Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity AD 2023

When Peter asked Jesus how oft he had to forgive his brother who had sinned against him, he himself suggested that seven times should be enough. Peter is quite generous here: for example, from the book of the prophet Amos, we can see that God is ready to forgive wrongdoings three times, but not the fourth time.

Perhaps when Peter spoke of the sevenfold forgiveness, he was thinking of how God had put a protective mark on Cain who had murdered his brother, saying that “whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold”. Later, Lamech, a descendant of Cain, boasted: “If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.”

This seems to be what Jesus was alluding to when He answered Peter: “I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.” Only this is not a mathematical calculation, but essentially Jesus’ answer means that you must forgive exactly as many times as you have been wronged.

The Greek text of the parable that Jesus told to illustrate His point uses the word μυρίος, which is translated into English as “ten thousand,” when referring to the amount of the king’s servant’s debt. In fact, μυρίος means “innumerable”, “countless” – hence the word “myriad”.

That’s exactly how many times God is ready to forgive us when we come to Him in repentance and beg for His mercy. And that’s exactly how many times we must be ready to forgive those who have wronged us.