This is my mini-revelation for the day. In the book of Matthew, Peter asks Jesus how many times he must forgive his brother. Sometimes Jesus replies, Not seven times, but seventy-seven, or sometimes He says, seventy times seven times. There are two cool things that I discovered while performing a close reading of this passage.
(1) The ambiguity of the translation seems to work for me because it clearly does not matter what the exact number is: it's not about numbers. It's not about keeping score. Imagine: if you kept an accurate record of 490 offences against yourself you are not being truly forgiving. You are waiting for the 491st wrong so that you can finally say, "Ha! I don't gotta fo'give you no mo'!" You are also building a steady tower of self-righteousness as you paint yourself the victim.
(2) If we forgave the way God the Father does (at least in the New Testament; I am not sure how the OT works with this stuff) then your record of wrongs would never go past one because after each, you'd wipe the slate clean. (Isn't that cool? You couldn't reach seven if you tried!) As 1 Corinthians 13:5d says, "[Love] keeps no record of wrong," and I am eternally grateful for this.
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3 comments:
i am creepy!?!?
HiuKei you have to understand that, when someone has been reading your blog for 6 months and you don't know about it, it can have a bit of an unsettling feeling. It's like someone reading over your shoulder as you write in a journal on the bus. Sure, I wouldn't mind if you read it (I'd even read aloud!) but I'd like to know you're there. Dig it?
hahah It's a good thing I never wrote bad stuff about you. Not that I could. I ate all of your raisin crackers from on top of the fridge. They were mega good.
haha!! sorry...now..i am on your official list of jess blog's reader.^__^
and...i know!! those crackers are good!!!
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