“You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” (Matthew 18:32-33)
Loving our ‘neighbor’ often involves forgiving him when he has wronged us in some way. This wrong might be serious, as we saw two days ago. If we are to love this person nevertheless, we’ll have to forgive him over and over again.
That’s exactly what Peter found hard, and he asked Jesus how often he had to forgive his brother. In response, Jesus told a parable about a servant who was forgiven a huge debt, but refused to have patience with a fellow servant who owed him some money. The servant’s lack of mercy made the king very angry, and he was delivered to the jailers.
This parable might help us to put things in perspective. Yes, it can be very difficult to forgive somebody who has hurt or damaged us. But we too are sinful, and we too need forgiveness. Our sins against God are infinitely bigger than our neighbor’s sins against us. If we accept His forgiveness, should we not be willing to forgive our neighbor?