Love Mercy, Do Justice January 2023 Scripture Reflection
Mt. 18:22, Mt. 6:14-15, Lk. 23:34, Ro. 3:23
Do I Really Understand Forgiveness?
In Matthew 18:22, Christ exhorted us to forgive “seventy times seven.” In Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus said we’d be forgiven to the extent we forgive others. In Luke 23:34, Jesus forgave the Roman soldiers who’d hung him on the cross even though they’d never asked for forgiveness.
My grandparents fled Mexico during the Mexican Revolutionary War, but they experienced a lot of prejudice as migrant laborers in Southern California. My father was punished in school for speaking Spanish. To survive that hostile environment, he divorced himself from his native cultural identity and memorized every word in his English dictionary, so that others would not rob him of his dignity as an image-bearer of God from a different nation and ethnicity. My father used to remind me that I was an American and to not let anyone tell me I was not. My father tried to protect me from the prejudice he endured by challenging me to memorize at least one new word from the English dictionary every day.
I am heartbroken for the blindness of my fellow image-bearers and for the injustice they inflicted upon my family, but I know that God wants to restore what is broken.
The first step in forgiveness is understanding just how much I need forgiveness extended to me; Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I’ve been forgiven so much; shouldn’t I extend forgiveness to others?
A Prayer of Forgiveness
Lord, there is so much strife and conflict that distracts us from who you are, closing our minds and hardening our hearts against one another. I pray we are loosened from the chains of unforgiveness and that our hearts are softened toward one another. Help us see your love in one another and strengthen our desire for community and oneness in you. Open our ears to listen to the stories of those around us so that we may better understand one another. Help us to release negative thoughts and ideas about others, and to forgive them as you have forgiven us. (Prayer written by Latasha Morrison)