SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN | KAIROS GLOBAL | JUNE 2021

Author: Jackulin Sheela

Meditating on the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, Jackulin Sheela gives an insightful account of forgiveness.

What is forgiveness?  It is For+Give   that means it is always giving. Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom — Luke 6:38. For whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap. If we SOW forgiveness, we will RECEIVE forgiveness. 

Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times will my brother sin against me and I forgive him and let it go? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered him, ‘I say to you, not up to seven times, but seventy times seven.’ Jesus is saying you must be a person willing to forgive, every time. Love and forgiveness go hand in hand. So then, what makes the inability to forgive, such an issue in our lives? One issue is when we begin to tell ourselves ‘enough is enough’; I have forgiven this person thrice and everything has a limit. We set limits because perhaps we don’t want to be vulnerable and understandably so. 

Jesus’s parables and teachings are filled with ‘extremes’. He is always asking the disciple for more. That is the heart of Christian discipleship; the teaching that St Ignatius held close to him, ‘let’s give the Lord more’ (Magis in Latin). So the call of Jesus to his disciples is to love more, give more and forgive more.  This is encapsulated in the parable that Jesus proceeds to tell to make clear his point; a parable of ‘exaggerated’ forgiveness.

Jesus explains with a parable, there was a certain king, who would take account of his servants. A servant owed the king ten thousand talents. The servant fell down, saying, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.’ At once the king was moved with compassion, and forgave him the debt. The king cancelled the debt, cancelled the penalty and let the servant go free.

Forgiveness is a transaction; the person who is hurt says because I love you I let you go free and your debts I pay on your behalf. Since, I forgave you I will never talk or remember that hurt incident anymore. The currency of heaven is faith, it operates where there is truth and the truth shall make you free. When you are forgiving somebody you are setting yourself free from self-destruction. 

Jesus continues the parable; the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He took him by the throat and began choking him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe!’ The fellow servant fell on his knees and begged him earnestly, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ But he was unwilling and he went and had him thrown in prison until he paid back the debt.

When the king was informed about this matter. He called his servant, said unto him, ‘O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou begged me: should thou not also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?’ Just as I receive forgiveness from Jesus, I am able to forgive others with the same forgiveness that I have received. I am equipped and given the grace to forgive others.  

Jesus says, ‘Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.’ Jesus wants us to replicate the nature of the Heavenly Father. The deceiver uses the weapon called offense, i.e. my negative reaction to a person’s comment or to a situation. Faith moves the mountain. Forgive by faith, just as the king chose to forgive the servant of his debts. We have to choose to forgive the person who comes against us. The anointing of the Holy Spirit empowers us to genuinely forgive those who have come against us, by faith.

If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say unto this sycamore tree, ‘Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea’; and it should obey you. The sycamore tree represents the spirit of unforgiveness. Open your mouth and speak the faith and faith will make of the spirit of unforgiveness obey you. Faith is working when you speak it. Pay attention and always be on your guard. If your brother sins, solemnly tell him so and reprove him, and if he repents (feels sorry for having sinned), forgive him. And even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and turns to you seven times and says, I repent [I am sorry], you must forgive him (give up resentment and consider the offense as recalled and annulled).

‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ — Luke 23:34 the first word of Jesus from the cross is a word of forgiveness. Jesus is interceding to Abba Father to forgive the people who mocked him, who spat on him, who scourged him, flogged him, wounded him, put him on trial, judged him, and nailed him on the cross. 

Forgiveness is not an option it is a mandate. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses — Mark 11:25. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted but most important is be forgiving of one another in the same way you have been graciously forgiven by Jesus Christ.

Biblical Forgetting is a process whereby, former events lose their power to control your life. A new and greater reality takes place that dominates your present and future thoughts and actions. It is a process and not a one-time event. It is a process of renewing the mind {replacing the old lower thinking (past) with the new higher thinking (new creation)}. The past will not influence my life. My old nature is crucified on the cross. His grace is bestowed upon me and goodness of God is as at par more than we deserve. When you for–get you let–go of that person. The anointing of the Spirit of God destroys the yoke of unforgiveness. 

Jesus is making a bigger point. The Christian nature of forgiveness has no limit for a disciple. The call of Jesus is a call to tear down the wall of limits. Vengeance prevents us from moving forward for it simply adds to evil. Jesus wants us to understand that Christian forgiveness is an extravagant affair. The king forgives extravagantly so that we may forgive in the same measure; for this is the prayer we pray each day, Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Jackulin Sheela works as Manager-Strategy for an MNC and is the JY Household Coordinator of Mumbai, India.