Week Two (Day 2) - God's Love

Week Two (Day 2) - God’s Love
May the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you! Here’s one of the most vivid stories Jesus told. It’s from St Matthew’s Gospel (chapter 18) and it’s all about God’s mercy.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.    But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:23-35)
That first slave was forgiven a debt that was unimaginably huge. Ten thousand talents was an immense sum. One talent alone is reckoned to be worth a labourer’s wages for fifteen years and this slave is forgiven 10,000 of those talents. There was nothing he did to deserve this treatment: it was all mercy, all gift. This makes his own behaviour in failing to forgive a fellow slave’s tiny debt of 100 denarii all the more shameful when you remember that a denarius was only what a labourer owed in one day. He was owed a pittance while he was forgiven a vast fortune. No wonder he got his comeuppence!
In more ordinary times, especially in Lent, we might reflect on the gap there is between what we’ve been forgiven and our own unwillingness to forgive others and how we maybe take God’s forgiveness too much for granted. But, as we know, these are far from ordinary times and perhaps we are being invited instead to contemplate, to soak in, the extent of the love that God has for each one of us, and how it’s all mercy, all gift. What a wonderful God we have!
Let’s pause for a moment and listen attentively to some words from the Jesuit writer, Fr Peet van Breemen who writes about the “bottomless love of God” 
No matter how deeply we are immersed in God’s love, we never reach the bottom …. since that bottom does not exist …. God’s love has no limit, no end …. We cannot conceive of something without boundaries and limits, but God’s love is without any boundary, any limit….
Trying to imagine this, Fr van Breemen says, we become dizzy. This is the God whom Jesus knew as his Father, the God whom Jesus wanted us to know as our Father.  This Father of mercies is the one knows us, loves us and walks with us on the journey of life. As one hymn writer puts it:
Alone with none but thee, my God,
I journey on my way:
what need I fear when thou art near,
O King of night and day?
more safe am I within thy hand
than if a host should round me stand.  
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Week Two (Day 2) - God's Love

Week Two (Day 2) - God’s Love
May the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you! Here’s one of the most vivid stories Jesus told. It’s from St Matthew’s Gospel (chapter 18) and it’s all about God’s mercy.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.    But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:23-35)
That first slave was forgiven a debt that was unimaginably huge. Ten thousand talents was an immense sum. One talent alone is reckoned to be worth a labourer’s wages for fifteen years and this slave is forgiven 10,000 of those talents. There was nothing he did to deserve this treatment: it was all mercy, all gift. This makes his own behaviour in failing to forgive a fellow slave’s tiny debt of 100 denarii all the more shameful when you remember that a denarius was only what a labourer owed in one day. He was owed a pittance while he was forgiven a vast fortune. No wonder he got his comeuppence!
In more ordinary times, especially in Lent, we might reflect on the gap there is between what we’ve been forgiven and our own unwillingness to forgive others and how we maybe take God’s forgiveness too much for granted. But, as we know, these are far from ordinary times and perhaps we are being invited instead to contemplate, to soak in, the extent of the love that God has for each one of us, and how it’s all mercy, all gift. What a wonderful God we have!
Let’s pause for a moment and listen attentively to some words from the Jesuit writer, Fr Peet van Breemen who writes about the “bottomless love of God” 
No matter how deeply we are immersed in God’s love, we never reach the bottom …. since that bottom does not exist …. God’s love has no limit, no end …. We cannot conceive of something without boundaries and limits, but God’s love is without any boundary, any limit….
Trying to imagine this, Fr van Breemen says, we become dizzy. This is the God whom Jesus knew as his Father, the God whom Jesus wanted us to know as our Father.  This Father of mercies is the one knows us, loves us and walks with us on the journey of life. As one hymn writer puts it:
Alone with none but thee, my God,
I journey on my way:
what need I fear when thou art near,
O King of night and day?
more safe am I within thy hand
than if a host should round me stand.  
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Week Two (Day 2) - God's Love

Week Two (Day 2) - God’s Love
May the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you! Here’s one of the most vivid stories Jesus told. It’s from St Matthew’s Gospel (chapter 18) and it’s all about God’s mercy.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.    But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:23-35)
That first slave was forgiven a debt that was unimaginably huge. Ten thousand talents was an immense sum. One talent alone is reckoned to be worth a labourer’s wages for fifteen years and this slave is forgiven 10,000 of those talents. There was nothing he did to deserve this treatment: it was all mercy, all gift. This makes his own behaviour in failing to forgive a fellow slave’s tiny debt of 100 denarii all the more shameful when you remember that a denarius was only what a labourer owed in one day. He was owed a pittance while he was forgiven a vast fortune. No wonder he got his comeuppence!
In more ordinary times, especially in Lent, we might reflect on the gap there is between what we’ve been forgiven and our own unwillingness to forgive others and how we maybe take God’s forgiveness too much for granted. But, as we know, these are far from ordinary times and perhaps we are being invited instead to contemplate, to soak in, the extent of the love that God has for each one of us, and how it’s all mercy, all gift. What a wonderful God we have!
Let’s pause for a moment and listen attentively to some words from the Jesuit writer, Fr Peet van Breemen who writes about the “bottomless love of God” 
No matter how deeply we are immersed in God’s love, we never reach the bottom …. since that bottom does not exist …. God’s love has no limit, no end …. We cannot conceive of something without boundaries and limits, but God’s love is without any boundary, any limit….
Trying to imagine this, Fr van Breemen says, we become dizzy. This is the God whom Jesus knew as his Father, the God whom Jesus wanted us to know as our Father.  This Father of mercies is the one knows us, loves us and walks with us on the journey of life. As one hymn writer puts it:
Alone with none but thee, my God,
I journey on my way:
what need I fear when thou art near,
O King of night and day?
more safe am I within thy hand
than if a host should round me stand.  
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.