Not seven times, but seventy-seven times
In today’s Gospel Peter suggested that one should forgive his brother seven times, in answer to his own question. Why seven? In maths, seven is a prime number that has some exciting properties. It is the largest single-digit prime number; it is a Mersenne prime number; and it is a prime factor of seventy-seven – Jesus’ reply to Peter’s question.
I digress. Peter, perhaps, suggested seven times because seven is one of the most significant numbers in Judaism; the great King David was the seventh son in his family (1 Chronicles 2:15), Exodus 23:10-13 describes how the seventh year, and the seventh day is beloved and holy. God created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh; Sabbath, the seventh day, is holy and strictly observed. Maybe Peter wanted to show how well he understood scriptures, and how well he follows their traditions. Jesus’ reply to Peter was ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.’ Our Lord wasn’t asking us to keep a scorecard; but instead, we should forgive as many times as it takes. And really, at times, it is hard to do so.
In his letter to the Romans, St Paul states that love is the answer to every one of the commandments. That love is the one thing that cannot hurt our neighbour. Resentment, anger, and hate hurt our neighbours and in turn, hurt ourselves. We are called to forgive as the Lord forgives us our sins. We are called to forgive because we are called to love. Our faith, accepting in our hearts our Lord Jesus Christ as our saviour, invites us to love with the same love that our Lord has for us. And through his love, we may be able to forgive even if it is beyond our human strength.
By the way, if you take the letters of ‘Christ’, using each letter’s position in the alphabet:
C = 3, H = 8, R = 18, I = 9, S = 19, T = 20, the sum is seventy-seven.
Blessed Sunday to you all.
Randy Reyes
