seventy times seven

Been thinking about forgiveness lately.  I recently heard someone say, "Forgiveness doesn't make them right.  It makes you free."  Jesus was so adamant about this topic.  Seventy times seven, he mandated, to forgive the same person.  I can't even imagine someone offending me that many times; after the seventieth time, I would have probably de-friended them.  (I'm assuming he or she is my friend, to even have allowed him or her to offend me that much. Probably someone close to me.  Family, even.)

Jesus goes so far as to say, if you don't forgive someone of their sins, then I won't forgive you of yours.

Isn't that a bit harsh?  It sounds unfair to me.  Why involve Jesus in my sins when the issue at hand has to do with someone else?

Maybe it's because we're called to love our neighbors as ourselves; maybe it's because He died so we could be free.  Free of hatred, free of bitterness, free of anger, free of mistrust, and free of all the poison that unforgiveness brings.

He was probably thinking more about us, then the other party involved.

Doesn't He know how hard it is to forgive someone who has so deeply wounded you, that the offense(s) has irrevokeably changed the course of your life, the core of your personality, and fabric of your very being?

Oh, He knows.  He understands.

What  you have done to the least of these, you have done it unto me, he says.
Yes, you have done it unto Him.  I have done it unto Him.  He hurts, He gets wounded, He bleeds.

By His stripes you are healed.

Thank you Jesus for the cross!