Forgive, Seventy Times Seven

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus makes forgiveness as central as our daily bread. As without food a human becomes weak and eventually collapses; without mercy a Christian becomes weak and eventually collapses.

In Matthew 18: 21-22 Peter asks Jesus, Lord, how many times must I forgive the offences of my brothers? Seven times? It was like asking, how many times must I eat? Seven times? If one must survive, as a human one must repeatedly eat whenever one is in need of food. If a Christian must survive he/she must repeatedly forgive and show mercy whenever the need arises.

Forgiveness

If peter had reached seventy times seven times of forgiveness, Jesus would say, seventy one times seven; then seventy two times seven, and so on.

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