Wednesday, November 4

Matthew 18:21-22

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

Let's look again at these verses we discussed yesterday. Have you ever wondered why Peter asked Jesus this question?

“Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?”

The easiest and most obvious answer would be that Peter asked this question because he had a brother! We know that Peter’s brother Andrew was also a follower of Jesus and that they grew up working together as fishermen. Now Peter may have been using the word “brother” in a general sense here; perhaps he was asking a hypothetical question about forgiveness. But that just doesn’t seem like Peter’s style! I think it is far more likely that Peter really wanted to know something about forgiveness because he found it hard to do, especially with his own brother!

I also think it is likely that Peter may have been trying to impress Jesus with his own willingness to forgive by claiming to be willing to forgive “up to seven times.” I think this sounded very heroic to Peter.

Have you wondered why Jesus answered his question by saying:

“I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

It seems to me that Jesus is doing two things here. First, he is using the common rabbinical teaching method of using hyperbole to make the point that there is to be no end to our willingness to forgive others (in fact, many translations render Jesus' words, “up to seventy times seven” – a much higher number!). Second, I think he is telling us that forgiveness is not typically a “one and done” kind of experience; that forgiveness is both a decision and a process.

Forgiveness is a decision in that we know that we have a “scapegoat” onto which we can put both our sins and the sins of those who have hurt us, and those sins can be carried away. Our scapegoat is, of course, Jesus Christ, who died not only for our sins, but for the sins of every person who is enshrined in our personal trophy room of hurt and pain. Forgiveness begins with deciding not to carry another person’s sins in our hearts and minds any longer. Forgiveness begins when we decide to give Christ not only our own sins to carry away, but also the sins of others.

But, the truth is, because we are human, we must return to this decision over and over again. And this is the process of forgiveness. Back to our image of a trophy room: Just as it takes years to carefully build a place in our hearts to store up all our past hurts and pain, it also takes time and effort to take that room apart piece by piece and trophy by trophy.

In that sense, it seems to me, forgiveness is a spiritual discipline much like prayer and worship. Remember that when Jesus taught us to pray, he included this phrase:

“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Matthew 6:12

In what we call The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus was teaching us to remember that whenever we seek God’s forgiveness for our sins, we also must ask his help to forgive those who have sinned against us.

Ask the Lord to help you learn the grace and discipline of forgiveness.

Pastor Brian Coffey