Mathew 18:21-35

Your best friend of twenty years has told a secret about you to the world and has now broken your confidence. What should you do? You should get even, right? Find a way to pay them back for all the wrong they did to you. Isn’t that only fair? Should you have to suffer for something they have done?

Sadly, this would be a popular response in today’s world. We live in a society in which the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” mentality is prevalent. “If they did it to me, I’m doing it to them.” How many times have we heard, “Don’t get mad, get even?” However, there is a better solution. Today, I would like to share with you the very words and thoughts of Jesus Christ on the subject of forgiveness.

In Mathew chapter 18, Jesus is asked by Peter if seven times was enough to forgive someone that offended you. The rabbis taught that you should forgive three times, so Peter was trying to be extra generous. I believe he was blown away by the response. Jesus said “No, seventy times seven.” Jesus was not talking about a literal number; he was saying that we should not even keep track of how many times that a person offends us. We should always approach the situation with an attitude of forgiveness. Could you imagine what would happen to us if God stopped forgiving us after a certain number of times?

After Jesus was asked this question by Peter, he continued to tell a parable about an unforgiving debtor. He told how this certain man owed a lot of money to the king. This man went to the king to ask for more time to pay. He got on his knees and begged for mercy, and the king had pity and forgave him of his debt. The man then walked out and saw a man that owed him considerably less than what he had owed the king. When the other man asked for more time to pay back his debt, he had him thrown in prison. The king found out about this and then had that man thrown in prison until he paid everything back. Jesus then said, “That is what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters in your heart.” Jesus also said it like this, “If you forgive others, God will forgive you. If you don’t forgive others, God will never forgive you.” God sent his only son to pay the ultimate sacrifice, to die for our sins. Think about that, to DIE for OUR sins. Imagine a judge having mercy on a criminal, stepping in and saying “let me take his place." That is precisely what the Judge of all the earth did for you and I. Christ Jesus took our place, in spite of how much we didn’t deserve it.

Perhaps one of the greatest biblical examples of forgiveness, besides Jesus taking on the cross for our sins, is the one of Joseph. Joseph was the favorite child of his father Jacob. His brothers were jealous of this and sold him into slavery. Joseph ended up in Egypt and was falsely accused and thrown into prison. After finding favor with the prison guard and with Pharaoh, he was exalted to the second highest position in Egypt. When a famine came, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt looking for food. Joseph then revealed himself to his brothers. Through his tears he told them not to be angry with themselves, for it was God that sent him there. He said, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.” Joseph completely forgave his brothers for what they had put him through, no questions asked.

This is the kind of forgiveness that God wants us to display. Forgiveness requires humility. We have to be humble if we are to see past our own selfishness enough to forgive. If there is a situation in your life now in which someone is seeking your forgiveness, I urge you to look past yourself and have enough mercy and compassion to offer complete forgiveness to those who seek it. God Bless!

Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise.
-Colossians 3:16

Joshua A. Davis