Seventy times seven

“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” - Matthew 18v21-22

Good old Peter thought he really had it figured out. Jewish tradition held that forgiving someone three times was more than enough. So he asked Jesus what appeared to be a very spiritual question, “Lord, should we forgive someone seven times?”

Jesus must have surprised him when He said, not seven times, but seventy times seven times. That of course doesn’t mean that we count to 490 and then stop forgiving, but that we must continue to forgive over and over and over.

Now we might be tempted to say something like, “Well, that just lest people take advantage of me.” In reality we must ask ourselves if that really matters.” Do we see it as taking advantage of God when we keep going back to the same sins and going to God for forgiveness? When we think of how much God has forgiven us, is seventy times sever really so unreasonable?