THE WORD IN LENT
Friday, First week in Lent - March 11, 2022
Ezekiel 18:21-28; Matthew 5:20-26
The Lord teaches us today, to forgive before we go into the presence of the Lord. Forgiving my brother or sister is presented as a condition to enter into the presence of the Lord; elsewhere Jesus would present forgiving your brother or sister as also the condition to experience forgiveness from the Lord. It is what the Lord has taught us to pray too: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us!
But why forgive, to be forgiven? To answer that question, we have to answer another question: why do we not forgive? I do not forgive someone, because I feel or I am convinced that, the person in question does not deserve my forgiveness. He or she is beyond my forgiveness, too evil to be forgiven, or out of my forgiveness criteria. Here is where the message of the Word today comes down on us strongly.
If only the Lord thinks the way we think - whether we deserve or not to be forgiven; whether we are good enough to be forgive or no; whethe we fall within the forgiveness criteria of God! Let us just imagine a little, what would happen to us if we were treated by God, the way we treat our brothers and sisters!
Forgiving the other is entering into the world of mercy of God; only within that world, our forgiveness from God makes sense! We would never deserve God's forgiveness; but when we refuse to forgive the other, we shall never be part of the mercy circle of God!