"'Then
Peter
came and
said to
Him,
'Lord,
how
often
shall my
brother
sin
against
me and I
forgive
him? Up
to seven
times?
Jesus
said to
him, 'I
do not
say to
you, up
to seven
times,
but up
to
seventy
times
seven."
Matthew
18:21-22
It is
certain
that
Peter
thought
that he
was
being
generous
when he
was
willing
to
forgive
a
brother
who had
sinned
against
him up
to seven
times -
he must
have
been
shocked
to hear
Jesus
say, "No,
I say to
you, up
to
seventy
times
seven."
Who had
ever
heard of
such
patience
and
longsuffering?
Think
about
it.
Someone
deliberately
sins
against
you
personally
literally
hundreds
of times
and God
expects
you to
forgive
them.
Yet that
is the
very
example
God has
given
for us
to
follow.
We have
sinned
against
a holy
God
thousands
of times
and yet
He
stands
always
ready to
forgive.
Jesus
illustrates
this
fact
beautifully
in the
parable
of the
prodigal
son who
squandered
his
inheritance
on
immorality
and
foolishness
yet was
received
back by
his
father
with
open
arms. In
fact,
when his
father
saw him
returning
from a
distance,
he ran
to meet
him with
a warm
embrace.
The
father
was so
happy
that he
threw a
big
party
for his
son.
This is
how our
Heavenly
Father
feels
when a
wayward
child
returns, -"There
will be
more joy
in
heaven
over one
sinner
who
repents
than
over
ninety-nine
righteous
persons
who need
no
repentance."
(Luke
15)
What
does it
cost you
to
forgive
those
who have
sinned
many
times
against
you?
Well, it
costs
you
patience,
tolerance
and the
satisfaction
of
vengeance.
What
does it
cost God
to
forgive
you of
your
sins
against
Him?
Well, it
costs
Him
patience,
tolerance
and the
satisfaction
of
vengeance
too but
much,
much
more -
it cost
Him the
life of
His only
begotten
Son.
All of
us have
violated
the
holiness
of the
Son of
God, yet
in love,
Jesus
yielded
Himself
to
terrible
suffering
and
death
for our
sins to
be
forgiven
and
while on
the
cross He
cried, -"Father
forgive
them for
they
don't
understand
what
they are
doing."
(Luke
23)
To
drive
home the
point of
the
importance
of
forgiving
others,
Jesus
followed
our text
with a
parable
about
two
debtors.
Jesus
began
this
story by
saying
that the
Kingdom
of
Heaven
may be
compared
to it.
In other
words,
the
parable
was to
show how
the King
and the
citizens
of the
Kingdom
of
Heaven
are to
conduct
their
business.
The
first
man had
run up
an
enormous
debt to
his king
and had
no means
to
repay.
Jesus
put the
debt at
ten
thousand
talents
which is
the
equivalent
of five
billion
U.S.
Dollars
and
would
take
more
than
three
thousand
lifetimes
to earn
working
at the
average
salary.
Just
when the
king was
ready to
sell
him, his
wife and
children
as
slaves,
the man
begged
saying, -"Have
patience
with me
and I
will
repay
you
everything." The
king
knew
that he
could
never
repay
the
debt,
but
feeling
compassion
for him
forgave
his
debt.
Rather
than
following
the
example
of his
king,
this man
seized a
man who
was
indebted
to him
for a
hundred
denarii
which is
the
equivalent
of about
eight
thousand
U.S.
Dollars
and
takes
about
four
months
to earn.
The
debtor
asked
for
patience
but the
man was
unwilling
and had
him cast
into
prison.
When the
king
heard of
this he
was
moved
with
anger
and
arrested
the man
and
handed
him over
to
torturers."My
heavenly
Father
will
also do
the same
to you,
if each
of you
does not
forgive
his
brother
from
your
heart."
