“Then came Peter to Him, and said, ‘Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?’ Jesus saith unto him, ‘I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.'” ~Matthew 18:21-22
This beautiful exhortation regarding forgiveness is made even more divine when we realize that Jesus Christ was speaking out against the ancient practice of the Tribe of the Lamechites to diabolically take revenge seventy-sevenfold, including upon the families of those who would so much as wound them; making modern day gang fighting appear almost like a daily tea.
“Then Lamech [great great great grandson of Cain] said to his wives: ‘…I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-seven fold.'” ~Genesis 4:23-24
Jesus used his short time here as rabbi teaching especially contentious subjects which had either been long standing ancient practice, as seen here, or reasserting God’s Will where it digressed from Mosaic Law, as regarding divorce. Sometimes he clarified word meanings, as when he told a story describing what a ‘neighbor’ was. Almost all of what he chose to discuss with his followers, that we can see in the pages of scripture at least, made some important new point, in direct opposition to what had been the interpreted belief or status quo of that time.
He rocked the ancient world and conservative Jews so much in these ways. Even though He was speaking mostly of love and compassion and forgiveness, and healed incessantly, it was impossible for the Pharisees to equate this message with God’s direct Word and Will. They were so used to assuming God’s Will by reliance on their increasingly tortuous interpretation of the Law.
Not that the Law isn’t important! It is. We are commanded by God, by Jesus, and by the Apostles to keep the Law. But not at the cost of the two greatest commandments.
~Song of Mary~ 