Then peter came to him and said, 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. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.
The servant therefore fell down before him, saying ‘master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘pay me what you owe!’
So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him saying, ‘have patience with me and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went out and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘you wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I have had pity on you?
And his master was very angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
So my heavenly father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.’ ( matthew 18 vs 21 – 35 NKJV )
We will be taking few observations from the scripture above. Firstly, I want to say that familiarity with scripture can be very dangerous. When a man is so familiar with the bible, he will never know when God is talking to him. Because he is already puffed up. For instance if a pastor is about to preach to his congregation on a Sunday morning and they were asked to open to john 3:16, I want to tell you that eighty percent of the people will not find it interesting in opening the bible with all readiness to know what God is about to say. Do you know why? Familiarity! So I want to say here that not everybody will accept what it written in this book. Some may see genuine truth as the light of God’s word break into their spirit, others will see faults and mistakes in this book. One of the character I have developed or copied from one of my spiritual fathers is that, I always make sure I pray before reading any book. At this juncture you need to close this book and just ask the holy spirit to help you understand what this book is saying and that at the end you will be able to apply them to yourself. For dreams & interpretation, click here
THE STORY
The first thing to do is to really understand what the story was all about. There were three major characters in the parable and two minor characters (Jesus and Peter) which were not part of the real story. Before Jesus told this parable, I want to assume that Peter was having problem with someone maybe a friend or relation. I assume this because, it had not been long brother peter joined the discipleship class of Jesus Christ and we cannot presume that peter has been made completely.
Peter wanted to find a lasting solution to the problem of unforgiveness. People have been hurting uncle peter so much. He has been offended many times and he would not bear a grudge against anyone. Base on research, temperament-wise, peter was a sanguine and we all know that sanguine can hardly hurt a fly. Now, let us go back to the bible and read again for better understanding.
Then peter came to him and said…… peter came directly to Jesus. He did not go through short-cut. Peter was not afraid of coming to his master. He knew very well that Jesus has the final solution to his situation. Firstly, may I say here that if your relationship with Jesus Christ is sour, you will need to make it sweet. You cannot go directly to God to ask anything when you must have by-passed Jesus Christ. This is not possible. Jesus must know you and you must know Jesus. This is why the issue of been born again is very important. You cannot access the master when you have no relationship with him. Note this!
……Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?
Peter called him LORD. Peter recognized Jesus as master over all. He did not see any other person as lord but Jesus.
How often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?
In the jewish law, offending or accusing someone unnecessarily is a sin. So, peter was aware of this. He understands the mosaic law but needed more clarification from Jesus. Let me take it in a simple language anyone can clearly understand. What peter was saying here is, ‘sir, how many times will my brother, sister, mother, father or friends offend me before I can forgive them? Should I endure till the seventh offence? This was what bro peter was trying to ask. Peter wanted to be so sure so that he can be a correct disciple who will not retaliate at the seventh offence as some us do. Our churches no longer address this matter in our gatherings. Unforgiveness is an evil which has destroyed many marriages, homes and churches. Nobody is preaching about it again. But, brother peter was so careful on this matter and he reasoned with himself on how to correct this matter while he was with Jesus. Peter seized the opportunity to get the truth. He was not like some of us who will always swallow everything both hook, line and sinker. This is the problem with our present generation. Only a few are willing to ask questions during or after bible studies. Let us also understand that peter had a tooth for tat mentality. This is part of the mosaic law. In the mosaic law, anything can happen. If your brother slaps you, you just have to retaliate if not you will be at the losing end. The funny thing here is that the natural man in us do not want to be insulted. He does not like to be embarrassed. If you scream at him, the next time he sees you, he won’t talk to you again. In our every day life, offence will come; people will offend us but how you handle it determines whether it will offend you or not. People take up offences unnecessarily. What looks like a minute problem is enlarged and amplified to serious issues because the heart is not correct. Brethren, how many times will our brothers offend us before we can forgive? Sister, it is true someone has broken your heart as you said. But can you forgive this man? It is also true that the other time, your inlaws insulted you so much. But have you forgiven them? What most Christians regard as an insult is because they took up an offence which has already fallen to the ground. If they had left it on the ground without picking it up, it would not become an offence.
