Reward

This week we begin worship with:

Matthew 18:21-22
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Peter was stunned. He had been taught to keep it even.  The principle of “An eye for an eye” comes from Leviticus 24:17-23 and does not involve forgiveness. In fact, the Law does not call for us to forgive anyone. 

But Jesus had been saying something very different.  Jesus took that law, which was intended to limit the scale of the punishment to match that of the crime, and He replaced it with what our Heavenly Father does, who brings rain to both the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:38-48).  Jesus explains:

Matthew 5:46-47
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

In God’s kingdom, the imbalance brings reward.