Peter’s question about forgiveness doesn’t come out of thin air. Both he and Jesus knew the story of how, back in Genesis, God sent Cain into exile and promised to protect him. Even though he was a murderer, God promised to avenge Cain sevenfold if anyone tried to kill him. Generations passed, and Cain’s descendant Lamech decided he could do one better: he told his wives he would avenge himself, not sevenfold but seventy-seven times! The story of Lamech is preserved as a piece of poetry in the fourth chapter of Genesis, embedded in the story like incriminating evidence of murderous intent.
You see what’s going on: God had promised to preserve Cain’s life, and to protect him, even though he had killed his brother; as it happened, Lamech and his family turned out to be Jesus’ ancestors. But the story of Lamech also tells us something else: that the fruit of the original fault never falls far from the tree. “Master of the universe” Lamech isn’t leaving anything to chance; no “vengeance is mine, says the Lord” (Deut. 32:25) for him.
Lamech can take care of himself, and be just as ruthless as any of the rest of them. His enemies should tremble at his retributive power! I wonder what his wives, those good women Adah and Zillah, made of all this, as Lamech strutted around the tent, proclaiming his own power. “If you mess with us, we’ll destroy your entire nation!” I suppose we should thank God that Lamech didn’t have access to social media. It’s bad enough to be held up for ridicule in the Bible, much less on X.
In this context, the Old Testament principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Ex. 21:24) mitigates Lamech’s rule of vengeance. If retribution seventy-seven times is your standard, then seeking “life for life” (Ex. 21:23) is a positive lessening of retributive power. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Ex. 21:24) actually constrains vengeance that has run amuck. What we take as overly harsh, life for life, was actually a sign of mercy: a restriction of Lamech’s over the top vengeance! The reason we see all of it as harsh (“an eye for an eye” as well as Lamech’s strutting boast) is a sign of the power of the Gospel.
Jesus’ teaching in our reading today matches Lamech’s retributive order with mercy on a colossal scale. Forgiveness is substituted for vengeance, not only one for one but even to seventy-seven times. Peter in his question is going back to an ancient story from the time of the ancestors, and Jesus in his response, mindful of the story, is laying out a principle of mercy that is rooted in forgiveness.
Forgiveness is necessary because time only moves one way: from the present to the future. What is past, is past: it’s in the rear view mirror. Even with the best will in the world we can’t go back and undo it. Whether it’s our own actions or the actions of others, what’s done is done. There are actions we can take to provide redress, when it’s our own actions that have harmed others; but what are we to supposed to do about the things we or others have suffered, when redress is outside our power to produce?
Vengeance is one response, one action to take; but of course it’s not an action, pure and simple, but rather a reaction that perpetuates the original outrage. What’s created is a “chain reaction” that continues to unfold with consequences that no one can predict. What is predictable is that the chain of this reaction will end up binding people up in a cycle of action and reaction that will go far beyond the seventy-seven times of Lamech’s boast.
Forgiveness is the action that we can take that frees us from this predictable course. It’s a new beginning; a fresh start; the initial act of a new sequence. Jesus makes it a part of the prayer he teaches the disciples to pray: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” In that prayer, he teaches us to pray for our “daily bread,” which suggests that prayer for forgiveness is a part of the daily routine as well. In other words, we’re going to come back to it, again and again. It might seem that the work of forgiveness will never be finished. Yet Jesus on the cross has himself finished it: as he prays there, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:24).
In this way, forgiveness mirrors the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which brings life out of death. We all long for graceful endings and new beginnings in all parts of our life. God in his mercy gives us both, providing the margin on which we receive forgiveness as well as the grace to live a new life, through the power unleashed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. No chain of reaction for us! Christ has set us free.