Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the daily challenges. This week’s topic is part of our series called Jesus Is… where we’re trying to learn about the identity of Jesus, through studying some key stories in the Bible.

Our daily challenges are meant to help you explore what it means to follow Jesus, even if you don’t have a lot of time. We have a rhythm that keeps us in sync, even if we’re not a community that meets together in person regularly. Every Monday we introduce the week’s idea. Every Tuesday we study it in the Bible. Every Wednesday we see how that challenges and transforms our thinking on the topic. Thursdays we try to apply and live it out. Friday is a day for prayer and reflection before we take a rest on Saturday, and Sundays we meet together with others in community.

Forgiveness is a huge part of Christian faith. Ask people about Christianity in a nutshell, and they may well say something about Jesus forgiving their sins.

Jesus regularly forgave people who hadn’t even wronged him. He was big on forgiveness – he was once asked how often someone should forgive, and his answer was 70×7. Before you do the math, know this wasn’t the actual limit, he was basically saying A LOT.

He said his blood, referring to his death, was for “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

But it’s also one of the more challenging parts of the faith people would rather ignore. Like Donald Trump. He claimed in an interview last year to be a Christian, and yet to never have asked for forgiveness. Here’s what he said:

People are so shocked when they find … out I am Protestant. I am Presbyterian. And I go to church and I love God and I love my church,” he said.

The moderator then asked if he has ever asked God for forgiveness for his actions.

“I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so,” he said. “I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”

Well, this week we’re going to see how forgiveness is an irreconcilable part of Jesus, his message and his way of life, and the two can’t be separated. We’ll learn this through one of his most famous stories.

Question: Why do you think forgiveness is so important in our world? Who has explicitly forgiven you for a wrong, and what was that experience like?