Pentecost XV
This week, continuing in Matthew's telling, Jesus continues his teaching about how to be with others in community. More strong words, but they come - as often - in the form of a story/parable. Peter asks him, if a member of the 'church' offends or wrongs, how much and how often do I forgive?
(He phrases it thus: '...if a member of the church...,' letting us know this was probably written down in the days of the early church, and that they must have told and remembered stories about how Jesus spoke about living together... and also lets us know that it was hard to forgive even in the white-hot-fresh days of encounter with Jesus...)
When is the debt considered paid back? When are we even? When do we call off the looming blood feud over questions of honor, or the age-old family grudge, or vendetta? How do we measure and count forgiveness?
Oh. Well, it's not like that, says Jesus. If someone wrongs you, and you work it out, and you are going to forgive them... then do it wholeheartedly. Give the unresolved stuff to God, because there is no way you will be able to measure it out properly, or count it out in a way that makes things whole again. Let God do that. But, aim high.
How high? As many as seven (number of perfection!)? Crazy, huh? No way.
No, aim much higher. Imitate God's forgiveness, which is... 70x that. A number unimaginable in its completeness and reconciling of all things, and making things whole. Throw the word 'perfection' right out the window; hear Jesus using a little hyperbole, as he does from time to time to make a point. Rather than 'perfection,' substitute the impulse to 'imitate God.' Which is what Jesus suggests. Simple, yes?
Sometimes when we begin our liturgy, or end Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, we use a verse from Paul's letter to the Ephesians (3:20):
"Glory to God whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine."
Imitate the ways of God; forgive constantly, but be assured that it is already God's power working in and enlivening you. Making all things whole, and full. So, you can't run out of forgiveness, because God's power working in you is actually infinite.
This doesn't mean you stay in what we today call 'toxic relationships.' Sometimes one must leave to forgive, to allow God's power to be at work in you and in the space between you and other people. That's a difficult line to negotiate (we are often in Peter's place of asking just how we negotiate). So, think of it as a call to imitate divine ways of blessing, forgiving, and moving on, and leaving the rest to God's power working in all things, over a scale of time that is too vast to imagine.