Have you often been perplexed by some of Jesus’ sayings in the gospels? I must admit that there are many times I scratched my head over what Jesus said in response to the different questions his disciples and his opponents posed him.
One of them is in Matthew 18. In verse 21, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” When Jesus answered, “not seven times, but seventy-seven times,” his Jewish audience would immediately have caught a reference that made them smile at his brilliance.
You see, Jesus was using an ancient Jewish teaching technique called ‘remez’ which means ‘hint’ or ‘clue’. ‘Remez’ was the art of teaching through hints. Rabbis would quote a part of scripture and let their audience fill in the blank, to deduce the lesson themselves. When Jesus used the number “seventy-seven times,” his Jewish listeners would have immediately thought of the only other place that number appeared in their scriptures—the story of Lamech.
Genesis 4:23-24 records, “Lamech said to his wives, ‘Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.’” You see, God had earlier put a mark on Cain to protect him and proclaimed, “anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over” (Gen 4:15).
Where Lamech’s vengeful words boasted a revenge greater than God’s mercy for undeserving sinners, Jesus turns us back to God’s amazing offer of unlimited grace that his followers are to extend to others, having our own debts cancelled by the King (Matt 18:27).
The points Jesus was making are clear: (1) there is no one who can forgive more than he needs to be forgiven (our seven times and God’s seventy-seven times) and (2) Jesus’ followers let God’s mercy fill them so when revenge tempts us, God’s mercy overflows through our forgiveness for those who sins against us. Let us examine where we have been hurt. Where hatred multiplied, may forgiveness overflow; where hurt deepens, may God’s grace grow.