How Far Should Our Forgiveness Go?

Matthew 18.21-35

Press reporter Terry Anderson was held hostage in Lebanon for nearly seven years from 1984. He was chained to a wall in a filthy, spider-infested cell. He suffered through sickness. He endured mental torture. He longed for his family. He was grounded down by a dull ache of boredom. Through it all he was given only one book, the Bible, and one phrase kept coming to mind "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Finally Anderson was released on December 4, 1991. People quickly clustered about him and one question quickly came up - can you forgive your captors? Anderson paused. Before he could come to a response, the Lord's Prayer ran through his mind: "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us". This is the victim talking and no matter how hard it was he knew he had to forgive not necessarily forget, but forgive his captors.
Should Our Forgiveness Toward Others Be Limited? This is precisely the issue that Jesus addresses in this passage. I believe this is one of the most important issues we can grapple with in our lives. The Jews limited their forgiveness to 3 times. God forgave only three times, therefore we should not exceed God's forgiveness as we are merely mortals.

Have you heard this little ditty?
To dwell above with saints we love,
Oh, that will be glory.
But to dwell below with saints we know,
Well, that's another story.

Sometimes we might think that to live or spend time with other christians may be hard, but this is because of our sin and the whole way of the world. It is not unique only to Christians. Some people like to make excuses for not fellowshipping with other Christians because they might be too prickly and yet they are just as prickly themselves. Thy just never see it.

 German philosopher Schopenhauer compared the human race to a bunch of porcupines huddling together on a cold winter's night. He said, "The colder it gets outside, the more we huddle together for warmth; but the closer we get to one another, the more we hurt one another with our sharp quills. And in the lonely night of earth's winter eventually we begin to drift apart and wander out on our own and freeze to death in our loneliness. Thus they are forever coming together and moving apart in a kind of slow dance."

As Christians we believe our mission is to be used by God to draw people into authentic Christian community. Admittedly, what we are attempting is very, very difficult for a bunch of porcupines. But we believe that we can not only survive the winter, we believe we can thrive by huddling together. So what do we do about our quills? As all of us know by experience, it is impossible to be involved in someone else's life to any degree without causing and receiving offence. We will be hurt; we will be betrayed. How do we handle it, fellow porcupines? According to Jesus the way to handle offence is by forgiveness. But how far should our forgiveness go, how high should it reach? How deep should it be? It is recorded that Rabbi Jose ben Hanina said, "He who begs forgiveness from his neighbour must not do so more than three times." Another Rabbi Jose ben Jehuda also said, "If a man commits an offence once, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a second time, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a third time, they forgive him; the fourth time they do not forgive him."

In this context, Peter no doubt thought that he was being gracious. Peter asked Jesus this question here and was very generous in his question asking if he should forgive up to seven times. Twice that of the average Jew and one more for good measure. "So tell me, Lord," said Peter, "how many times should I forgive a brother or sister who sins against me? Before you answer, let me just say that I am prepared to go as high as seven times. That seems mathematically correct and merciful to me. What do you think, Jesus?"Is Forgiveness limited? Jesus says "No, throw away the abacus and your calculator Peter. Stop counting on your fingers. In God's Kingdom there is unlimited forgiveness Jesus makes it clear that God the Father is like this king."

If God the Father forgives us out of His sheer unmerited grace and all the while we are so unworthy and don't deserve an ounce of it. How then can we not forgive those "who sin against us". When we think about it others sins against us are mortal, in other words directed to us a mortal and ours against God are of an immortal nature against an immortal and eternal God. Sometimes it may be a heinous or grievous sin against us, it may be hard to forgive, but when we look at the Cross until we are melted by His love we learn to forgive others "who sin against us". "Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us". Lord melt our heart in your forgiveness at the cross and we will forgive those around.