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The Other Jesus, Week 4, Day 1

by David Joynt on June 24, 2018

The Other Jesus, Week 4, Day 1

MARK 3:28-30

An unforgivable sin? Jesus teaches forgiveness with a depth and consistency which shocked his contemporaries. Rabbis in the first century, knowing the God of Israel was “long suffering and abounding in steadfast mercy,” taught disciples to forgive three times when offended. Peter doubled the number and added one to make seven as a suggestion for the limit to exercising forgiveness. Jesus taught us “to forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Our Lord suggests 70x7 as a “limit,” in effect refusing to allow his followers to nurse wounds, hold grudges, or withhold forgiveness.

How forgiving are you?

Do you keep a scorecard of wrongs?

FAMILY LIFE

Pray the Lord’s Prayer together. What does it mean to forgive our debtors?

 

Tags: forgiveness, mercy

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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