Mark 11: 20-25
In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. Then Peter remembered and said to him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed 
has withered.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Have* faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea”, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received* it, and it will be yours.
has withered.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Have* faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea”, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received* it, and it will be yours.‘Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.’*
According to Mark, Jesus and the apostles are one their way back to the Temple when the apostles notice that the tree Jesus has cursed has died. They are in awe of his power and yet Jesus ends his early morning lesson with the apostles on the subject of forgiveness. First he tells them that with God anything is possible, then he tells them that anytime they pray they need to forgive whoever they have a grudge against or with whom they are angry. We must forgive if we seek forgiveness from God.
We pray this every week in church through the Lord’s prayer–”forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We pray it every week but do we hear those words? Sometimes, I practically choke on them because I know there is someone I need to forgive. Sometimes a wound is so deep that only God can help us to forgive. The forgiving is not for the person(s) that have hurt us but for ourselves. God has freely gifted us with grace and forgiveness. We have done nothing to deserve it. It is through God’s grace and forgiveness that we are then able to freely forgive others who we may believe do not deserve it.
God of Grace and Mercy, thank you for sending Jesus so that we could come to know you more fully and experience your forgiveness through him. Forgiveness is hard, God. Please help me to forgive those who have hurt me, for I can only do this through your love. Thank you for this new day, a new start, a new beginning with you. Amen.
Great post. I found your site because the computer suggested it as maybe similar to my mine.
I was intrigued with Joseph’s ability to forgive and show grace to his brothers and he didn’t even have the love of Jesus as an example or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to assist him. What a man. Check it out and let me know.
Ken