“forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us”

"while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

                                                                                                                        - John 8:1-11

Reflection:

When people have done something wrong to us we often feel angry and want them to be punished, don’t we? But in today’s gospel Jesus teaches us that this isn’t always the right way. After all, none of us are perfect.

Through today's story God makes us realize that, when we start complaining about others, God will prompt us to see within ourselves. Are we worthy to judge others? We all are weak by ourselves, being sinners by ourselves, we are not able to judge others. The lord teaches us this prayer “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us”. Hence we must forgive others, then only our heavenly Father will forgive us as we forgave others.

This is what happened in today's story. A woman who did wrong was brought in front of Jesus by people who thought themselves to be noble and good. They proved their points bringing to light the laws given by forefather Moses in-order to trap Jesus. But Jesus dealt with them very wisely. He didn't respond immediately. But waited for a while, may be He was praying to God, to give Him wisdom to deal with the situation and then He replied “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” No one dared to throw. Jesus gave a chance to the people to look into themselves how unrighteous are they themselves while condemning the woman.

Later He asked the woman “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

She said, “No one, sir.”

Then Jesus replied “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” He made the woman too realize that she has done wrong, but now the Lord has seen her tears and forgiven her, but never sin anymore.

We have all done things wrong. Can you think of a time when you did something wrong? Don’t say it out loud, but keep it in your heads. How did it feel when you knew you had done something wrong? What happened next? Did you get told off? How did it feel when you had said sorry, and been forgiven? Will you try not to do whatever it was again?

Jesus asks us not to judge people who have done something wrong, because we all do wrong things sometimes. Instead we should try to forgive others, as God forgives us. But we should also try to help them see that they need to change, so that they no longer do what is wrong .Lord sees our sincere tears of repentance. He always wishes that His children realize their wrong doings and return to Him asking pardon so that He can forgive them and remind them that to remain in lord always and never do wrong any more. He also wishes that His children forgive others and pray for them for Lord mercy so that they are led to God who can forgive their sins.

Prayer.

God of love, you forgive us when we go wrong, and encourage us to try again to be better. Help us to do the same to our friends and others so that we never judge others. Jesus help us to help each other be good instead of being mean to each other. Amen.

“Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing”- Joel 2:12-13

Reading

Luke 6:37-42