How far does forgiveness go? Jesus once told the apostle Peter we must forgive ‘seventy times seven’ – a symbolic number meaning an infinite number of times.

Is there anyone who is unforgiveable? What about Judas, the arch-villain and betrayer of Jesus? Some early Church Fathers argued that even Judas is forgiven.

Matthew’s Gospel tells us he was sorry for what he had done and tried to give back the blood-money. So they argued even Judas must have had a chance in heaven to see Jesus and be restored, just as Peter was forgiven even though he denied him. 

God’s love is larger than we can conceive, they argued; and his purpose can never finally be frustrated, nor his love spent in vain, even on the worst of sinners.

There is one little corner of England that has taken up this idea. If you have a chance, go to Moreton Church in Dorset, where there is a lovely engraved glass window by Laurence Whistler.

It is probably the only church window in the world that shows Judas, hanged by the neck. But as your eye follows up the noose you notice there are little angels at the top, pulling Judas up to heaven, and from his hands you can see the coins of betrayal dropping, but as they drop they are turning into petals and flowers, falling on the earth below.

God’s forgiveness is huge, unbounded. And he asks us to forgive others, as he forgives us.

 

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