Parable on Forgiveness

54. Parable on Forgiveness

Can you remember a time when, feeling truly loved and worthwhile, you had nothing but goodwill and charity toward everyone else around you? Maybe it was in high school when you found out that the person you liked really liked you. Or the day you got a well deserved promotion at work, Or had a particularly brilliant idea that everyone loved. People could cut you off on the highway, spill coffee on your blouse, whatever – all were immediately forgiven. In fact, you could not help but forgive them; it was automatic. Something happened that made you feel loved and worthwhile, and you were compelled to extend that same spirit toward all others. We’ve all probably had that experience at least a few times in our lives.

Jesus is saying that if we saw clearly – without blinders or judgment – our own human frailties and limitations, and clearly understood that we are loved by God, our creator, despite all of our shortcomings, then we would be so overwhelmed with gratitude that we would automatically have nothing but an attitude of charity, goodwill and forgiveness toward all other human beings.

It’s not that having such an attitude is just a good or nice idea. It is actually the inevitable outcome of being fully who we are meant to be. This is important, because Jesus was not creating some sort of behavioral check-list that, if followed, leads to automatic membership into the kingdom of God. He was trying to communicate a process that, if undertaken, leads naturally to loving, forgiving, merciful behavior.

Again, we don’t go for the behavior directly, we go for the process that will lead to the behavior. If you see what Jesus saw, this is how you will behave. Not how you should behave. That is a big difference. And one that few have understood.

The emphasis is always on how you see and how you hear. Not on what you do. Doing is just the result of seeing and hearing clearly.