Mat 18:21 Then Peter
came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and
I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Mat 18:22 Jesus *said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to
seventy times seven.
We are at that number 7 again. If you remember 7 means
completeness in the bible. By the rabbinical standards of the time the rabbis
said to forgive 3 times. It is conjectured that Peter was either trying to be generous or
use the number 7 to me complete the forgiveness cycle. Jesus answer was seventy
time seven or 490. That is not exactly what he meant. He did not want any number
to be considered the end of forgiveness. We are to try to bring the person back into a
Christian life at all times.
Mat 18:23 "For this reason the
kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with
his slaves. Mat 18:24 "When he had begun to
settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
Mat 18:25 "But since he did not have the means to repay, his
lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he
had, and repayment to be made. Mat 18:26 "So
the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience
with me and I will repay you everything.' Mat 18:27 "And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released
him and forgave him the debt. Mat 18:28 "But
that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred
denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.' Mat 18:29 "So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him,
saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.' Mat 18:30 "But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison
until he should pay back what was owed. Mat 18:31 "So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they
were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.
Mat 18:32 "Then summoning him, his lord *said to
him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with
me. Mat 18:33 'Should you not also have had
mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?'
Mat 18:34 "And his lord, moved with anger, handed
him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.
Mat 18:35 "My heavenly Father will also do the
same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."
It would seem obvious that if you had been forgiven the
large debt and now you owe nothing that the minor debt would have been
insignificant. Since the slave was unwilling to do what his master did he paid
a price. So how does this parable affect us? Jesus has forgiven us of all our
sins if we repent. We should also be able to forgive a single sin. We need to
see how Jesus handled things and we should emulate that.
Agape
Dave
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