Something in Your Shoe…Besides Your Foot

Last Sunday, we looked at Matthew 18:21–35, where Peter asks Jesus how many times he has to forgive someone. Peter, likely feeling pious, suggests seven times. Jesus counters with “seventy-seven times” (or “seventy times seven”), essentially telling us to stop counting.

The sermon described holding a grudge as walking around with a small rock in your shoe. After a while, you get used to it. You start to limp a little. You slow down. But eventually, you become so used to the pain that removing the rock feels strange. The truth of the matter is, American culture today asks you to keep the rock. It tells you to hold on to that grudge and to do all you can to punish whoever is on the other end.

Culture vs. The Kingdom

Our current cultural landscape is one of constant revenge. Whether it’s in the halls of power or the comment sections of social media, we are witnessing a weaponization of government and influence against perceived enemies.

The world now tells us:

• Outrage is a virtue. If you aren’t angry, you aren’t paying attention.
• Revenge is justice. Retribution is the only way to make things right.
• Forgiveness is weakness. To forgive is to be a pushover.

But the Gospel says something entirely different. In Matthew 18, the servant who was forgiven a debt he could never repay (millions of dollars in today’s money) immediately goes out and chokes a fellow servant over a few hundred dollars.

We are that servant. We want God’s infinite mercy for our complicated lives, but we demand law and order and swift retribution for everyone we disagree with politically or socially.

A Church of Grudges

Let’s be honest for a moment: The American Church is currently failing the forgiveness test. We see people who call themselves Christians supporting campaigns of retaliation and waves of retribution. We see faith being fused to political movements and weaponized to silence dissent.

When we do this, we aren’t just being terrible to each other; we are being anti-gospel. Jesus took a radical stand against retaliation, telling us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Instead, many of us are using our faith as a moral and legal foundation to exclude others and settle scores.

Forgiveness is Not for the Weak

Forgiveness is not about being a doormat. As the sermon mentioned, it doesn’t mean excusing harm or denying pain. It is the alchemy of transforming anger into something that no longer poisons your own soul.

If you are a Christian, forgiveness is not an optional extra for the super-spiritual. It is the condition for belonging. Jesus warned that if we do not forgive others, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us.

The Choice

So, be honest this week, who are you still holding in debt?

• Is it a family member who voted “the wrong way”?
• Is it a neighbor who wronged you ten years ago and remembers things you were hoping they’d forget?
• Is it an entire group of people you’ve been told to hate by a cable news host or politician?

Neighbors who want to stay neighbors, learn to forgive. If we want to be a people shaped by Jesus rather than by the toxic outrage of 2026, we have to start by taking the rock out of our shoe. It will be uncomfortable. It will feel like losing. But it is the only way to be free.

Reflection Question

In the coming week, is there a specific person or an old wound you’ve grown accustomed to carrying that you are ready to release, not to excuse the harm, but to finally choose your own freedom?

Closing Prayer

Gracious and merciful God, we come to You as people who know what it is to be forgiven, and as people who still struggle to forgive. You see the names and faces that come to mind right now; You know the wounds that still ache and the memories we’ve learned to carry quietly. Give us the courage to choose forgiveness, even when an apology never comes, and the wisdom to set healthy boundaries where healing is still needed. Free us from the bitterness that weighs us down and lead us into relationships marked by honesty, mercy, and peace. We place what we cannot fix into Your hands, trusting in the name of Jesus, who forgives, restores, and makes all things new. Amen.