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Our story today strikes a stark difference between how we tend to deal with people who’ve hurt us and how Jesus wants us to. In God’s reality, forgiveness is the only method approved for righting wrongs and, it’s suggested, that we’re to expect forgiveness from God only to the extent that we show it to others. Yikes! Let’s talk…

  • In what aspect of your life do you wish you could be more forgiving to others? In what ways would you like others to be more forgiving towards you?

  • When you think of times and places where you found it easy or hard to forgive, what were the factors involved? Do you sense patterns of forgiving (or not forgiving) taking shape?

  • A common misreading of this text is to reduce forgiveness to a lifeless transaction—a “settling of accounts”—that, once completed, ends any further responsibility for the other guy. How is this different than the way Jesus calls us to forgive?

Next Step: What is the biggest difference for you between how you tend to forgive and how you’re called to forgive? How is our willingness to forgive dependent on the “quality” of the request for forgiveness? Should that matter?

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