How many times must I forgive my brother who has sinned against me? Following the discourse on brotherly correction which established a need for forgiveness (cf. Matthew 18: 15-17), the focus now shifts to the act of forgiveness itself. What is the threshold number? After how many number of times is one released from the legal bind of forgiveness? These questions were put in the mouth of Peter who was known for not keeping quiet.
Peter had been around Jesus for some time now, and he had learnt that with Jesus, nothing was to be taken for granted. Having read between the lines and gotten an idea that the underlying rationale for the previous discourse on brotherly correction was forgiveness, he wanted to know from Jesus what the legal threshold for forgiveness was. It has been suggested that by offering to forgive the same person seven times, Peter wanted to impress Jesus with his "generosity." Jesus liked Peter’s offer (since their law advocated for just retribution [cf. Exodus 21:24: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth]), but he told him seven was not enough: “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” While it might appear that Jesus provided Peter with a real figure, in reality, he was telling Peter that forgiveness should be unlimited (one has to bear in mind that even if Jesus intended to provide Peter with a threshold number, forgiving the same individual seventy-seven times borders on the unlimited side). And while the unlimited number of times recommended (actually demanded) by Jesus appears unrealistic, the reason for Jesus’ recommendation is quite eye-opening.
By requiring one to forgive his/her transgressor unlimited number of times, Jesus shifts the focus from the one needing forgiveness to the one offering the forgiveness. Jesus makes the one offering the forgiveness the center of action because the individual at the other end of the line is passive (or might even care less). No action takes place on that side of the one being forgiven. It is a shift that should help us understand the justification for the need of forgiveness. What is it that I do each time I forgive my brother/sister who has sinned against me? When I decide to forgive, who benefits from the act?
The individual at the other end of my decision to forgive is merely a passive recipient of my forgiveness. He/she might care less that I have forgiven him/her. However, there is something critical that happens to me each time I forgive. Whenever I forgive from my heart, a huge weight is lifted off my shoulders. As such, I become the major beneficiary of my move to forgive my aggressor. Now if I were to be restricted on the number of times that I am to forgive, then once that number has been exhausted, it means that there is a weight that will never be taken off my shoulders in the subsequent times that someone will wrong me. And this will definitely weigh down upon me until such a time when I will not be able to bear the weight anymore. Therefore, if I need to be free from things that will weigh down upon me in life, then I have no choice but to forgive every time someone wrongs me. For as Jesus rightly understood it, forgiveness benefits the one who forgives more than the one forgiven.