Last week, we listened to the Gospel of Matthew, which focused on how the community dealt with a member who committed sin or went away from the community. "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take two or three witnesses in order to have a testimony. If he refuses, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a tax collector." From this passage, we can say that the community or the Church must be a place that offers mercy and forgiveness.
This Sunday gospel also invites us to be merciful towards one another, especially to those who ask for forgiveness. Sometimes, it is not easy to forgive, especially to forgive those who keep doing the same sins or hurt us deeply. Thus, perhaps like Peter, we raise the same question, “Lord, how often do I forgive? As many as seven times?” The question of Peter somehow there must be a limit in offering forgiveness to someone who commits sins. But that is not the logic of God. The logic of God is love and that is why in God the forgiveness is unlimited. When Jesus said, “Not seven times but seventy-seven times,” he wanted to say, that we must forgive without limit.
How can this be? It is impossible! Yes, God knows it is not easy to forgive. But God wants you and me to be happy. It is for our own physical, emotional, and spiritual health that God wants us to be forgiving people to one another. If we experience the love of God who forgives us always, we too must be ready to forgive one another. Love always finds a reason to forgive.