Luke 17:1-4
17 Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. 3 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
Jesus issues two related instructions in today’s reading: a warning against putting stumbling blocks in the way of other Christians, and a simple procedure for dealing with other Christians when they sin against us, so that our failure to forgive does not become a stumbling block.
Jesus has a heart for the “little ones,” both little children who believe in Him and adults who retain a sincere, child-like faith in Him. The unbelieving world sets all sorts of obstacles or “offenses” in the way of these little ones, to ensnare them in sin or to deter them from believing the Word of God, and the Lord has chosen to allow these things to remain in the world. But He will not hold guiltless the people responsible for them. On the contrary, an unimaginable punishment awaits them.
Jesus’ warning here should make Christians especially careful never to be the ones responsible for derailing the faith of His precious little ones. That includes derailing their faith by failing to forgive, because we are to be imitators of God, and if Christians refuse to forgive when we ought, what are we teaching our brother about God’s forgiveness?
But here we should note carefully the process of forgiveness outlined by Jesus, which is not the common advice of “just forgive everybody for everything, no matter what.” No, when a brother, a fellow Christian, sins against you, you are first to rebuke him, telling him how he sinned. If he repents, if he recognizes his failure and shows himself to be sorry for his sin, then you are to forgive him, every time, immediately, in the same way that God forgives you after bringing you to repentance. But where there is no repentance, there can be no forgiveness. Where there is no repentance, you should pray for your brother and show him mercy in whatever way you can. But you cannot forgive a sin that someone wishes to keep holding onto, just as God does not forgive us if we refuse to repent.
Let us pray: Father in heaven, keep Your little ones safe from all who would do them harm, and keep us from causing anyone to stumble. Amen.
