How many times?

How many times . . . ? Questions beginning with those three words are loaded! How many times have you idled, fingers drumming on the steering wheel as the signal lights cycle through an endless menu of lights allowing left, right and straight ahead options? How many times do you arrive for a doctor’s appointment and wait, and wait, and . . . ? How many times have you circled the maze of roadways tangled around airport terminals as your loved one waits for a bag tangled in an out-of-sight contraption? "How many times?" tends to lean toward impatience, frustrations even anger. How many times . . .?

Peter asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" (Matthew 18:21) Jesus, is once a day for a week enough? How will I know the one who has wronged me really means it? When is enough, enough? When will we ever be able to move on?

Jesus’ response is demanding. He said, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven." You and I hear sermons on the theme and usually respond with a shrug of the shoulders and, "Well the preacher doesn’t know about my case! If he could just be the fly on the wall and see what is really happening . . ." Do you know what they did? Nothing like that has ever happened to you!

Well, let’s not forget who said, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven." Nor, let’s not overlook how He continues to model His instructions by forgiving us. As disciples of Jesus, we learn to think like Him, behave like Him. Like Him we learn to pray for those who slander and attack us. I can find no evidence that Jesus ever stopped praying as He did on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Yes! He prayed, and kept on praying that way while some gambled for His clothes . . . right there in front of Him!

If the seventy times seven is daunting, consider John who wrote, "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." A chorus from my childhood says:
To be like Jesus
To be like Jesus
All I ask, to be like Him
All through life's journey
From earth to glory
All I ask, to be like Him.
Seventy times seven is an order, a clearly-defined expectation for us who follow Him who models forgiveness for us.