Daily Readings, August 12, 2004

Today's readings

The Gospel tells us that if we don't forgive the little things thare are done against us on earth, that the Lord, our Father, will not forgive the big things that we do against Him. It is for that reason that I try my hardest not to condemn others. I have been forgiven much.

So the Gospel has a lot of resonance. I still fail, of course, but my goal is not to be the slave in this parable.

But how does the parable relate to the first reading, which does not speak of God's forgiveness, but of a stern and unforgiving God, willing to punish His people when they fall short?

Well, in what way did they fall short? According to Scripture, they worshipped other gods, rather than the Father, who had treated them so well. But why is God jealous of their attention? After all, He is God. He doesn't need the Israelites. It is not loving and compassionate to turn someone's life to crap because they follow someone else.

But maybe it is not God who is turning their life to crap. Maybe it is them and the result of their free will. Maybe it is not God causing them to go into exile, maybe it is the result of their actions.

Maybe we have it all wrong. If we have free will, then we need to be allowed to exercise that free will and face its consequences. A God who continually follows us around and cleans up our messes is not God at all, but is a servant, someone we command to help us. But by God allowing us free will and allowing us its consequences, He allows us to face those consequences.

And maybe part of the consequence of not following God is, at least sometimes, not showing forgiveness to our brothers and sisters.

Now don't get me wrong, when we offer forgiveness, it has to be meaningful. That means that if someone does something the leaves substantial hurt, it is not realistic to expect the victim to turn around and pretend it never happened. All too often, we expect a cheap forgiveness given by the victim without allowing them to consider the circumstance and deal with their own grief and hurt first.

Real forgiveness comes from the heart and it comes with more than words. It comes with hugs and a restoration of affection for the target. It is a restoration of what was before. To make that real, the victim must be allowed to get to the point of forgiveness.

But we are required to do our best to get to that point. The call to forgiveness is not a call to dispense a quick feel-good response. It is a call for a change of heart from a righteous anger to a loving touch. Jesus did that. But He was Jesus. We are supposed to try to match that standard, but as much as Jesus was man, He was also God and God's standard is above ours and typically out of reach.

The main warning though, is against the hardness and bitterness that can come from nursing a long-time hurt. That doesn't help the person against which we hold our antogonism, but it also hurts us and prevents us from attaining the peace that God designed us to pursue and to sometimes attain.