Matthew 18:21-35 — Forgiveness (Ep.056), A. Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Up to seven times? Okay, so Peter asks how many times should he forgive? And he says up to seven times.

That was actually a generous number because some religious leaders taught three times.

So Peter was now saying seven times.

That's pretty good.

And Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times.

77 is much bigger, isn't it? So does that mean we should count up to 77 and then when it hits 78, we say, oh, sorry, I can't forgive you anymore.

No, Jesus means when he says 77, it means endless, without ending, every time.

Now, of course, Jesus is not talking about where you forgive or you allow someone who's hurting you to continue to hurt you.

You don't do that.

Maybe you're in a hurtful relationship and you end the relationship.

And they want to come back or something like that.

It doesn't mean that you have to allow that person back.

It just means in your heart, you forgive them, right? But there's many situations where it's so difficult to forgive, isn't it? But Jesus asks us to forgive from the heart, to not try to get revenge.

Revenge is when you try to get someone back.

They hurt you, you hurt them.

It's interesting that Jesus says 77 times because in Genesis chapter 4, There's someone named Lamech, and Lamech, he says that he will get revenge 77 times, which, again, is unlimited.

So he wants to get revenge 77 times, and Jesus has taken that number about revenge and And he's basically turned everything upside down and talking about forgiveness or mercy 77 times.

It's so wonderful how Jesus turns things upside down so many times.

So I was just talking about Genesis 4, 24, if you want to check.

Okay, so let's go back.

By the way, some Bibles say 70 times 7.

Some Bible verses say 70 times 7.

Mine says 77.

It means the same time.

I'm sorry.