C.S. Lewis reminds us with a brief yet calm confidence that forgiveness is a lovely idea until we have something to forgive. Too often the countervailing winds of bitterness spawn the high tides of unforgiveness in our immediate lives.

Does it appear strange that many of us who are confessing Christians are unable to launch our faith in the formidable deep to forgive the perishing? Forgiveness is an unusually beautiful word which we fail to employ in times of great adversities and necessities.

How lovely is forgiveness? Forgiveness is the loveliness which surrounded Peter when he had an opportunity to interview Jesus near a rocky pathway outside of Galilee. Interestingly enough, Peter was still wet behind the ears from the waters of his faithlessness. Yet he had come to Jesus once again. Still, Peter was uncertain of the Master's plan even after the Lord had placed it in his heart.

Peter had known the Lord's heart but he had failed miserably to remember the Lord's heart. Notice Peter's initial questions before the Lord: "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?" "Up to seven times?" (18:21-22). With his legs cringing and his hands sweaty in the palms, Peter's best pitch was answered by a swift grand slam "up" and "beyond" his reasonable and great expectations. Peter thought that his offer "up" to seven times for forgiveness was far better than that of the resident Rabbis in the countryside. Wasn't seven times a greater proposal than the "tried and tested" three times of the Rabbis?

Jesus did answer Peter immediately. However, he carefully submitted the following proposals as a way for Peter and even for us today to see how lovely forgiveness is.

First, forgiveness is not left "up" to us solely. Why? Well, so many of us attempt daily to pigeon-hole our theologies of the ethics of the Kingdom of Christ through the limitations of our very own finiteness. The Lord responds beyond the mathematics of reasonable grace and gives more! Sarah found it strangely amusing when she laughed at God just before she was about to check into her residential living center for senior citizens when she got wind of her impending pregnancy! Amazingly, God's portion is filled with unfathomable abundance! So, like Peter, we must step up to the plate and keep swinging and hoping that the Lord gives us a slow pitch filled with His cardinal revelations.

Forgiveness is not left "up" to us solely. Then, we notice that forgiveness is left "up" to God's lovely mercy for us. Somewhere in the wilderness of our collective despair, we can still hear the words of yesterday's saints saying, "His mercy suits our case." How often do we hear Mary Magdalene rejoicing before the Lord when He had mercifully forgiven her of her venal sins.

Jesus never carried grudges. He constantly reminded His hearers and us that it is more profitable to be burden bearers than grudge carriers. Yes, just before others were ready to sign Peter's sanatorium papers, Jesus stepped in the intemperate waters of disgust and gave His peace treaty to the grudge committee! Though eleven of His best pupils left Him weeping on a bleeding cross, Jesus said, "Forgive them for they don't know what they are doing!" Even a Roman centurion knew for certain that there hadn't been a face of mercy like that of the One who had not been proven guilty. We should not forget His mercy if we should fail to see how lovely His forgiveness is.