As Christians, we have a very serious obligation to be forgiving of those who do us harm.  Again and again, the Gospels recount Our Lord admonishing the disciples to forgive, even when it’s very difficult to do so, even if the same person needs to be forgiven for the same offense, over and over, even seven by seventy-seven times.  This attitude of mercy and forgiveness is something that the world doesn’t understand.  Human wisdom, the wisdom of the world, is interested in fairness.  People ought to get what they deserve.  Good behavior should be rewarded with blessings, bad behavior with a curse.  An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.  Always the proportionate response, what is appropriate, what makes sense.  This is the wisdom of the world; but it’s not the wisdom of God.  And jolly good for us.  Because we are all sinners.  Whoever we are, we’ve all done things worthy of condemnation.  As the Proverb says, “Even the just man sins seven times a day.”  We should shudder at the thought of being treated fairly. Getting what we deserve would be bad news for us.  But thanks be to God, his will is directed to salvation.  His thoughts are of mercy, and his justice is perfectly satisfied by the sacrifice of Christ who bears all our sins as only God himself could. 

In his teaching, Our Lord makes clear that forgiveness is the standard that he expects us to adopt, and mercy is the standard that he wants to apply for our benefit as well.  But we have to let him.  We have to let him be merciful to us.  We have to convert our hearts and be open to a spirit of generous forgiveness.  Otherwise, if we cling to vengeance and spite and pay-back, then Our Lord will respect our decision, and treat us that way as well.  So we shouldn’t be too quick to judge, or to condemn, or even to admonish others.  Our default position should be forgiveness, mercy, and sympathy for the temptations that others might feel.  When we are wronged by another, we should consider first the struggles this person might be having in overcoming temptations in life; we should remember that we too do a fair amount of wronging; and we shouldn’t throw stones from inside our glass houses.  This is a just a good way to live life, being generous, giving others the benefit of the doubt, trying to forgive: it’s a much happier and more peaceful outlook than the constant stress that comes from being worried about settling scores all the time.  In fact, the wisdom of this way of living life has been known since ancient times and was revealed by God, even before the coming of Christ.  We heard the Wise Man say in the first lesson from Ecclesiasticus, “Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord?  Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, and then seek pardon for his own sins?” 

The standard that we use to judge others will be the standard by which we ourselves are judged.  And we should desire this.  We should desire this freedom from hypocrisy and double-standard.  In fact we ask Our Lord for this every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer.  “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  That’s a pretty serious thing to pray for.  We are actually asking the Lord to hold us to this incredibly high standard of behavior.  When I say this phrase in the Our Father, I am asking God to forgive me only as much as I am willing to forgive others.  I’m asking God to hold me to that higher standard of forgiveness and to give me the grace that I need to make that supernatural choice, to foster that heroic charity towards others.  What we should see and embrace more than anything is the generosity and joy of God’s mercy.  He never welcomes us back grudgingly or half-heartedly.  If we have sinned, even very seriously, and we return to him with sincerity, he has nothing but joy at our return.  And the kingdom of heaven feasts at the conversion of a single sinner.  This is the wisdom of God.  A wisdom which doesn’t fixate on the wrongs of the present moment.  A wisdom of cosmic perspective, rooted in love, with an eye on the final destiny for which we are created.  A wisdom which desires the salvation of each and every soul.  In Christ, justice and mercy are brought to unity and perfection, and by his wisdom we are saved.