In preparing for a piano recital, how many times does the performer play the same song? Fifty? A hundred? Though the listeners hear the song but once, the pianist plays it many times, so it soaks into the depths of her being—she knows it “by heart.”
What about forgiveness? How many times do we have to practice it so that we learn it “by heart?”
Jesus talks to us today about this (Matthew 18:21-35).
“Peter approached Jesus and asked him, ‘Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
What kind of answer did Peter expect? Seven was the perfect number and seemed a reasonable limit to put on one’s mercy. It is tough enough to forgive someone one time, much less seven times. There must be a time when we say “I’ve had enough; now I’m going to give you what you deserve. I’m not going to let you take advantage of me anymore.” Surely, Jesus would agree.
I’m sure Peter was shocked with Jesus’ answer.
“Jesus answered, ‘I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened…”
Just as a pianist needs to practice a song more than once to be sufficiently prepared for the recital, so does a Christian need to practice giving forgiveness more than once to reach God’s level of mercy. Because of his very nature, God puts no limits on his mercy. He expects the same of his children.
We know that even after we’ve forgiven someone who has hurt us, memories of the hurt still come back to us. We start feeling angry and upset all over again. This is a reminder that we must forgive the person all over again and do this seventy-seven times if necessary. Do we do this to make the other person feel better? No, we do it for ourselves, so that in repeatedly offering mercy, our own hearts become like the Father’s. We practice the “song of forgiveness” over and over until we begin to see the other person with the heart of Jesus.
Jesus developed this teaching with a parable.
“…a king decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold…At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back. Move with compassion the master of that servant…forgave him his loan.”
Jesus had Peter look at the bigger picture. Long before an offending brother came into his life, Peter, himself, had sinned against God. Being confronted with his own sin, he had no recourse but to ask God to forgive him, and out of compassion, God did.
Though the king forgave the servant, when the servant had the opportunity to forgive a fellow servant a much smaller debt, he refused to do so. When the master heard about this,
“…in anger the master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt.”
There are grave consequences for refusing mercy to those who ask. A compassionate Father who forgives us a huge amount of debt expects us to readily forgive a sister or brother. And he wants us to do this over and over until we are ready to present our hearts to him in the day of life’s final “recital.”
“I am gracious and merciful” (Joel 2:13).
