Mark Sorensen Here’s a question that was sent in to the church in our “You Asked For It” series that I would love to answer. The question was, “Does forgiveness mean that we have to forget?”
I mentioned in last week’s traditional services that I appreciated the boldness of Simon Peter. He was always quick to spit out exactly what was on his mind. Take one example of his boldness found in Matthew 18.
Clearly, the topic of forgiveness was on Peter’s mind so he asked Jesus the following question: “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Now, Jewish customs of the day said that the magic number to ask for forgiveness was three times. So, when Simon Peter throws out the number seven, we can guess that he was shooting high to impress Jesus. What Peter wasn’t prepared for? Jesus has a higher jump shot. “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times’”.
It’s as if Jesus is saying that to forgive, one must continuously loosen the grip of hurt and anger to truly be freed from it.
Jesus spoke on the topic of forgiveness often. In fact, I would say that at the very heart of the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew’s gospel, you find the theme of forgiveness is central. In Matthew 6, upon being asked by the disciples on how to pray, Jesus responds,
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors…”
Do you see it? Within the prayer you find the words, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”. Within the Lord’s prayer (intended to be prayed alongside one another, by the way), we’re reminded that forgiveness has been given to us all and we’re to extend the same mercy to others.
I read once that, “to choose to NOT forgive is like taking POISON and waiting for the other person to die.”
It’s so true. Anger, malice, rage, they’re toxic emotions that can destroy our soul. So, does forgiveness mean we forget? I don’t think so. But it DOES mean we don’t hold on to it.
Go deeper. Check out these words from Paul in Colossians 3:1-15
