I like math. It was one of my favorite subjects. I still like the way in which mathematical problems “hold still” and have plain, recognizable answers, even if those answers can be difficult to find. Math is so different from the slippery, fuzzy work I do most often as a pastor, where “answers” for people’s problems and church ministry are anything but defined and recognizable.
So I find it fascinating that math and spiritual work come together in the text for this week, Matthew 18:21-35. In response to Jesus talking in the previous section about how to deal with a church member (literally “brother”) who offends you, Peter poses a question about the limits of forgiveness. How many times?
At least some rabbis held that three times of forgiveness for the same offense was enough. The fourth time need not be forgiven. So Peter, evidently having already learned something about Jesus, more than doubles that number and asks if seven times is enough.
Jesus must have flabbergasted him with the reply in verse 22 that seven is not enough, but either seventy-seven times or seventy-times-seven. Either way there’s much forgiveness expected! The argument in favor of seventy-seven is the use of that number by Lamech in Genesis 4:24 to assert the extent of his vengeance for wrong done to him. So Jesus would be contrasting the reach of Christian forgiveness with the scope of unredeemed revenge.
I’m not exactly preaching on the text this week, but engaging the congregation in dialogue about what it means for us. Jesus illustrated what he meant about the extent of forgiveness with the parable of the unforgiving servant in verses 23 to 35. I am hopeful that our conversation with help us all grow in the practice of forgiveness and begin to extend our hearts to the sort of dimensions Jesus envisions when He does the math for forgiveness.