My Catholic Life!: Forgiving…Seven Times a Day - Monday, November 7, 2022

“Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.” Luke 17:3-4

Complete forgiveness can be very difficult at times. This is especially the case when the same person sins against you “seven times in one day” as Jesus says.

But Jesus’ words should be taken to heart. He was not being idealistic; rather, He was being very realistic. Forgiveness must be given, over and over and over again. We cannot hesitate in offering it, especially to those who sincerely repent.

One of the first things we should notice from this passage is that when someone sins against us, we should rebuke him. The rebuke is not to be an act focused on revenge; rather, it must be done so as to invite repentance. This is the only reason for the rebuke of another. If we have a sense that someone who sins against us may be open to change, then we must offer them a rebuke of love. And when they accept it and seek our forgiveness, we must offer it.

But, as mentioned, this can especially be difficult when the sin is committed over and over again. It can become wearying and discouraging. And when a sin is committed over and over again, it’s easy to become skeptical about the authentic sorrow of the one seeking forgiveness.

But none of that should be our concern. Our only concern should be to hear those words, “I’m sorry.” This is the command of Jesus. When one says these words, we must forgive and do so immediately.

This Scripture also reveals to us the importance of expressing our sorrow to those whom we hurt. It’s dangerous to simply presume that another will forgive. There is great power in actually saying to another, “Please forgive me, I’m sorry for my sin.” Though these words may be difficult to say, they are words of great healing.

Reflect, today, upon the act of asking for forgiveness and offering it to another. We are all given numerous opportunities every day to forgive and seek forgiveness. Do not hesitate in doing so and you will be grateful you did.

Lord, I am truly sorry for the many sins I have committed against You. Please forgive me. When I am obstinate, please offer me a rebuke of love. When I need to ask forgiveness of another, please give me the courage to do so. Jesus, I trust in You.

every lust is a lord, and is served and obeyed.

Lust is your lord only if he is accepted as such. If Jesus is your Lord, lust is only one other enemy to be battled and, with God's grace, to be defeated:

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

"For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." (Romans 6:1-14)

“Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him [...]” Luke 17:3-4

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

— Matthew 7:1–5 KJV (Matthew 7:1–5 other versions)

I am puzzled by the apparent contradiction here. Anyone care to enlighten me? If I rebuke my brother, couldn't he simply quote Matthew to me?

Regards,

Romans 7:19

“For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”

“(a) it is in fact the experience of all Christians. The habitual, fixed inclination and desire of their minds is to serve God. They have a fixed abhorrence of sin; and yet they are conscious of imperfection, and error, and sin, that is the source of uneasiness and trouble. The strength of natural passion may in an unguarded moment overcome them. The power of long habits of previous thoughts may annoy them. A man who was an infidel before his conversion, and whose mind was filled with scepticism, and cavils, and blasphemy, will find the effect of his former habits of thinking lingering in his mind, and annoying his peace for years. These thoughts will start up with the rapidity of lightning. Thus, it is with every vice and every opinion. It is one of the effects of habit. “The very passage of an impure thought through the mind leaves pollution behind it,” and where sin has been long indulged, it leaves its withering, desolating effect on the soul long after conversion, and produces that state of conflict with which every Christian is familiar’

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/romans/7-15.htm

Satan is the ruler of this world, and he has influence over us all, though it is limited. We will battle with sin till we die or are taken to heaven where sin has no more reign over us. Till then, that which we would rather not do, that we do. That which we shoukd do, we do not. We can’t escape it all. Weare being sanctified for sure, but we are still slaves to the old nature to one extent or another. Some more than others. Some less so. When we sin, which we constantly try do, we allow sin to lord over us in those moments.

I. The end, sin ultimately does not “reign over us” because we have been forgiven once and for all, and i. The end, we are stil. Saved, UT we still must deal with it on a daily basis, and we Will fall, continually. Thankfully thouhg it is not counted agaisnt us. For Christ’s death set us free from the penalty of the law. We, alo g with Paul, allow sin to lord over us dzy by day when we give in to it or we refrain from doing what we know we should, but ultimately it is not our Lord because we are free from the consequences of si. Through Jesus christ I. Regards to eternity with him.

I am puzzled by the apparent contradiction here. Anyone care to enlighten me? If I rebuke my brother, couldn't he simply quote Matthew to me?

The meditation gives a little insight into this when it says:

The rebuke is not to be an act focused on revenge; rather, it must be done so as to invite repentance. This is the only reason for the rebuke of another. If we have a sense that someone who sins against us may be open to change, then we must offer them a rebuke of love. And when they accept it and seek our forgiveness, we must offer it.

The Greek word used here for "rebuke" (epitimaó), can also be translated as "reprove", "warn", "correct", or "admonish". It is more a word of fraternal correction than a condemnation.

Also, I think "rebuking" someone in the context of when they sin against you is different than pronouncing judgment upon them, especially in regards to their eternal destiny, which is what Jesus appears to be referring to in the passage from Matthew.

Hope that helps.

Exactly. The elders who wanted to stone the woman who sinned, they wanted to divert from their own wickednesses by calling for her death, and christ saw right through their charade.

When we go to someone to try to encourage them to leave some entrenched si full practice, we do so not as a means of covering up our own sin, and trying to expose the other as a vile sinner while we attempt to are ourselves look righteous, but rather as a means of truly wanting the best for the person- and even Christians who sin co to ually can do so without being guilty of “having the beam In their own eye” as in the example of the e,errs who wan5ed to kill the woman for e gaging I. Sins that they very well may have been guilty of themselves. The hypocrite wants judgement on others, the true Christian, even though they sin themselves, wants only to restore another and doesn’t rebuke in condemnation like,the hypocrites do.

I am puzzled by the apparent contradiction here. Anyone care to enlighten me? If I rebuke my brother, couldn't he simply quote Matthew to me?

I don’t see it as contradicting- and though you may feel its hairsplitting- I think it is important to note the difference between “rebuking” and “judging”.
Though if you do feel they are one in the same then, yes, a contradiction is unavoidable.

In Luke- if you rebuke one who sins- and they repent – you must forgive them.
For instance- If someone steals your camel- and they get caught- you can certainly rebuke them for stealing your camel.
If they then genuinely Repent for stealing the camel- You MUST forgive them- and not hold it against them.
Luke is pointing out that a rebuke is often a necessary step in forgiveness. Case closed.

Now in Matthew – Jesus is talking about judgement, which often can involve condemnation.
Don’t judge someone, unless you are willing to accept that same measure of judgement back upon you. (verse 2).
Matthew doesn’t mean to say don’t ever judge- but that just bear in mind the consequences of judging someone- whether it be rightly or wrongly- will come back upon you in the same.
Now if you try to rebuke the guy that stole your camel, and you yourself have been known to steal a camel now and again- well then yes- your rebuke is hypocritical and wrong in the eyes of God. If you go further and judge the camel thief as a bad person and lowlife for stealing- to his face or others- then you have asked also to be judged yourself as a worse- hypocritical lowlife for doing so.
We then bring a judgement upon ourselves one way or another, in Matthew.

But the key to Matthew as you posted is verse 5 – and the most important part we overlook. Because if we all lived verse 5- well then, what a wonderful world:

Thou hypocrite, FIRST cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

You can see Jesus is clearly saying we have a responsibility to help the eyesight of our brothers and sisters, when done so in the proper way -
by examining OUR OWN consciences first.
And that's the hard part!

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