Forgive one another, 70 x 7 times

It always sounded funny to me, like a sarcastic answer, when Jesus responded to the question of how many times we should just accept whatever harm is done to us, and forgive the perpetrator. Not just seven times, which we could count, but 70 times 7 times, which we obviously can't. But it really isn't that simple. Look first at the math, then see what's really going on.

Forty lashes of a whip with 12 tails would give a person 480 stripes, and could kill a strong man, from the pain and blood loss, so the maximum non-lethal sentence was 39 lashes. Jesus took 39 lashes for our sins, 39 x 12 = 468. But he told us to continue to forgive our fellows for 70 x 7 times, 490, meaning I guess, to forgive always, until it kills us to bear it.

From enduring a near fatal assault from the whip, then he carried the cross-beam across town to the hill beyond the gate, where they nailed him to it, and hung him up to die. It was the most painful, most humiliating thing they could do to Him, including the crown of thorns, to mock the one who would dare to call Himself the Messiah, the King of the Jews, even the Son of God. They didn't care about the charge of blasphemy. They were not Jews. They were the power of Rome.

It was political, saying "Look at what the Might of Rome can do to your King! We laugh, and spit on Him. Judaea continues to exist only by our sufferance. You and your peculiar law, your strict and invisible, helpless God! We are crucifying his Chosen One. This is what happens if you dare to try to pull away from the Empire." So they tried to shame Him, to make him as miserable as possible, to shame the people who chafed under the rule of Rome.

But they did not know. Jesus suffered, yes, but it was all a part of the plan. He was choosing to suffer and die, so that those who would understand and believe, the "remnant of Israel" would be saved. And that plan would some day overturn the world, and the whole Empire would be filled with people who claimed to be His! He was proving the compassion of God, creating a way for His mercy to save all who would repent and believe in Him. He was calling back those who were giving up hope of pleasing God, who were broken hearted under the weight of their failures, who assumed they were not good enough for God to love them. He was inviting the ones who would wander away to return and stay for the joyful reunion of the King with his people. He was calling the ones who knew how to love one another because they knew how badly they needed to be loved. He knew how badly they needed to be loved.

For them He prayed, "Father, forgive them! They know not what they do." He forgave us, not just 70 times 7 times, but all of it, everything, asking only that we would not go and forsake the effort to try and do what is right. He showed us the love of God, so that we would know how to love God, and each other, in return. "Return," that is the key. The hebrew word is teshuva, which also means to turn back, or repent. Repent, and believe the Gospel, the good news that Jesus and his Father love you. You can be forgiven, and God is willing for you to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart, if you ask Him for guidance.

And it was just in time, for as another generation would rise up against Rome, so Rome would prove how a nation could be destroyed. And if there had been no Christians, there might be no Jews today. Certainly, there would have been few to know that God, in his mercy, would be yearning to save us, despite our many sins.

Father, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Strengthen us to reject our evil inclinations, and lead us not into temptation. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us poor sinners. Rescue us from the troubles of this world.