The Freedom To Forgive.

Matthew 18:21–35
There are few teachings of Jesus that are more difficult—or more misunderstood—than forgiveness. We can understand kindness. We can appreciate generosity. But forgiveness? Especially when we have been deeply wounded? That is another matter altogether.
Peter comes to Jesus with what he probably believes is a generous question. “Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” In the rabbinic tradition, forgiving three times was often considered sufficient. Peter more than doubles it. Surely Jesus will commend him.
Instead, Jesus answers, “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times”—or, in some translations, “seventy times seven.”
To explain, Jesus tells a story.
A servant owes the king ten thousand talents. We miss the shock of that number because we no longer deal in talents, but Jesus intentionally chooses an impossible amount—billions of dollars in today’s terms. It is a debt no one could ever repay. When the servant begs for mercy, the king does something astonishing. He doesn’t establish a payment plan. He doesn’t reduce the debt. He cancels it entirely. The servant walks away free. Yet almost immediately he encounters another servant who owes him a hundred denarii—a significant amount, but tiny compared with what has just been forgiven. Instead of extending mercy, he grabs the man by the throat and demands payment. The tragedy of the story is not merely that he is unforgiving. It is that he has forgotten mercy.
That is often where forgiveness breaks down in our own lives. We remember what others owe us far more vividly than what God has forgiven in us. Forgiveness does not begin by minimizing the offense. It begins by remembering the mercy we ourselves have received. This is key.
Many people hear a sermon on forgiveness and immediately think Jesus is asking them to pretend nothing happened. That is not what forgiveness means. Forgiveness is not denial. Forgiveness is not saying evil was acceptable. Forgiveness is not removing every consequence. Forgiveness is not immediately rebuilding trust.
Trust must often be rebuilt slowly. Boundaries may still be necessary. Justice may still need to be pursued.
Forgiveness is releasing our right to keep collecting the debt. How many of us when angry at those who are close to us, bring up former wrongs and mistakes. We keep throwing at them, kitchen -sinking its called.
It is placing justice into God’s hands rather than insisting on carrying it ourselves.
Notice that forgiveness in Scripture is never merely a feeling. Feelings often arrive much later. Some of us today carry wounds that are still very fresh. Others carry hurts from decades ago. Some are struggling to forgive another person. Some find it even harder to forgive themselves. And some quietly wonder whether God could ever forgive them.
This parable answers all three questions. God’s grace is greater than our failures.
God’s mercy is larger than our shame.
And because we have been forgiven so extravagantly, we are invited—slowly, prayerfully, sometimes tearfully—to become forgiving people ourselves.
So perhaps Peter’s question is also our question: “How many times?”
And Jesus gently replies ,“As many times as it takes for mercy to shape your heart.”
May we receive again the mercy God freely gives. And may that mercy, over time, make us people who forgive—not because the offense was small, but because God’s grace is immeasurably greater.
Amen.