Saying and accepting `sorry'

A kid in your class or play group did something wrong, and now, they have to apologize. "Tell Brittany you're sorry," the teacher says, and everyone watches the guilty person squirm and say, "I'm sorry, Brittany."

If you're the person who has to apologize, you feel uncomfortable. But what if you're the one who has to hear it? If someone hurts you and says they're sorry, are you nice to them, or do you try to make them feel worse?

In this week's Gospel (Matthew 18:21-35), Jesus talks about the right way to forgive others.

Peter asked, "Lord, if someone hurts me, how many times should I forgive them? Seven?" Jesus answered: "No, 77 times!" He told this story: "A man owed a king money and couldn't pay it. The king forgave him. Then the man went to a servant who owed HIM money, and said, `Pay me now!' When the servant couldn't, the man put him in jail. The king heard this and told the man, `I forgave you, but you wouldn't forgive him!' And he threw the man in jail."

If you ever had to tell someone you're sorry, you know it feels awful. Everyone looks at you, and you have to say you did something wrong. Think of how the man in Jesus' story felt! He owed money to a king. He must have been scared that he couldn't pay it back!

When you're hurt and someone is sorry, you might still be angry. You think they deserve to feel sorry! And if you yell at them, they'll see how hurt you are. The king could have yelled at the man, too. Instead, he forgave him. The man only got in trouble when he wouldn't do what the king did for him -- give someone a chance.

If you're hurt, it's easy to hurt someone right back. But Jesus asked us to forgive as much as we can. That doesn't mean you have to be friends with a mean person; even the king got sick of the mean man and put him in jail. But Jesus did say to let others say they're sorry.

If someone apologizes to you, they're doing a brave thing. You can help them feel good about it -- 77 times!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, help me to remember how it feels to say I'm sorry and forgive others when they say that to me. Amen!

(09-12-96)

[[In-content Ad]]