Showing Grace and Forgiveness
God gave us His Word (the Bible) to guide us and to give us His truth and directions. Reading and studying the Bible is essential in our quest to know God and live this life within God’s will. In this series of articles, we are considering different things that are vitally important to understand in God’s Word. In Matthew 18, Peter approaches Jesus and ponders the issue of forgiveness. Peter's question is: how many times must I forgive my brother? Wow, this is an issue that we can all relate to. How often must we forgive those who make life difficult? How many times must we tolerate being hurt? Peter seems to have a bigger heart than I do since he asks Jesus, “Shall I forgive my brother up to seven times?” While I’d like to tell everyone that I am an endless fountain of grace and mercy, the reality is that I struggle in this area. I’m more of a “three strikes and you’re out” kind of person. I know I should have more patience and forgiveness. It is an area I’m working on. It also seems like Peter was working on his forgiveness ability. While Peter’s apparent generosity in the forgiveness department catches our attention, it is the reply of Jesus that stabs at us. In reply to Peter’s seemingly generous gesture, Jesus said, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:22) Wait! I don’t know about you, but if someone sins against me that many times, I’m likely to make the evening news for committing a homicide. How are we to understand this teaching of Jesus?
In order to better understand Jesus' reply to Peter, let's dig into some background information. Most folks do not know that Jesus was probably pulling an obscure reference into his conversation with Peter. Permit me a brief history lesson. We are all descendants of Adam and Eve, the father and mother of us all. Their firstborn was Cain. Cain is probably best known for being the first murderer. After Cain killed his brother Abel, he was punished by God. He was banished to become a restless wanderer on the Earth. This story is told in Genesis 4. In response to God’s discipline, Cain declared that God was being too hard. Cain worried that someone would find him and exact retribution, that he would be killed. God, in His mercy, told Cain not to worry. God placed a protective mark on Cain (don’t ask, we do not know what this mark was) and told him that whoever exacts vengeance on Cain will suffer seven times the vengeance themselves.
This Genesis narrative continues with a brief story about Cain’s great-great-great-grandson, Lamech. It seems Lamech was a man of tremendous ego and self-worth. Lamech was the first polygamist (he had two wives). One day, he returned from killing a man and declared that if Cain was to be avenged seven times, then whoever tried to avenge Lamech’s killing would suffer seventy-seven times (the same wording Jesus used with forgiveness). Lamech’s conversation is best understood as a taunt. Lamech was justifying his actions and his anger. After all, how can Lamech avenge his own killing seventy-seven times? Lamech’s rage-filled rant was about having endless anger. While we are not told what the offense to Lamech was in Genesis 4, we see an arrogant man who was filled with his own self-importance. Whoever dared to cross Lamech would face swift conflict. Jesus, being the all-knowing Son of God, knew the reasoning of Lamech. I believe Jesus is comparing Lamech’s endless need for retribution with the endless love and mercy of God. Isn’t that what forgiveness is all about? Is that not where my difficulties lie?
When someone sins against us, is not our desire for retribution an attempt to even the score? When we respond negatively to others because they hurt us, who are we most like? Are we like Lamech, feeding on rage and self-importance? Are we like God, who shows endless mercy and forgiveness? I find that when I am counting the times a person sins against me, I’m not really filled with grace and mercy. It is more about me. It’s more about my selfish ego. When I remember that God has shown me mercy, I’m better able to show mercy as well. The ability to forgive resides in understanding that God has been infinitely merciful with me. When I bathe in God’s grace, I’m able to show it to others. In a divided world, in a society that is immersed in hateful selfishness, we would do well to learn this lesson of forgiveness. Keep looking up!