Luke 17:1-10 || “The King Calls For Forgiveness"

One of Ernest Hemingway’s short stories, "The Capital of the World,” opens:

"Madrid is full of boys named Paco, which is diminutive of the name Francisco, and there is a Madrid joke about a father who came to Madrid and inserted an advertisement in the personal columns of El Liberal which said: PACO MEET ME AT HOTEL MONTANA NOON TUESDAY ALL IS FORGIVEN PAPA and how a squadron of Guardia Civil had to be called out to disperse the eight hundred young men who answered the advertisement."

Aside from highlighting how common the name Paco is in Spain, this short word picture also highlights all of humanity’s deep longing for forgiveness.

Luke 17 finds Jesus giving his disciples a command about forgiveness in order to heal broken relationships within the body, and to display the splendor of the New Kingdom to those who are outsiders. Read Luke 17 and we’ll see how it all fits together on Sunday in worship!