March 10, 2026 // Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35
Standing together in the church social hall, my husband and I reflected on forty years of married life with our audience of wide-eyed newlyweds, weary parents, and weathered grandparents. They laughed as we recounted stories of poor communication, and listened intently to the challenges of learning to love more deeply in our brokenness and pain. During the Q & A time, a woman inquired, “How often did you find yourselves needing to forgive each other? Was it difficult?” Smiling, I replied, “At least seventy times seven. Without God’s help, it’s not only difficult, it’s impossible!”
In today’s Gospel, Peter poses a very practical question to Jesus about the limits of extending forgiveness, particularly to family and the close community of believers, whose daily interactions are often occasions for conflict and offense. While Peter generously suggests seven times, a biblical number signifying fullness and perfection, Jesus responds with a new standard for forgiveness: “ . . . not seven times but seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:22). The original Greek can also be translated as “seventy times seven.” This number expresses a continuous, boundless act of mercy that extends far beyond human capacity and understanding.
Jesus then tells a parable to explain forgiveness in the Kingdom of Heaven.
As a servant in this kingdom, I’m painfully aware of my utterly impossible situation. Humbled before my merciful, compassionate King, my debt of sin cancelled, I am set free to live and love as a true citizen in his Kingdom.
But do I? It is often so difficult to forgive others, to offer even a small measure of the patient forgiveness God has shown to me, and bitterness and resentment can take root. On my own, “Kingdom” forgiveness is impossible.
Today, our merciful King and Master offers us an invitation to gratefully reflect on His infinite mercy. Faced with such immense generosity, let us ask Him to give us the supernatural capacity to express Kingdom forgiveness in our daily lives.
Relate to the Lord // Did someone come to mind as you read today’s Gospel and devotion? Ask Jesus for the grace to forgive them, again and again if necessary.
Debra Herbeck is a Jewish convert to the Church who serves extensively in youth and women’s ministry. She directs Pine Hills Girls Camp (for 34 years), and is the Founder and Director of Be Love Revolution, a ministry for high school girls. Find her books here. She and her husband have four children and eight grandchildren. She is the author of Blessed Conversations: Misericordia. Find out more about her here.
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