15 “If your fellow believer sins against you, go and tell him in private what he did wrong. If he listens to you, you have helped that person to be your brother or sister again. 16 But if he refuses to listen, go to him again and take one or two other people with you. ‘Every case may be proved by two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, then treat him like a person who does not believe in God or like a tax collector.
18 “I tell you the truth, the things you don’t allow on earth will be the things God does not allow. And the things you allow on earth will be the things that God allows.
19 “Also, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about something and pray for it, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 This is true because if two or three people come together in my name, I am there with them.”
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, when my fellow believer sins against me, how many times must I forgive him? Should I forgive him as many as seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, you must forgive him more than seven times. You must forgive him even if he wrongs you seventy times seven.
23 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who decided to collect the money his servants owed him. 24 When the king began to collect his money, a servant who owed him several million dollars was brought to him. 25 But the servant did not have enough money to pay his master, the king. So the master ordered that everything the servant owned should be sold, even the servant’s wife and children. Then the money would be used to pay the king what the servant owed.
26 “But the servant fell on his knees and begged, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything I owe.’ 27 The master felt sorry for his servant and told him he did not have to pay it back. Then he let the servant go free.
28 “Later, that same servant found another servant who owed him a few dollars. The servant grabbed him around the neck and said, ‘Pay me the money you owe me!’
29 “The other servant fell on his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything I owe.’
30 “But the first servant refused to be patient. He threw the other servant into prison until he could pay everything he owed. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very sorry. So they went and told their master all that had happened.
32 “Then the master called his servant in and said, ‘You evil servant! Because you begged me to forget what you owed, I told you that you did not have to pay anything. 33 You should have showed mercy to that other servant, just as I showed mercy to you.’ 34 The master was very angry and put the servant in prison to be punished until he could pay everything he owed.
35 “This king did what my heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Read Matthew 18:15-35 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
In today’s journal entry, we will be looking at a passage that emphasizes forgiveness and reconciliation. There is an interesting “big idea” that I saw while studying this that I want to touch on in this journal entry.
On hearing Jesus tell His disciples that they must forgive others who have sinned against them, Peter has a question: “How many times is too many times to forgive someone?” Jesus had just shared the process for forgiveness and helping there to be reconciliation, but nowhere did Jesus specify a number of times to forgive a wrong.
Thinking he has picked a number that is most generous, Peter suggests seven times in his question. It is in Jesus’ response that we get our big idea: Forgiveness is not about counting or keeping track of the wrong, but about letting go and moving forward.
Jesus tells Peter, “You must forgive him more than seven times. You must forgive him even if he wrongs you seventy times seven.” Jesus does have a formula, but it is one that we don’t really like thinking about. (Hint: The formula is not 490 times.)
Jesus’ formula for forgiveness is whatever number we are thinking of times that number times ten. So had Peter said 5 times, Jesus’ response would probably have been something like “fifty times five”. We can illustrate this by saying (5 x 10) x 5, or (7 x 10) x 7, or even (15 x 10) x 15 if we are really generous.
The point really isn’t about the number though, because as soon as we have our number, we have to redo the formula because Jesus isn’t interested in counting or keeping track of how many times we have been hurt.
In order to understand forgiveness, it helps to look at it from a financial angle. Let’s say Frank owes money to Bob. When forgiving the debt, Bob is being released from the obligation for payment, but not only that, Frank is also released from having to keep track of Bob and pressuring him for payment.
This is an easy explanation, but what if Bob hurt Frank in a way that was not so easy to repay. What if it resulted in a long-term injury or even a death? How could Bob ever fully repay his debt?
This is where the true power of forgiveness comes into play, because it actually helps the person forgiving more than the person being forgiven. Bob knows there is no way he could repay the debt, so he avoids the issue and moves on. Frank though has to live with this issue, and avoiding forgiveness turns the hurt into anger, which left unchecked turns into bitterness, which will then infect all of Frank’s interactions with others. By forgiving, which is completely unnatural—especially the longer one takes to forgive—Frank is able to move forward in his life and let the past be the past.
The number of times we should forgive then becomes irrelevant because forgiveness benefits the forgiver much more than the person being forgiven.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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