Lent (#4): Cutting the Phone Line to Avoid Unwanted Callers then Wondering Why We Can't Call Our Best Friend

This week's Lent posting comes from the Week 3 Saturday reading of NT Wright's Lent for Everyone -Matthew. He writes from the teaching of Jesus about forgiveness in Matthew 18. He suggests that this teaching should be applied to at least three levels of our lives: the very personal everyday level in which we practice forgiving the little offenses and irritations that come our way; the second level is the deep psychological level of forgiving those who have sinned against us in our past, particularly those in our family; and the third level is prayer for forgiveness at the macro level in society recognizing that the day will come when God will deal once and for all with all debts of every kind in history (called the Jubilee year by the Israelites).

The following quote pertains to the second level of forgiveness; the author is telling a story about a young woman who found herself incapable of receiving the love of God even though she wanted to receive it. Eventually the truth came out that she hated her parents...

"She resented the sort of people they were, the way they had treated her. So she had closed up her heart. Where there should have been an open readiness for God's love, there was a steel wall. It was as though you cut off the telephone line to stop certain people ringing you up and then grumbled because you couldn't phone your best friend. Forgiveness and love are a two-way street. The same part of you spiritually both gives and receives. If you shut down the part labeled 'forgiveness', you shut down the part labeled 'forgiveness' in both directions...

"Jesus was the Great Jubilee in person...Forgiveness wasn't an incidental feature of his kingdom-movement. It was the name of the game. Those of us who find ourselves drawn into that movement must learn how to play that game all of the time. It's what we're about. It's what God is about."

"Loving Lord, teach us to forgive as we have been forgiven."