Wednesday, March 30, 2022: Lent Five - The Peter Principle

At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?” (Matthew 18:21, The Message Bible)

                 I wonder who it was that Peter may have been thinking about when he asked this question. 

                A family member? Maybe he had had a fight with his wife recently. He was hardly ever home.  One of the other disciples? After all, at some point, probably more than once, they had been arguing about who was the greatest disciple and I can be pretty sure Peter threw his own name into the hat. Perhaps, it was one of his rival fishing competitors. Maybe, it was a Roman soldier or a Samaritan.

                I am not sure that one asks that sort of question without someone specific in mind.

                Seven seems like a good number. It is a sacred, holy number. Lucky for some. It seems that seven times would be going the second mile, showing ample grace, abundant mercy, lots of room for the miscreant to apologize and admit they were wrong. Seven times surely would show how magnanimous someone could be, how generous in spirit, how noble, how decent.

                Surely Jesus would be pleased with Peter’s  suggestion.

                Poor Peter. Missed the mark again.

                As Jesus is wont to do with our all-too-human suggestions, he expands Peter’s horizons and probably blows his mind. “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.” (18: 22) Trust me, Jesus was not saying the magic number is now 490 times and then you can quit forgiving. Jesus is saying that forgiveness is a continuous, never-ending,  perpetual aspect of God’s Love at work in us. “You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.”  (Matthew 6:15, The Message)

                Nobody is saying that total forgiveness is easy. We would prefer the offending party come crawling to us  on their knees and beg our forgiveness.  We would prefer never to speak to the  miscreant ever again, even if they ever did apologize. We would prefer to hurt back in some way, deprive them of our presence. We would prefer not to ever forget and, therefore, never to put the hurt, the insult, the neglect, the grudge, the harm behind us and just let it go. Human memory is just too strong for that much forgiveness.

                No, real forgiveness is hard.

                But it is the Jesus way. Ceaseless, endless, compassionate, deep, all-encompassing. The kind of forgiveness that is cross-hewed. “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.” (Luke 23:33, The Message)

                Forgiveness is therefore sacrificial. We have to give up something to be able to fully and completely forgive. Resentments, grudges, old painful memories, complaints, judgements, prejudices, dreams of pay-back. We need to quit counting, not seven, not four hundred and ninety; there is no finite number.

                True forgiveness is letting the past be past, letting sin be in the hands of God and not be burdened with the pain and hurt.  It is seeking new reconciliation. “If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.” (Matthew 18: 15 -17, The Message)

                But dang it – that sounds like a lot of hard work.

                It is; forgiveness is not about keeping score but it is God’s Mercy at work among us. It is God’s Grace which heals, reconciles, nurtures, enriches our broken relationships. It is God’s Love calling us to love.

                I don’t think that one can put a number on that.

Dale