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 (Matthew 18: 15-17), the focus now shifts to forgiveness itself. What was the threshold number? After how many times was one released from the legal bind of forgiveness? The question is 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 line 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 it was not enough: “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Rather than providing Peter with a limit, Jesus tells him that forgiveness should be unlimited. Peter must have pinched himself as he regretted his initial offer to forgive seven times. And while the unlimited number of times recommended (actually demanded) by Jesus appears unrealistic, the reason for Jesus’ recommendation lies somewhere else.
By requiring one to forgive unlimited number of times, Jesus shifted the focus from the one needing forgiveness to the one who forgives. Jesus makes the one who has been transgressed against the center of action because the individual at the other end of the line is passive (or might care less). No action takes place on that side of the one 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? When I decide to forgive, who benefits from it?
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 that happens to me each time I forgive. There is a weight that is taken off my shoulders every time I forgive my transgressor. 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 I am to forgive, then once the 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. Forgiveness benefits the one who forgives more than the one forgiven.