What is the most difficult part of Jesus' message to put into practice? Would you say forgiveness?
It seems so easy to do... until we have to do it. Then we discover the true challenge contained in Jesus' teaching today, that when someone sins against us, we must forgive them - not once, not seven times, but seventy-seven times!
In saying this, our Lord wasn't trying to be funny.
Forgiveness isn't just a one-time decision - really dealing with the hurt and resentment resulting from someone else's action against us is a process. Forgiveness doesn't mean pretending that the hurt someone else has caused us doesn't matter; what it does mean is choosing not to let what they did continue to affect my life.
More than that, it calls us to see the humanity in the other person: to recognize that they can err - just as I can, and that they should get another chance - just as I would want.
Forgiveness calls us, not to ignore the hurt that someone else has caused us, but to move past it so we can more fully enjoy this life that God has given us.
