Forgiveness Seventy Times Seven

How sweet is our God who extends His hand of mercy and grants forgiveness to penitent sinner! The Heavenly Father does not want to see any of His little ones perish, and like a good shepherd, He leaves the ninety-nine behind to seek the one who has gone astray. The Son of Man came to save the lost. This divine absolution is infectious, and those who have been forgiven much can also forgive much.

It is on account of one’s sinful heart that withholds forgiveness. Those without mercy cannot offer mercy. Those without forgiveness do not forgive. A person might over look an offense, but the sinful heart can only tolerate so much. “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Peter inquired (Matt. 18:21), as if granting forgiveness over twice as many times other Rabbis prescribed would be piously generous. Yet, Jesus responded, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (Matt. 18:22). He of course did not mean 490 times would be the maximum amount of times one can be forgiven; rather, that forgiving people never run out of forgiveness.

Jesus illustrates divine forgiveness with this provocative parable on two debtors:

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, “Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.”And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, “Pay back what you owe.” So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, “Have patience with me and I will repay you.” But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, his lord said to him, “You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?” And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him (Matt. 18:23-34).

In the first scene of the parable there is a servant who is called to settle accounts with the king. The problem was that the servant had incurred a debt that on the basis of his earnings it would have taken him 275,000 years to repay ten thousand talents, albeit the servant made the futile plea of needing more time for repayment. The merciful king, however, forgives the servant’s debts. The next scene we find the same servant enslaving a person who owed him a 100 denarii, or a little over three months of pay (a denarii being a day’s wage). In spite of being released from repaying an impossible debt, the unforgiving servant withholds forgiveness from someone who could in all likelihood repay the debt within a reasonable amount of time. In the final scene, the king gets wind of what happened, and sends the unforgiving servant to debtor’s prison until he could repay the debt, albeit repayment of his debt was impossible.

Jesus then warns the disciples, “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart” (Matt. 18:35). On another occasion, the Lord said, “If you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matt. 6:14-15). We are also to pray: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12; cf. Luke 11:4). Forgiveness between God and man goes hand in hand with forgiveness between one to another. Paul encouraged the church about putting off the old self directed towards sin and putting on the new directed towards righteousness, and one aspect of that was for them to “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Eph. 4:31-32).

Harboring unforgiveness isolates people from one another and weakens an entire community. It is an action that ultimately stands antithetical to the ways of God, who seeks out those who have gone astray, and saves those who are lost. God’s people have been forgiven, and on account of this, they too can offer mercy and forgiveness.