Listen

“When that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred coins. He grabbed him around the throat and said, ‘Pay me back what you owe me.’

“Then his fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he threw him into prison until he paid back his debt.”

Matthew 18:28-30

Think

The “Golden Rule” for human relationships asks us to treat others the way we would like to be treated. Somehow the man whose huge debt was forgiven was unable to extend the same mercy he received to someone who owed him much less. This is not how the Rule is supposed to work.

Mercy is an act of compassion for someone who has done something they could be punished for. All of us break rules, fail to live up to expectations, and get ourselves into situations where we need forgiveness instead of retribution. Forgiveness is not for the perfect. It is for people who make mistakes and get it wrong.

Jesus wanted Peter to know that mercy and forgiveness are gifts from God to be shared in community for building more loving relationships. This way of living the Golden Rule is how God brings the Kingdom of Heaven to the Kin-dom of earth.

Kamal Hassan

Pray

God, may I remember the kindness I receive is a gift which grows in value as I share it with others. I am blessed to be a blessing. May I help make “on earth as it is in heaven” a living reality today. Amen.

Go

I don’t feel no ways tired,

I come too far from where I started from.

Nobody told me that the road would be easy,

I don’t believe He brought me this far to leave me.

from “I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired” by Curtis Burrell (1978)