forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-22: “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked,‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’
Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’”

Peter’s like me - he wants to know the minimum standard. When he says, “How many times should I forgive,” what he really means is “How many times do I have to?” I tend to take the same approach to forgiveness that I do to discipline at work: one free pass and then it’s on to the punitive steps.
Jesus, on the other hand, puts no limits on forgiveness. Instead, he turns things around and suggests that we should forgive other people the way we want him to forgive us.

Would I like it if Jesus forgave me like I forgive others? No, I wouldn’t. Rather than assuming my motives are bad, I’d like him to see my good intentions. Rather than thinking I’m too dumb to get it, I’d like him to see that I don’t know everything he knows so sometimes I get it wrong. Rather than drop the hammer, I hope he musters grace and forgiveness. Rather than giving up on me, I want him to be patient.

If that’s how I want to be forgiven, it seems I have some changes to make in how I forgive others. Even the dumb ones, the angry and malicious ones, the ones who oppose my opinions, the ones who are just plain wrong. Because, after all, they’re just like me.