Open Word
Brief daily reflections on a lectionary text for the day.
Kingdom Accounting: Aug 13
“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.” (Mt 18:21-22)
Lectionary gospel, Aug. 13, 2026
Matthew 18:21-19:1
“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.” (Mt 18:21-22)
Kingdom of God accounting is baffling.
A generous offer of forgiving sins seven times is exploded into an exhortation of seventy-seven offers of forgiveness. The first offer of seven can be counted on one’s hands, but seventy-seven, how do you keep track of that?
We also see examples of Kingdom accounting in the feeding thousands stories. Five loaves and two fish, fed to 4000 people, and we get 12 baskets of leftovers? I’m guessing Jesus didn’t have an accountant because balancing his books would be a nightmare.
Offering that kind of extravagant love and grace is hard once, let alone seven times, let alone seventy-seven times. It is much easier to account for each indiscretion than to blow all sense of proportion out of the water so that you can’t even keep track our generosity. It silences our desire to even the score and give people what they deserve.
As hard as it is to offer that abundant grace, it can be even harder to receive it – to not get back the penalty we deserve is disorienting, but to receive endless, unqualified love and grace destroys our sense of justice and fair play. It becomes a deeply humbling experience.
May we all lose count of the gifts of love offered and received.