Lenten Reflections
TUESDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT, MARCH 14, 2023
By Madeleine Ellis ’26
The Gospel reading from Matthew today can teach us much about the importance of forgiveness and the mercy of God, especially in this season of Lent. In the Gospel reading today we hear of when Peter asked Jesus how many times he must forgive his brother and then proceeded to ask if seven times was enough. To which I imagine Jesus kindly looking at Peter responding, no not seven, but seventy-seven. Jesus then shares a parable about a servant who owed a great debt to his master but had no way of paying it. The master decided to forgive this great debt, but then shortly after the servant goes to another servant who owed him a much smaller debt and because he couldn’t repay it, had him put into prison. The master then asks the servant, “I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to, should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?”
Jesus paid a debt that we certainly could never pay back or one that we even deserved, but through His crucifixion, we are washed in God’s grace. Throughout each of our days, we should be thinking not only of the wonderful gift of forgiveness showered on us but also of if we are showing that same grace and forgiveness to others. Forgiveness is quite the opposite of easy and goes against our very human nature, but it is forgiveness that sets us free. When we choose, by the grace of God, to forgive the hate, the anger, and the hurt no longer have power over us. God replaces those feelings with His most perfect peace and love.
Just as we are called to forgive those who trespass against us we are also called to receive God’s forgiveness. There is never a time when we can’t turn back to God because when Jesus was on the cross we all were on His mind. If it was just you, He still would have done it. If we can accept the fact that Jesus died for us and we are forgiven, then what if we started treating everyone we encounter like Jesus died for them? Will we have pity on them, just as Jesus had and still has pity on us?