The Faith To Forgive. Pt 1

1Jesus said to his followers, “Things will surely happen that will make people sin. But it will be very bad for anyone who makes this happen3So be careful! “If your brother or sister in God’s family does something wrong, warn them. If they are sorry for what they did, forgive them. 4Even if they do something wrong to you seven times in one day, but they say they are sorry each time, you should forgive them.” 5The apostles said to the Lord, “Give us more faith!” 6The Lord said, “If your faith is as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Dig yourself up and plant yourself in the ocean!’ And the tree will obey you.

Luke 17:1, 3-6

Stumbling blocks, temptation, obstacles, etc all represent the same thing; things that make you sin, and/or backslide in your christian journey. Jesus affirms here that it is a definite that we will all encounter various things or people that will make us sin, but it is much worse for the person that causes one to sin, than it is for the person that actually sins (address in another post). Jesus talks to his disciples about forgiveness, and we like them have great difficulty when it comes to forgiving people who have wronged us, especially when the people are close to us, or we feel that they have done it intentionally. Jesus makes a clear distinction of who to forgive in these verses;

v.3-4 If your brother or sister in God’s family does something wrong, warn them. If they are sorry for what they did, forgive them.

Brother or sister in GOD’s Family!! Alot of Jesus’ commands relates to our interactions with fellow believers, much like during his ministry his commands were for how fellow Jews were to interact with one another. This is not to mean that we can treat unbelievers any type of way, but rather that we have a special duty or obligation to extend more forgiveness and understanding/compassion to those who share our faith. Interestingly the disciples ask Jesus for more faith in order to forgive their brother/sister in Christ. Why does one need more faith in order to forgive someone else, when we constantly need forgiveness from God for the many wrongs that we do? Could it be that we are not aware of our many wrongs, or offenses? To illustrate his point, Jesus gives a parable, or uses symbolism that those of his time can visualize to understand a spiritual concept.

How does the Mulberry tree vs Mustard seed relate to forgiving your brother/sister in Christ? I’m glad that you asked. The Mulberry tree can represent what happens to you when you allow unforgiveness, sin, or offenses to fester/sit on you without addressing them or giving them to God. An offense or sin like the Mulberry tree doesn’t normally reveal itself or grow overnight, but usually grows/develops over time. It can become hard to identify the deep rootedness of sin and unforgiveness that is unaddressed for a time, and strong root system can feed a large tree that develops into a round top, tightly knitted branch system that doesn’t allow the sun to penetrate its canopy. Have you ever encountered someone where it seems like no matter what you say or do, they just don’t hear, feel, or see you? In other parts of the bible it speaks of people who are hard hearted, have deaf ears, and blind eyes, which can be similar to a person who has allowed the Mulberry tree (sin/unforgiveness) to take root and flourish in the mind/heart, which is preventing them from forgiving and accepting the forgiveness of God, and the love of Christ in their lives. Unaddressed sin and unforgiveness in our lives have the ability to create suckerings in our life, which in the case of the Mulberry tree, is to create a new tree (offense, or place of pain) from the source/original tree. If we were to honestly assess ourselves, we’d probably realize that many of our issues emerge from a place of pain/unforgiveness/offense than we never truly address or give to God.

Reflection Time

What is/are the Mulberry tree(s) in your life? Can you identify the source of the offense? What other issues/offenses have you allowed to arise from the initial or primary offense? Do you have the faith to speak to the Mulberry tree and uproot it out of your life? Ask God for the discernment/clarity to identify the Mulberry trees in your life, and have the faith to believe that he can remove them.