Dear Friends of Emmanuel,

I hope that you were able to take advantage of a beautiful long weekend, Labor Day.  I was indeed fortunate that the weather held so that my travel to upstate New York went well.  Thank you all for your prayers.

The Gospel of Matthew 18: 21-35 for this week is a challenging one.  Peter asked Jesus; how many times am I to forgive someone who offends me? Seven times? Jesus replies; no, seventy-seven times! And then Jesus tells a parable. It is the story of a slave of the King who is forgiven his debt after begging for forgiveness. The same slave goes to those who owe him and does not offer the forgiveness he himself received! When Peter asks Jesus, “are we to forgive as many as seven times”? He has already gone way beyond what was accepted practice.  In Rabbinic code of the day, one is to forgive until the fourth time.  After the fourth time they should not forgive. The context, then, for Jesus’ response: “no, we should forgive seventy-seven times” is a hyperbolic exaggeration to indicate – always. (continue reading…) https://emmanuelwr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/online-communion-sept-13.pdf