Mercy
Matthew 18
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| I pray blessings on you as you read |
(v. 21-22) "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."
My Thoughts
The parable of the lost sheep that Jesus tells in Matthew 18 shows His love and His mercy. He would be happier about the one who is found than the 99 who are already safe and He would leave all of them to find the one who is lost. I want to focus on Jesus' parable of the unmerciful servant.
It's obvious what that parable is about but that is only the title. The master had mercy on his servant who owed him ten thousand talents, which would be millions of dollars equivalent for us! That is a huge debt! When the servant begged him to give him time and he would pay it all back, the master cancelled his debt! He cancelled it entirely and sent him on his way. How amazing is that?
A fellow servant owed this servant, whose debt was cancelled, one hundred denarii, which in our equivalent, would be a few dollars. This servant also begged for time, but the one he owed refused and had him thrown into prison. How dare he?! He just had a debt of millions cancelled because his master took pity on him, and he couldn't forgive a few dollars?
The mercy of the master is like that of God, in fact, God is that master. I won't say that God will have that great mercy on us because He already has. He has already forgiven our great debt of sin and because He has forgiven us, so should we forgive those who sin against us.
Jesus answers Peter saying to forgive our brother who sins against us seventy-seven times. That's an odd number, huh? I mean, who is going to keep track of how many times a person hurts them, up to seventy-seven times? That just doesn't make sense. When it gets to seventy-eight, you're going to say, "Nope, sorry, you've used all seventy-seven chances you had." Ridiculous, right? Well, that's the point. Jesus didn't give that number as a literal thing, that we must keep track up to because no one would actually do that. He said that because no one would do that.
You'd eventually lose count one way or another, so what Jesus really means is that there is no set number of times that we should forgive someone. We should always forgive them. If God had given us seventy-seven chances, pretty well all of us would have already used up all of them, and then some. God doesn't keep track of how many times, He looks at our hearts. He has such great mercy on us, so should we not have such great mercy on our fellows?
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It's obvious what that parable is about but that is only the title. The master had mercy on his servant who owed him ten thousand talents, which would be millions of dollars equivalent for us! That is a huge debt! When the servant begged him to give him time and he would pay it all back, the master cancelled his debt! He cancelled it entirely and sent him on his way. How amazing is that?
A fellow servant owed this servant, whose debt was cancelled, one hundred denarii, which in our equivalent, would be a few dollars. This servant also begged for time, but the one he owed refused and had him thrown into prison. How dare he?! He just had a debt of millions cancelled because his master took pity on him, and he couldn't forgive a few dollars?
The mercy of the master is like that of God, in fact, God is that master. I won't say that God will have that great mercy on us because He already has. He has already forgiven our great debt of sin and because He has forgiven us, so should we forgive those who sin against us.
Jesus answers Peter saying to forgive our brother who sins against us seventy-seven times. That's an odd number, huh? I mean, who is going to keep track of how many times a person hurts them, up to seventy-seven times? That just doesn't make sense. When it gets to seventy-eight, you're going to say, "Nope, sorry, you've used all seventy-seven chances you had." Ridiculous, right? Well, that's the point. Jesus didn't give that number as a literal thing, that we must keep track up to because no one would actually do that. He said that because no one would do that.
You'd eventually lose count one way or another, so what Jesus really means is that there is no set number of times that we should forgive someone. We should always forgive them. If God had given us seventy-seven chances, pretty well all of us would have already used up all of them, and then some. God doesn't keep track of how many times, He looks at our hearts. He has such great mercy on us, so should we not have such great mercy on our fellows?
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Prayer Time
Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.
Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!
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