No one likes to fail. Failure means many different things. There are ways we can positively spin it, by learning what doesn't work and what we can't do, but failure is never an anticipated outcome. And for some people, forgiveness means owning failure and all the emotions that come with it.

This week we are digging into a story of forgiveness that ends up growing and growing. It starts in the gospel of Luke by Jesus answering a question.

Luke 7:41-43 (NLT) 41 Then Jesus told him this story: "A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?"

43 Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt."

"That's right," Jesus said.

First, the idea of failing in a financial situation is one that frightens all of us. And these aren't necessarily small numbers. The larger sum is equal to an entire years wage. Add typical 1st-century interest rates, we are talking the equivalent of nearly 18 months of wages.

But Jesus puts the whole conversation not in one of debts and repayments, but in a conversation about love.

Groundbreaking stuff.

But the larger truth lies in the idea of forgiveness, and the story is much bigger than these two verses.

Forgiveness of debt is the closest parallel in the New Testament to for us to understand the operation of the forgiveness of sin. Forgiveness is a gracious release of indebtedness to God. And the ways that we interact with this world based off of forgiveness matters deeply.

Forgiveness Isn't Failure.

It's actually starting at something that matters.

The degree that we are able to enact forgiveness will be the degree to which we will be able to comprehend forgiveness.

So come be part of the larger story and find your own place in this story of Jesus.