgive as Jesus said ‘ Seventy times Seven ‘ and peacemakers . As much as that sounds good , I personally know that is no  easy task , as we may feel that people will take disadvantage of us and treat us unfairly as we forgive and be merciful. The many of us who drive our cars on the freeways in the North America,  know how difficult it to when another rash driver cuts us off , or irks us for driving slow.  I have often been guilty of feeling resentful and emotional when these incidents happen to us on the freeways and is when  Christ message to each of us to forgive ‘ seventy times seven ‘ makes no sense at all . This Lenten Season I plan to turn this situation around and use this an opportunity to pray for those that make us mad and instead of anger , I am going to implement Jesus words ‘ to be merciful ‘ so that I will be shown mercy.. 

   PRAYER

Almighty and Gracious Lord , allow us to be people who can truly forgive and be merciful this Lenten season and bring to reality the words of Jesus in the Sermon of Mount to ‘ to be merciful ‘ and ‘ to be peacemakers ‘ in this world. 

Thought for the day

“ Forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us “ – The Lord’s Prayer. 


Abraham Kurien, Immanuel Mar Thoma Church, Houston, Texas.

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