“Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven, ‘or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?” For Jesus, pronouncing forgiveness is harder! That reminds us of the challenge we face in coming to forgiveness. There is a story of a woman who told her priest that God was speaking with her. He was skeptical and told the woman, “Ask God what my secret sin was that I confessed last month.” When the woman returned the priest asked about her conversation with God. She answered, “When I asked God about your secret sin God responded, ‘I forgot.'” We find it hard to forgive and forget but the prayer of Jesus reminds us that we forgive as we have been forgiven.
