One of the
most famous conversations in Scripture is about forgiveness. Peter asked
Jesus how many times he should forgive someone. Then he followed up his
question with his own suggested answer of seven times. Many believe Peter
thought he was giving a magnanimous figure since Rabbis taught that you should
only forgive someone three times. They based this on the Old Testament
book of Amos (Ch.1-2). Amos told how God was going to punish various
nations for three sins and for four. The Rabbis believed that it was
that fourth time that brought God's judgment and that people need not go
beyond three times. Some Rabbis felt to do so would be trying
to be more forgiving than God! Thus Peter thought he was going way beyond
what was expected!
The Lord
Jesus then gave His famous answer of forgiving seventy times seven (KJV) or
seventy-seven times (NIV, ESV). What did Jesus mean? Was He saying
that there is never an accounting for wrong? Hardly...read Matthew
18:15-17. Was He teaching that we keep track of how many times we forgive
someone? I don't believe so...He consistently challenged the Pharisees
for living by the "letter of the Law". It would appear that
Jesus is teaching that forgiveness ought to be abundant and even "lifelong"
in a Christian. We must avoid becoming hardhearted and unforgiving in our
spirit and actions.
The
parable that Jesus taught after His conversation with Peter puts this
forgiveness in perspective. The King represents God and His GREAT
forgiveness of us. We are represented by the servant who was
forgiven MUCH.
Will we
like that servant be unforgiving toward others whose earthly wrongs toward
us DO NOT compare with our sinfulness toward God or will we forgive
because we have been forgiven? We struggle with this because we often don't
consider our sins to be that bad! And as far as repeated
forgiveness...how many times have we asked the Lord to forgive us??? We
ask for that EVERY Sunday in the Lord's Prayer!!!
Speaking
of Sunday...see you then!
1.
Read Amos 1:9-15 to appreciate the concept of three sins forgiven and then the
fourth brings judgment.
2.
What Old Testament character did Jesus possibly have in mind when using 77 as a
number of emphasis? Genesis 4:23-24
3.
When reading the parable in our sermon text there are two amounts of money
owed. Do some research to find out what they might equate to in today's
economy and you get a greater appreciation for God's forgiveness and our need
to forgive others. "Nothing that we have to forgive can even faintly
or remotely compare with what we have been forgiven." - William Barclay
4.
Our wrong toward God (our sinfulness) is far greater than we can truly
comprehend. Read Romans 3:9-19...it is NOT a pretty picture. And
the cost of our wrong and consequent forgiveness is far greater than we can
truly comprehend as well. Read Isaiah 53:4-6
5.
Read again the last verse of our sermon text, Matthew 18:35. On a scale
of 1-10, rate the importance Jesus places of forgiving others.
