Forgiveness was important to Jesus. He included forgiveness when he taught us to pray the “Lord’s Prayer” in the Sermon on the Mount. Then to make sure that we got the point he appends to the prayer: “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.” In the next chapter of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus adds, “Judge not, lest you be judged.” What makes forgiveness so central to following Jesus? What Our Lord wants us to understand is that we can never know all the motivations, fears, wounds that cause another to act as they do. There is a French proverb: “to understand all is to forgive all.” Since we can’t understand all Jesus says let’s start with forgiveness!
JUNE162022
By Church Staff