(A sermon for Matthew 18: 21-35 Presented at Christ Church, Bordentown NJ, September 16-17, 2023.)

How many of you have ever been mad at God?

At some point in time in your life, you probably couldn’t help but think “Thanks a lot, God.” or “I can’t believe God let that happen”. It’s not surprising. From our individual armchairs, we can’t see the big picture and sometimes it can be annoying. It can be about really important stuff like why do natural disasters occur? Or why are kittens and puppies abandoned? Or it can be trivial stuff like, why is my vodka on the rocks so expensive? Or why is it still so hot up here?

Or how about the big question, why do you let Satan and his minions run around and cause all this havoc? Life is hard enough as it is without them stirring stuff up.

So it’s fairly easy to blame God for just about anything.

In today’s Gospel, Peter talks about “his brother in the Church ” who sinned against him and felt like he should forgive. In other words, Peter is ticked off and at an unknown someone. So what if that someone was Jesus?

Like most misunderstandings, Peter and Jesus have some history that could lead up to this. So let’s back up a bit.

Going back a few chapters in the Gospel, Peter is getting along well with Jesus. Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and Jesus replies that on Peter, He will build his Church.

But Peter still doesn’t fully know what this means and stumbles a bit. He’s expecting Jesus to stay alive and be the Messiah_the King of Israel, and freaks out when Jesus announces he’ll be killed soon. Peter witnesses the transfiguration, gets confused, and thinks he has to build three tabernacles. Following this, the Apostles are unable to cast out a demon and Jesus shows his impatience and says, “How long shall I put up with you?” and scolds them for their lack of faith. Then finally, prior to this Gospel reading, the disciples are discussing which of them was greater than the other, and Jesus essentially warns them about continuing to act this way. So for all what Peter has done and seen, and been told, he’s finding out that he’s no better than the rest who have done less _ and getting scolded.

Poor Peter. He’s trying so hard.

But he’s in uncharted territory being one of the first followers of the Son of Man, and so I can imagine it must have been overwhelming at times and a bit confusing. So it’s absolutely conceivable that Peter would feel hurt by Jesus scolding them, and taking it personally, thinking this Jesus-guy is wrong for scolding me.

But Peter is also wise enough at this point to know that it’s best to forgive. (He’s already been taught the Lord’s Prayer and to forgive those who trespass.) So he asks, “”Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”

For Peter this probably seems more than generous as was the custom at that time to forgive only three times. So Peter may be in a forgiving mood but he’s also wanting to gain back Jesus’ favor. Jesus though comes back with, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy times seven”.

Do your math and that’s 490 times.

For those familiar with this verse, you most likely already recognize that Jesus’ recommendation to forgive ‘seventy times seven’ is really that it should be a number so high that you forget how many times you’ve forgiven and better yet, forget the reason why you feel the need to forgive in the first place.

If I say “I forgive you”

“I forgive you”

“I forgive you”

“I forgive you”

“I forgive you”

“I forgive you”

“I forgive you”, that’s seven times and it’s easy to remember how many times I said it.

If you try to do this 490 times, I doubt you will really be able to keep track. But if I’m wrong and you can keep track, please forgive me _ 490 times.

If this story is really about Peter being mad at Jesus, then Jesus knows that Peter is upset with Him, knows that he’s upset with not just any brother of the Church but he’s upset with the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Or in other words God himself.

And God understands. He’s not seeking Peter’s forgiveness, or your forgiveness when you get mad at Him. He’s seeking an understanding, for you to calm down and trust that our salvation is His goal. It’s difficult to always understand the reasoning for God’s actions, and it can sometimes feel like He doesn’t care. But He does care, and the method of repeating forgiveness is a meditation to calm the mind and heart, break apart the gloomy cloud, and remember that He does care and His goal for us is salvation. And for good measure, Jesus tells us a story about a farmer and his servant, and his servant’s servants, and debts that are owed, that reminds us that not forgiving leads to wrath and greed.

The truth is we don’t always know all the reasons why someone sinned or trespassed against us. Despite popular conception, it is absolutely_1_Hundred_%_ impossible to know what someone else is really thinking. Even those closest to you. From your armchair, only you can know what you are thinking. And of course, God knows too.

So_live by your favorite credo for forgiving: “Let Go and Let God”. Or Lose your temper but don’t lose faith. Or_Trust the process. Or _All will be revealed.

Forgive three times, forgive seven times, forgive 490 times. The number of times is not really important. Jesus’ point is for our own sake, no matter who, or what the reason is, just forgive.

Amen.