Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:21-35, NRSV)
How many times do you have to forgive some one?
Seven times…
Jesus says here seventy-seven times…. another place He says 70 times 7 or 490 times…
Does He literally mean 77 or 490? Like we are to keep track and when someone sins against us the 491st time, “Nope that’s it. I don’t have to forgive you any more!”
And here is the kicker to these verses… In the parable of the kingdom, the slave asks for time, or patience, not forgiveness. And the king forgives, and Peter’s quesiton is if some one sins against me, how many times do I have to forgive. There is no mention from Peter or Jesus about repentance here… Now it is true last weeks verses about if someone sins against you go and tell them and seek to repair the relationship. But here there is no mention of the person who sinned against Peter being repentant…
And is repentance needed for forgiveness…
There are many answers to that question and many of them depend on the whole situation. But in our lives are there people who will never seek to repent for something they have done to us but have to be forgiven by us?
I would say yes. There are people in my life who have sinned against me, who will never seek me out for repentance, but I have forgiven them. Why?
Because that forgivenness is for me to allow God to work in my life. If I am holding on to a grudge, then there is no room in my life for love to grow, there is no room for the love of God to fill into me and give me the life that I deserve from Him. If I am using up all my space by holding on to a past hurt, I will never free myself to receive the wonderful blessing of today and tomorrow from my Lord.
We need to forgive others to give God room to live in our lives. We need to forgive others as God has forgiven us. We did not and do not deserve His love. Yet we have it, and it is ours not to hold onto, but to share!
aSacredRebel 