Faith Venture

How often should I forgive someone?

Peter the apostle in training thought he’d show Jesus that he was learning. He thought most people might say once. Or maybe twice. Peter thought, how about seven times. That should be lots.

But Jesus the sage and master always raised the bar to impossible heights.

Seventy times seven, he replied.

When I lead the Yoga class and I want to do six Sun Salutations to finish warmup, I often lose count.

Do you think I could remember seven times forgiveness?

How about 77 times (some translations) or 490 times (other translations)?!

Some teachers riff off this theme and try to add qualifications and complex psychological theories. Do not do that.

Jesus is describing a lifestyle. A way of living from the heart. And the heart is forgiving at all times.

This entry was posted on January 18, 2019 at 6:55 am and is filed under Disciplines, forgiveness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.