70 x 7: Not Your Average Math Fact

By Rev. Eric Brown

AGAIN! They did it again! Another Gospel lesson, and another question tossed out by people simply to test Jesus, simply to trap Jesus. Again! Another question about a point of Law, another chance to try to complain about how Jesus does this or says that. Tell us the greatest commandment, and then we’ll complain how you didn’t pick a different part of the Law. It’s the same old tired game. How many of these sorts of questions will Jesus put up with before He snaps and starts bringing down divine smite upon these people?

Apparently the answer is “a lot”. You might guess 77 times or 70 times 7 times, but I don’t think even those numbers are high enough. Over and over Jesus points people to the love that He has for them, points them to the fact that He is the Messiah. This time Jesus answers that the greatest commandment is to love God, but this love of God means a second command must follow: love your neighbor—even the neighbor who keeps on trying to trap you with annoying questions. For Jesus, loving the neighbor means coming down from heaven, being born of the Virgin Mary, being the great David’s even Greater Son. It means pointing out God’s love for the world, God’s plan of salvation even to the very people who would arrange for Him to be crucified before the week is out.

You see, when Jesus sums up the Law as “love God and love your neighbor”, He’s not watering down the Law. He’s not turning it into mere sentimentality or anything like that. Loving the neighbor is hard, because frankly sometimes our neighbor is a jerk. Sometimes they keep pushing and prying and poking and prodding. And oftentimes we use their jerkiness as an excuse to be a jerk right back at them. Instead of loving and serving the neighbor, we so often run the opposite way. We dehumanize them and objectify them; we belittle them or ignore them, just as they do to us. This is a nasty cycle.

But Jesus is determined to see that His neighbor is loved. He is determined to see that you are loved. And so, He became man to love and redeem the very people we dehumanize or who dehumanize us. He Himself became the object of scorn and ridicule to rescue the very people that we objectify or that objectify us. He emptied Himself and made Himself nothing to win salvation for the people we belittle and treat as nothing or who tear us down. He wins salvation upon the cross even for the sins of the people we’d rather ignore or who ignore us. In fact, He does all of this for you.

And this is because He loves you. Honestly. Simply. Fully. Even when you’ve done things that are annoying or foolish. He still loves you determinedly and doggedly. He will let nothing stop Himself from loving you—not sin, not Satan, not death, not the riches of all creation. Jesus loves you. He loves you as Himself. Of course He does, for He has baptized you into Himself and He gives Himself to you over and over and over again in His Supper.

There will be times when you look at yourself, at some stupid petty sin that you have done, and you will think: “Again! I did it again!” And you may be tempted to think that maybe this will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back— that this will be where Jesus will call it quits. Nope. That’s not how Jesus works. Over and against all the shame and guilt and anger at yourself that you sometimes feel Jesus will still love you and forgive you. He truly and honestly loves you as Himself.

Well, that’s all fine and good for Jesus. He’s the Son of God. He can hack it…we can’t. Remember that Peter posed a question of Jesus regarding this very thing: “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” (Matthew 18:21)

The question Peter asks Jesus seems quite reasonable. Really, it is, at least from a simple, worldly perspective. How many times do I forgive someone before it’s better to just cut them out of my life? How many times do I have to delete a comment before I just block them? How many times do I have to roll eyes before I can just walk away? In the world this is a very reasonable and practical question, and Peter gives what, from the world’s perspective, is a generous answer. Seven times? We have “three strikes and you’re out.” We have “once bitten, twice shy.” Peter seemingly exceeds our normal standards.

However, forgiveness isn’t a worldly thing. Forgiveness isn’t just putting up with someone or ignoring them. Forgiveness is a God thing to do, and when God does something, God does it with over-the-top abundance. Not 7 times, but 70 times 7. And to show how overly abundant God is with mercy, Jesus tells a story.

There’s a fellow who owes his king 10,000 talents. That would be like owing someone $5 billion. And the fellow begs, promises to pay the king back and he can’t, not in this lifetime. The king forgives him. Now, some might find this surprising, but it’s clear that the king is already stupidly generous—he keeps loaning and loaning money to this fellow already. Yet the king stays generous.

The same fellow whose debt was canceled then shakes down a fellow servant who owes him 100 denarii—say $12,000, which was probably the king’s cash in the first place. And things get nasty and mean and the second guy is thrown into jail. And that’s when the king’s patience runs out. That’s when the king throws the jerk into jail, not because of what he owed the king, but because he refused to be merciful as the king was merciful to him.

The point is this: God is merciful, incredibly merciful. He’s so merciful to us we can’t even really see how deep and rich His mercy is. And so we need to be very careful in this life not to start putting limits on mercy. Once we start doing that, we can forget that God shows us continual and abundant mercy. We step away from that mercy. So no, instead remember at all times the great and overflowing love and mercy that God has for you in Christ that surpasses even 70 x 7. He’s not taking a count to see when He can cut you off from forgiveness, instead He is faithful and His steadfast love for you endures forever. Therefore Jesus will constantly focus you upon His forgiveness and mercy—not only forgiveness and mercy for your neighbor, but also His wondrous and full mercy for you.

Rev. Eric Brown is the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Herscher, Illinois.