We should certainly hear an echo of the Lord’s Prayer in today’s gospel: ““Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” The mention of “forgiveness” should echo Jesus’ teaching about prayer. In the Lord’s prayer we are told to forgive others as we are forgiven: “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.” (Mt 6:14-15)
OK, the principle is clear, but the practical outworking still needs to be clarified, since its open-ended demand may easily be exploited by a manipulative person; surely there must be a limit? If Mishna B. Yoma represents rabbinic teaching, three times was regarded as sufficient. So, Peter’s proposal of up to seven times is probably intended to express a new limit of generosity. Or maybe it is a reference and contrast to sevenfold vengeance in the case of Cain (as in Cain and Abel). When Cain, doomed to wander homeless, worries that “Anyone may kill me at sight” (Gen 4:14), the Lord promises “Not so! the LORD said to him. If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged seven times.” (Gen 4:15)
And so, Jesus’ reply in our reading is all the more startling: “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” (Mt 18:22)
But there was more to the story in Genesis! Within the same chapter we learn about the descendants of Cain, one of whom is named Lamech. It is a passing reference, but serves to show how evil grows. Lamech proclaims: “I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for bruising me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.” (Gen 4:23-24) The Genesis narrative continues to recount the spread of evil
When the LORD saw how great the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil, the LORD regretted making human beings on the earth, and his heart was grieved. (Gen 6:5-6)
I would suggest that Jesus is specifically referencing the Genesis narrative that would have been understood by his fellow Jews. Just as Lamech represents the unbridled spread of evil propelled by revenge with no thought of forgiveness and reconciliation, Jesus’ response represents an antidote to the unbridled spread of evil. Rather, the way forward is paved with the compassion of forgiveness.
The first servant was forgiven. He then had a choice: accept the grace of compassion from his master and “pay it forward” by forgiving the debt or becoming like Lamech.
We are forgiven. We have the choice to pay forward God’s compassion on us or we can pave the way forward with revenge and be Lamech for our time. In the moment we refuse to forgive we let a little unbridled evil leak into the world.
Forgiving seventy-seven times is not moral accounting. It is choosing to be a bulwark against evil in the world.
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