“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing”

— John 15:4-5

This is a weekly reflection on the previous week’s sermon text. Each week there will be a devotional related to the scripture for the week, along with questions for reflection/discussion, as well as prayer. Feel free to make this a part of your individual spiritual growth throughout the week or utilize in small group settings (growth groups, Sunday school, etc.)

Matthew 18:21-22

“Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”

I can just imagine the look on Jesus’ face as he listens to Peter’s question, “Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” It had to be one of those “I can’t believe you are asking this question,” kind of looks. On the surface it seems kind of odd that Peter placed a specific number on the question, but it made a lot of sense. In the rabbinic tradition of the time forgiving someone three times was considered sufficient. So, Peter was essentially doubling that number and adding one for good measure.

He must have thought to himself, “Surely, Jesus will be okay with this. I mean I doubled the expectation and added one after all.” Imagine Peter’s surprise when Jesus answered, “Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times.” In other words, there are no limits to forgiveness. It is a way of life, and it is difficult.

Immediately after this exchange with Peter, Jesus told a story about how the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the reckoning, the one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him, and, as he could not pay, the king ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all possessions and payment to be made.

What is interesting about the story at this point is the amount of money – ten thousand talents. A talent was not a coin but a unit of weight. When used in the context of gold or silver, it represented an astronomical sum that could never be repaid. To put it into perspective, one denarius was considered a day’s wage, and one talent equaled 6,000 denarii. It would take sixteen years to pay back just one talent! Jesus’ point is clear – the servant could never pay back what he owed.

As the story continued, the servant begged and pleaded to be given a chance to pay back the ten thousand talents (we now know that would have been impossible). Surprisingly, the king released him and forgave him for the debt. One would think the servant would have been a changed person, but as the story concludes we learn that he was owed 100 denarii from a fellow servant and instead of forgiving as he had been forgiven, he had his fellow servant thrown into prison. Needless to say, the king was not amused when he got word of the servant’s treatment of his fellow servant and things did not end well for the first servant.

This story reminds us that we all stand in need of God’s forgiveness. I guess we could say that when we rightly understand God’s forgiveness we become “forgiven forgivers”. To decline the opportunity to forgive another is in some way rejecting God’s forgiveness of us.