Jesus wanted us to see that the path to a life with God is paved with the stones of forgiveness. You may remember that after his resurrection, Jesus gave his disciples and therefore, the church, the power to forgive. It is the essential part of our ministry in Christ. Our work together is to forgive. It's hard to remember that when many Christians seems to spend their time and efforts in judging - judging who's in and out, who's right and wrong, who has sinned and who has not.
Forgiveness jumps right over all of that and changes the whole atmosphere of our life together.
I believe that we actually change the world when we forgive. In fact, you could say that Christians do not forgive and forget. We forgive and re-member. The monks in the desert who struggled with what to do about their sinful brother finally saw their saintly old monk coming down the road very late in the day. He was carrying a sack so heavy that he had to stop frequently to breathe and rest.