“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’” Matthew 18: 21-22
In today’s scripture, we are looking at the curiosity of Peter, when he inquired to the Lord Jesus Christ about dealing with offenses. Perhaps, Peter expects a precise response from Jesus on the number of forgiveness he can release to his offenders, rather, Jesus Christ used a symbolic seventy-seven times, which means forgiving as many and as much as you can.
The world today says otherwise with cancel culture being rampant and is made universally accepted. But in contrary, the teachings of Christ says forgive, because not only does it clears the offender but also sets free the offended. This action stems from overcoming evil with love, because unforgiveness only stirs up pride, disunity and when we don’t forgive, we become a partner of the enemy by keeping that grudge in our hearts.
To forgive is hard. That is why we need the love of the Father through Christ, that showed us unconditional, underserving love that also forgave us. The moment we grasp it, grow with it, and evolve in it, we become the bigger person, filled with God’s love that frees us by His overflowing love that gives us the capability to forgive.
