According to recent studies, children, elementary age and younger, ask on average 300 questions a day. Although, I’m guessing some parents might argue that children ask far more questions than that each day.
Whatever the number, such studies show us that children are naturally curious. “What’s for dinner? Are we there yet? Why do I have to do that? Why is the sky blue? Where do babies come from? Why is that called a platypus?”
If you’ve spent any amount of time hanging out with kids, you know that no question is too crazy. Kids want to know everything.
And while it might be annoying, I don’t think kids ask questions to annoy us, but I think they ask questions to better understand the world around them.
But research also shows that as we get older, we tend to ask fewer questions. In fact, studies report that adults ask only twenty questions a day.
Here’s the thing, I’m guessing most of us still have questions. Sure, our questions might have gotten more complicated as we’ve gotten older, but we still have questions. We’re still trying to figure out how the world works.
Peter was the same way. Usually known for being the first to speak up, this time we find Peter asking questions. Jesus and the disciples were talking about forgiveness when Peter asks, “How many times should I forgive?” And I’m guessing he expected a straightforward answer.
Because when it comes to forgiveness isn’t that what we want? We want to know exactly what we must do. What’s the bare minimum that is expected of us.
Because, for the most part, when we need to offer forgiveness, it is because someone has wronged us. And offering forgiveness isn’t necessarily our first tendency. Sometimes we’d even prefer to hang on to the hurt.
But Jesus’ response is far from the straightforward answer Peter hopes for. Instead, Jesus’ math is not predictable – it’s infinite.
Forgiveness is abundant: grace is not earned.
I’ve often wondered how Peter processed and comprehended Jesus’ answer. Did it suddenly make sense? Was he angry that Jesus didn’t really tell him what he wanted to know? Or did he spend the rest of his life trying to figure it out?
Grace and peace,
Kimmy
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