From Betrayal to compassion mercy, and forgiveness

Betrayal, something I know all to well. Raise your hand if you have been betrayed. Congrats you have experienced what Jesus did when Judas betrayed him, and Peter denied knowing him three times. Betrayal is the total opposite of trust, and friendship. Imagine this being able to see inside a person's soul, and on the outside they are happy, joyful, and seem trustworthy, and loving, then you see their soul, and they are waiting for the perfect time to hurt you, and betray you, and cause you the most damage. This was Jesus, he knew what Judas was going to do, he knew very well what his thoughts were. But you know something he did not do was this: he did not get angry with Judas instead he told him to get it over with quickly, he did not expose Judas, and he most likely had mercy on Judas. When someone betrays us, or talks bad about us behind our backs, we get mad am I right? Yes we all do, but the key to avoiding anger, and judgement on that person, and not doing the same thing to them as they did to us is COMPASSION. What does compassion mean? Compassion is sympathy, it is kind of like mercy. Compassion is very very important. Think of it this way if you wronged someone on accident not on purpose wouldn't you want them to have compassion, and mercy on you? Yes we all in our own way want mercy, forgiveness, and compassion. Who doesn't? So think about compassion as understanding the sufferings, and misfortunes of others; we don't know everyone's full story most of the time. We have all been let down, and we have all let others down, and mainly we all sin, but as long as we have these three things, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion; and we ask God for the grace to forgive; we can forgive anyone and I mean anyone who has hurt us! God has forgiven us right? Shouldn't we do the same? Jesus does not like betrayal we all know that. So, neither should we! It is hard I know from experience, and we are all imperfect, but we need to at least try right? It isn't enough to forgive some people, and then be angry with someone, and forget about them, and say, "Well I kind of forgave them, but I am still mad." No this is not forgiveness. We need to forgive everyone in our lives. Let's look at Matthew 6:14-15: "If you forgive others their transgressions your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others neither will your heavenly father forgive your transgressions." This is Jesus directly asking us to forgive, and he is telling us the consequences of not forgiving. I could be put so many bible verses about forgiveness, but that isn't really going to help anyone so I'll just put one more here. Matthew 18:21-35: "Then Peter approaching asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full. Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you? Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”
This is an important parable that Jesus tells. Compare it to your life. Think of all the sins you have; you could never pay God back am I right? No none of us could ever pay him back but he forgives us. So, let's say you are the servant who owes the big debt. God forgives your sins, and then you go and stay angry with someone you know who wronged you. Imagine how much this hurts our Lord. I can't, I can't imagine how much pain he feels every single day! As you can see forgiveness is important, and we all need to ask God for the grace to forgive, be compassionate, and have mercy on our brother and sisters no matter how big the sin because if God can forgive us we can at least forgive our brothers and sisters. Here is a song from Matthew West, "Forgiveness."

Thank You Lord, for all giving us the grace to forgive. Help us to have a heart like yours, and have compassion for those who hurt us in life. Give us the grace as well to realize that anger, jealousy, and all those things only harden our hearts, and keep us from loving others, and becoming more like you, Lord.

God Bless,
Sarah