In today’s Gospel, Peter asks Jesus a question that lies at the heart of every human relationship: “How often must I forgive?” Peter believes he is being generous when he suggests forgiving seven times. Jesus’ response, however, stretches the boundaries of human calculation: “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (or seventy times seven). Forgiveness in the Kingdom of God is not measured by numbers but by the limitless mercy of God himself.
To be truly human, everyone needs to experience forgiveness – from fellow human beings as well as from God. We all know the burden of failure, regret, and broken relationships. Equally, we know the healing that comes when forgiveness is offered and received. Yet forgiveness is never cheap. It is costly both to the one who forgives and to the one who is forgiven. It requires humility, honesty, and a willingness to let go of resentment and the desire for revenge.
Jesus illustrates this truth in the parable of the unforgiving servant. A servant who has been forgiven an enormous debt refuses to forgive a much smaller debt owed to him. His failure is not simply a lack of generosity; it is a failure to understand the mercy he himself has received. The depth and sincerity of forgiveness are the heart of its reality. Forgiveness that remains superficial or conditional has not yet entered the spirit of Christ.
The value of forgiveness is that it enables us to call to mind the supreme cost of our salvation won for us on the Cross of Calvary. Through Christ’s sacrifice, reconciliation between God and his people is restored. Every act of Christian forgiveness participates in that mystery of redemption. Christian action at its best is an expression of God’s love revealed in Christ.
We can forgive “till seventy times seven” only because God first forgave us. His mercy precedes and sustains our own efforts to forgive. Yet the cost of our forgiving is negligible compared with his. As we remember the immeasurable debt that God has cancelled through Christ, we are invited to become instruments of that same mercy in our families, communities, and world.
Fr Stephen Berecz