as I have done, so shall it be done to them;
as captives they shall go into exile.
The LORD shows his people his plans even when they will not listen. At first this only heightens the level of judgment that they deserve. But it is ultimately oriented toward mercy. A truly vengeful God wouldn't even go through this trouble. He would simply smite. This sign from the prophet Ezekiel revealed instead a compassionate God doing what he could to get through to a people who have eyes but do not see and ears but do not hear. Maybe their exile was inevitable by the time of this warning. But what if, during exile, the people remembered these words and their hearts were moved to long for the God who warned them and tried to dissuade them from their path of destruction.
Even if God seemed to abandon his people it was not to be forever.
For a brief moment I deserted you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
In overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you (see Isaiah 54:7-8)
The LORD tells us to forgive "seventy-seven times", meaning without limit, precisely because he does so for us. We not only receive the forgiveness of Jesus once but rather, we depend on it throughout our lives. Without confession of sins and receiving absolution as a regular practice of ours salvation would be an even narrower path. The gradual accumulation of the weight of sin would weigh us down and make us ever more susceptible to more and greater sin in the future. The LORD first shows us his mercy. We either let it flow through us to others or we end up stopping it up and preventing it from continuing to even reach us.
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?
Mercy is sometimes difficult to show to those who have heart us, especially if the wounds are still fresh. And while mercy doesn't imply letting ourselves be abused in the future it doesn't mean we can give it without cost to our pride. But the point of Jesus is that we don't have to generate it in ourselves, nor work up in ourselves the ability to show it to others. Rather, if we are having trouble showing mercy we should first put ourselves in the posture of receiving it from God in all humility. This will open in us the channels through which mercy can flow to others.
I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
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