Someone has wronged you. Cheated you. Stolen from you. Abused you. Insulted you. Abandoned you. Cut-your-legs-out-from-under you. What they have done to you weighs you down, plagues you, haunts you, angers you. It hurts. How do you respond?
In Matthew 18, Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times do I need to forgive my brother when he sins against me? As many as seven times?” This is not a limit or quota of forgiveness. Seven is the perfect number. Peter is asking, “Do I need to forgive my brother perfectly?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” That means, “Yes, perfectly forgive him. Give him perfect, perfect forgiveness. Give him the most perfect, infinite, repeated, purest forgiveness you can give.” It is radical forgiveness. But what does that look like? Jesus told a story:
There once was a king whose servants owed him money, and he wanted to settle accounts with them. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him a million dollars. But the servant could not pay, so the king ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant fell on his knees and begged him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” The king pitied him and released him and forgave him the debt. Wow! Cool for the servant! What’s a million dollars, anyway?
But then that same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, “Pay what you owe!” And his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” Sound familiar? But he refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. Are you kidding me?
Well, the king heard of this and summoned the servant and said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you the million dollars you owed me because you pleaded with me, and shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant who only owed you ten dollars? Shouldn’t you have mercy as I had mercy on you?” And in anger the king delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
The point of the story is this: if God has forgiven you the million-dollar debt you owe him, shouldn’t you forgive the ten-dollar debt your brother owes you? If God has mercy on you for your great sin, should you not have mercy on your brother for his little sin? That’s what forgiveness seventy-seven times looks like. So who do you need to forgive?