2 Corinthians 2:5-7 “If anyone has caused pain, he has caused pain not so much to me but to some degree– not to exaggerate–to all of you. This punishment by the majority is sufficient for that person. As a result, you should instead forgive and comfort him. Otherwise, he may be overwhelmed by excessive grief. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.”

In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught us not only to ask for forgiveness. He reminded us of our need to extend it to others. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Forgiveness is a key to our relationships as God’s people. It creates peace. It makes it possible for people to live and work together.

Forgiveness is not a spiritual commodity for us to hoard and withhold. It is not spiritual practice to weaponize against people we don’t like. It is a spiritual lifeblood of God’s church, and where it is not received and given, there can be no Christianity.

When our Small Catechism explains “lead us not into temptation” from the Lord’s prayer, it is interesting how it describes temptation. “We pray in this petition that the Lord would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh do not deceive us, or lead us into false belief, despair, or other great and shameful sins.” The first temptation it identifies is false belief, which hardly anyone even considers a sin anymore. But it is the sin that ultimately leads to every other sin.

The second one is despair. After that everything else is thrown together as “other great and shameful sins.” To despair is to let your own sins crush your faith. Peter and Judas both committed terrible sins against Jesus. Peter repented, but Judas despaired. He lost all hope. He believed that he was beyond grace, and so he took his life. Jesus lost one of the souls he had redeemed.

Paul doesn’t want that to happen when we confront the sins of those who have not repented. He doesn’t want the man who sinned to be overwhelmed by his sin and give up faith and hope. “Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.”

When someone expresses their regret and confesses their sin, it is time for us to forgive as well. It’s time to let go of the grudges, and the pain we have suffered, and the betrayal we have felt, and forgive as we have been forgiven. In so forgiving the one who hurt us or caused offense, we are serving the Lord who has freely forgiven us.