God of mercy and grace, may Your showers of love be upon the life of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from Matthew 18: 21 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?" 22 Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven. 23 "The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. 24 As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. 25 He couldn't pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market. 26 "The poor wretch threw himself at the king's feet and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' 27 Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt. 28 "The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, 'Pay up. Now!' 29 "The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' 30 But he wouldn't do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. 31 When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king. 32 "The king summoned the man and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. 33 Shouldn't you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?' 34 The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. 35 And that's exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn't forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy." (The Message)
As our daughters grew up, we watched a lot of Sesame Street. One character I loved was The Count, who, as his name says, loves to count. His character was to teach children how to count and the joy of counting. There's one area, though, where we shouldn't count, but do, and that's the area of when people sin against us. (Sound familiar? It's in the Lord's Prayer!). To have someone hurt us never sits well with us. We ache and we hurt, sometimes we cry and we carry around the weight of this having been done to us. We know we should forgive but we can't. We wonder how we could ever be harmed in the way that happened and why in the world that person could do such a thing to us. It's an ancient problem and it was addressed by the rabbinical teachings that said every person was to forgive three times. Depending on your past hurts, that's either a small number or a huge number. For many, it is an unattainable number. Some scholars believe Peter knew this number and so, in order to impress his teacher, asks if we should forgive someone seven times. Keep in mind, this was a difficult question for Peter to ask, though you can almost hear the "what a good boy am I" tone in asking if seven was the new number.
Peter learns what we should know; God's math is different from ours. In the Old Testament we learn that when a man and a woman marry, the two become one. One plus one is one. I know the Count would freak with that, but that's Bible Math. Here in the New Testament we find Jesus saying we should forgive seventy times seven or Why do you keep count of something you should readily and always do? I may have mentioned the book, "Forgive to Live," a story by a man whose best friend who was also his boss, constant lunch companion, tennis and golf partner, from one day to the next, fired him from the best job he had ever had. It was a cold-blooded termination with no justification other than the money the hospital wanted to save by eliminating that position. This man became physically sick and almost died. Doctors tried and tried but could not find the cause of his illness. One doctor asked if there was someone whom he had not forgiven in his life. That was the answer. It was not a simple or easy answer, it took years of prayer and study but the man reached the conclusion that one must forgive to live. It make sense. Many times the victim is the only one who still carries around the weight and burden of an offense. The one who caused it goes on with his/her life and never even thinks about what s/he has done. It's not until we forgive that we can be freed of that unnecessary weight.
Do you need to forgive to live? Do it today.
PRAYER: Loving God, help me to understand Your math. Help to me know what power there is in my learning to show mercy to those who have harmed or hurt me. Let me move on with my life. Let me forgive to live. I pray this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name; He who knew and taught how to forgive, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
