NOTES:
1] Read LK 7: 36-50 to get a Jesus perspective on this. 2] For earlier Hebrew understanding of forgiveness, contrast EX 21:24-25 with LEV 19: 18 3] In 22, 70 times 7 can also be read as 77. 4] In 24 -28, the 1st sum is vast, the 2nd maybe AU$ 100-200. 5] 27, In the Gospels, 'compassion' is used only of Jesus except here & at LK 15:20 & 10:33. (All three are parable figures). 6] Jesus answers Peter's question in terms of God's Rule (Kingdom): God's Rule is like.....!

WARMING UP: What's the most relieved we've ever felt in our life?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything this week?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

21-22    Has forgiveness ever been a serious issue in our life: God's for us? ours for another person? someone else's for us? Have we ever asked God, or even ourself, a question like the one Peter poses here? With what outcome?

23-27    Do we recognize anyone we know, or any situation we've been in in this first part of the story? Is there anything of what Jesus weaves into the first part of the story that we need to apply to the way we ourselves act in the community? Or, is this all about, only about someone else, other people? Is God's Rule ever only for individuals? Only societal? Do we ever grovel before God or human being(s) the way the debtor grovels here? Does God 'cancel our debt' only when / because we grovel? Or is that not the way God's Rule works? How does God's Rule work?

28-30    Have we ever acted as the forgiven debtor acts here, whether on a large or small scale? Are there still people we've put 'in prison' (of any kind)? Do we ourselves feel 'in prison' in any sense because someone else has put us there & we don't have a Get Out Of Gaol card to play? Is there a way out for any of us? Can we quantify what we owe God? Or is a debt a debt, no matter it's size?

31        Are we as aware as Jesus wants us to be of what's happening to others who fall victim to things that go wrong in life (the ones Jesus calls his 'little ones'?)? If we don't take up their cause, who else will? What does that do to God's Rule?

32-35   If  someone took us to God's court because of the way we're treating some person, how would we fare? What instances of our own personal forgiven-ness would God be likely to front us with? Can we feel ourself squirming? Or doesn't this sort of story apply to us? Assuming it does, what's the worst punishment God could dish out to us? What would hurt us most? Is there already enough room in our own heart to give the kind of generous forgiveness Jesus is talking about, or do we need God to make more room? How can that happen?