Peter came and said to [Jesus], “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18: 21-22
We live in a culture that, for the most part, emphasizes using traditional and logical ways of problem solving. We refer to this as ‘vertical’ thinking. We tend to place less emphasis on what is known as ‘lateral’ thinking, which involves the use of indirect and creative approaches to problem solving. Lateral thinking is sometimes described as thinking outside the box. But perhaps a better way to describe it is as the creation of a bigger box for one’s creativity to flourish in.
When reading the ‘red letter’ passages of the gospels, I can’t help but to envision Jesus as being the greatest of lateral thinkers. The kingdom that Jesus proclaims lives and breathes outside the narrow lines we so carefully draw around ourselves. Discipleship is an invitation for us to step away from our usual way of imagining how we live in relationship with God so that we might be baptized and die with Jesus, and through him, live a resurrection life. This has some rather sobering consequences for us. We’re not called to love only our neighbors, but also those who live outside our self-imposed boxes of religious, cultural, racial, sexual, and national identity. Instead of bashing folks over the head with our Bibles, we’re challenged to live the gospel by fashioning bigger, more inclusive, and more equitable boxes.
Jesus’ lateral way of thinking includes his vision of forgiveness. And like pretty much everything else about God’s kingdom, what he proclaims directly confronts the self-centered and selfish ‘me first’ culture we pawn off as being Christian. Let’s be honest about this. The reason our culture pushes back so hard against this radical proclamation of forgiveness is because it directly confronts our desire to always have someone beneath us to blame and to punch down on.
When Peter asks if he has to forgive seven times as the law mandates, Jesus’ response is not once, or even seven times, but seventy seven times; or as some translations record this, seventy times seven times. In other words, don’t even bother counting how many times we are commanded to forgive.
Peter wants to know the exact size of the box Jesus keeps God’s forgiveness in so that he can make his box as small as possible. But with God, forgiveness has no boundary. There’s no wall built around it to keep others out. Jesus invites Peter to stop counting and to stop calculating altogether. He wants Peter to stop keeping track, because forgiveness is like love. Forgiveness is an expression of love. Forgiveness and love are both relational. They can’t be tallied on a ledger or rung up in a cash register.
And because God’s forgiveness has no boundary, our forgiveness can’t have boundaries either if we are going to live and serve and sacrifice as Jesus’ disciples. This way of re-imagining forgiveness is lateral thinking at its most powerful.
As we seek to live together amid the wreckage of this ongoing pandemic, along with generational issues such as a growing disparity between rich and poor, weapons of mass destruction, racial and cultural tensions, and immigration and climate issues; we’ll want to remember that scripture compels us to respond to the brokenness we face with overwhelming love and with unconditional forgiveness, rather than lashing out in retribution and vengeance.
We are invited to live together in the midst of these difficult times as people of the gospel. We are bidden to love God’s creation so deeply that we are willing to put forgiveness above revenge and love above hatred. We are compelled to forgive ourselves when we fail to live up to Jesus’ model of discipleship, because God has already forgiven us. The belief that we love because God first loves us is a reminder that we also forgive because God first forgives us. We are already forgiven for the many things we do and leave undone that harm creation, and this unrelenting forgiveness transforms everything about us.
Forgiving others and ourselves as we have been forgiven requires lateral thinking. It involves recognizing that our brokenness runs so deep that only God can free us from it. It invites us to believe that we are people created to love and forgive. Grace is found at the very heart of the Christian faith. It’s what gives us hope, joy, freedom, and the courage to wake up in the morning to face all that this world will throw at us.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Tom Murray
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month’s contributor is Tom Murray of the Lutsen Lutheran Church and Baptism River Community Church of Finland.
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