The gospel is about forgiveness - a statement that may produce some stifled yawns in the congregation. Forgiveness - does that mean God canceling our debts? A kind of religious bookkeeping exercise? That’s nice but not very exciting. God can cancel our debts and then we can get on with life.
Not exactly. In fact, not at all! The gospel is about the radical, incredible forgiveness of God, a forgiveness that can transform you and make you not only a forgiven but a forgiving person. And if that’s not exciting, look at the alternative.
How many times?
Peter comes to Jesus with the question, “How often do I have to forgive someone who’s hurt me?” It’s a natural question and Peter suggests what seems like a generous answer - seven times. It’s probably more generous than we feel comfortable with, but Jesus tops it. Not seven times but 77. (Some translations say “seventy times seven,” 490, but the Greek can also mean 77 and that’s more likely, as we’ll see.)
Forgiving 77 times instead of seven? Does that mean that Jesus is just - well, let’s see - 11 times more forgiving that Peter? No, it means more than that. Jesus’ answer carries us back to a few verses before the flood story in Genesis, at the dawn of history. There has been some quarrel and some injury, and the Bible gives us a bit from a primitive song of vengeance by a man named Lamech: “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”1 Unlimited revenge! If you step on my toe I’ll burn your
