Day 8: How Often?

2nd Thursday in Lent

Scripture: Matthew 18:21=22

^{NRS 21} Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" ²² Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Devotional: While it is ever clear that Peter would never fully “get it” until he encountered the resurrected Christ, we have to give him credit for continually seeking to understand. Jesus had been turning traditional teaching on forgiveness upside down, so Peter sought clarification to help him better understand, “Lord, how often should I forgive? Is seven times enough?” Christ answers his question with a simple, “No,” but then offers an alternate number, seventy-seven. Peter’s question was about the mechanics of forgiving others. How to do it? How often? How many times? But Jesus wanted Peter to go deeper. He knew the day was coming when Peter was going to have to receive forgiveness. He wanted Peter to understand that before we “do” forgiving, we “are” forgiven. Forgiveness is foundational to our walk with Christ. Because we receive forgiveness from Him, we are free to forgive others. We can never fully do that until we receive God’s forgiveness. To become the rock upon which Jesus built His church, Peter had to understand forgiveness. With His alternate number Jesus was teaching that there isn’t a number, there is only forgiveness. You either do or you don’t; to have to forgive an offense a second time means you never forgave in the first place. The other person may never choose to receive our forgiveness, but we must forgive completely. It starts with receiving God’s forgiveness, then forgiving ourselves and finally forgiving others. Peter was being taught something that prepared him for his rooster inspired feeling of failure. Understanding that forgiveness comes from God and is absolute, allowed Peter to receive forgiveness from Christ on the beach. Peter was the rock which the church was built upon. Peter was forgiven. The rock the church was built upon was forgiveness. Who do we need to forgive in our lives today? What is stopping us? Have we fully accepted the forgiveness of Jesus Christ?

Prayer: Father God, today we seek understanding and forgiveness. We pray that You would open our eyes to areas in our lives where we need to forgive and that You would help us fully receive Your forgiveness. In the freedom of Your forgiveness, help us to fully forgive others. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Song of praise:         O Come to the Altar by Elevation Worship

                                               

Spiritual discipline challenge: Today we return to the spiritual discipline of confession. Our challenge today is to connect with someone we fully trust to keep confidences and to not be judgmental. Someone who is fully capable of offering God’s grace through a declaration of His forgiveness, “You are a child of God, in the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven.” When we have found that person our challenge is to confess to that person a sin that we have never told anyone and that we have perhaps felt was unforgivable. Having so confessed we are then to listen to the words of grace and receive the fullness of God’s forgiveness as it overwhelms us.