Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times’

—Matthew 18:21

When Peter asks Jesus how many times he must forgive someone who wrongs him, he likely believes he is being generous. In Jewish teaching of the time, forgiving someone three times was often considered sufficient. Peter doubles it and adds one: seven times.

But Jesus answers, “Not seven, but seventy-seven times” (or seventy times seven depending on translation). His response is not an invitation to keep a larger tally, but to abandon counting altogether.

Long before this moment, the book of Genesis tells of a man named Lamech, who boasted of revenge, saying, “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold” (Genesis 4:23). His words reflect the spiral of violence that unfolded after the Fall: injury answered by retaliation, resentment multiplying harm.

Jesus takes this same number and transforms its meaning. What once symbolized limitless revenge now becomes a sign of limitless mercy.

In the kingdom of God, forgiveness breaks the cycle that violence sustains. It refuses to let injury have the final word. To forgive again and again is not to pretend wounds do not exist, but to entrust justice to God and keep the heart free from bitterness.

Each act of forgiveness becomes a quiet participation in the mercy we ourselves have received, mercy that meets us every time we return to the Father.