St. Peter was not wriggling out of the Lord’s challenge. Seven was the perfect number. It was a symbol of completeness and fullness. Recall how the 18th Chapter began: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (18:1). At this moment, the disciples may be aspiring to their best. They heard the Sermon on the Mount (5-7). They knew what the Lord was challenging them to become. They may have been contemplating the Lord’s call to the perfection of love: “…be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48). Their potential as disciples was on the line.
The Lord revealed what the perfection of love demands; “I say to you not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (18:22). The parable of the unforgiving servant is like an allegory because the reader can draw a one-to-one correspondence between the king and God and between the servant and any ungrateful disciple. The NABRE translation of the size of the debt fails to convey its enormity. A single talent was equivalent to half a lifetime’s wages (France, 706). The literal amount in the Gospel text is ten thousand talents—NABRE’s huge amount. That’s an infinite debt. The king, our God, gives us life and love, as well as never-ending forgiveness. The debt we owe is infinite.
Our calculation of the debt owed and the debt paid must seek a whole other idiom. Matthew reminds us we are talking about the kingdom of heaven. We must calculate in terms of heaven, eternity, and infinity. Peter talks of human perfection, forgiving seven times. Forgiving someone seven times is difficult, but still possible for humans. Jesus takes up the language of divine grace, forgiving seventy-seven times. Life, beauty, truth, goodness, love, forgiveness, and peace are God’s gifts to us. We cannot repay the debt.
Even so, we must remain conscious of the debt. Contemplating it should fill our hearts, minds, and souls with gratitude. Then, gratitude becomes the foundation of our faith. When it does, gratitude will spill outwards from the core of our being toward everyone and all creation. The divine mercy inspires mercy; the divine forgiveness moves us to forgive; the divine gift of love encourages us to love.
How is this possible for mere mortals? We must recall how Jesus defined our interaction with Him. In John’s Gospel (and in other New Testament writers), our interaction uses the preposition in. The finest example is in John Chapter 6:56: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains IN me and I IN him.” Because we abide IN the Lord, we share life IN the Father. Sharing divine life offers us divine resources far exceeding our human stamina. Therefore, Jesus can call us to perfection, including the perfection of forgiveness, seventy-seven times.