“To do the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.”  I’ve heard that statement from a variety of speakers, pastors, teachers and business leaders.  It never sounded right to me.  So I looked it up in my Merriam Webster dictionary and found the statement to be incorrect.   To continue doing the same thing again and again, expecting a different outcome may be an indication of insanity but it isn’t the definition.  

There’s a story in the Bible, starting in Matthew 18, verse 21.  Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive someone who sins against him.  Peter then suggests a number, “up to seven times?”

I wonder if Peter had asked the question before.  Maybe Jesus told him he wasn’t ready for the answer.  But this time, Jesus answered him with “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.  Peter had to be sorry he asked the question.  But it was too late.  Peter had asked the question and Jesus apparently saw it as a teachable moment.  He had already multiplied Peter’s standard by seventy and now launched into a story with “therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like…”

He tells a story about a king who wanted to settle some accounts and collect money owed to him.  One man owed him gold that would be worth 20 year’s wages.  He was about to sell the man and his family into slavery to satisfy the debt.  The man begged for mercy and the king cancelled the debt and let him go. 

The newly debt free servant goes to one of his peers and demands payment of the 100 day’s wages he owed him.  The debtor begged for mercy but got none.  The recently pardoned servant had his friend thrown into prison.  The king heard about it and was furious.  He had the ungrateful man thrown into prison to be tortured until he paid back all the gold he owed.  A life sentence since he couldn’t earn money in prison.  

I expect Peter had a stunned look on his face as Jesus wrapped up the story with, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister…”  And just when Peter thought it couldn’t get any worse, (Peter was hoping for seven times and got seventy).  He has just been told that unless he forgives seventy times, he will be severely punished by God.  But wait there’s more!

The last three words of Jesus’ story where he said, “unless you forgive your brother or sister FROM YOUR HEART.”  It’s not enough to cancel a debt.  You can’t just say the words while harboring resentment.  You’ve been told you have to really forgive them from the heart again and again.  Expecting a different result.  Insanity.  Worse than the definition of insanity because grace expects nothing at all.

Now there’s a danger at this point that I make myself appear more righteous and holy than I really am.  Since I’m the one sharing this story and the words of Jesus, I must have mastered this lesson.  So let me insert a personal story.

Working for a company that manufactures and distributes tile to builders and contractors, I often had the opportunity to practice grace.  Or not.  On one occasion, a builder was on the phone yelling at one of my customer service people because they had promised to have his tile ready for pickup on Thursday.  It was Thursday; his subcontractor was standing at our counter and was being told the tile wasn’t there.  Apparently the shipping location didn’t ship it.  The builder wanted to talk to me.  So I listened, apologized and told him I would call him back as soon as I had details and a resolution.  I don’t think he felt I fully understood the inconvenience we had caused him, so he restated the whole thing with additional volume, name calling and “f-bombs” to be sure I got his message.  I repeated my apology and plan and he hung up.

After hanging up, I put some things in motion to fix the problem to the extent we could.  Call a different location that owes us a favor.  Ask them to ship it today.  Remove the shipping charges from his order.  Once we have verification, let me know and I’ll call him back to tell him it will be here tomorrow (one day late).  We handle a hundred orders every day.  So we mess one up now and then.  Maybe one or two a week.  Not a bad percentage but for the person that got their order messed up, our service was 100% awful.

How does that story go against the standard Jesus laid out in his response to Peter?  How is it an example of disgrace?  Remember the last sentence and particularly the last three words in Jesus’ story… “from the heart”.  I had taken care of the task at hand.  I called the builder to let them know what we were doing.  He was happy.  But when I hung up the phone, I thought ‘I always had a lot of respect for that guy.  Not anymore.  He showed no respect for me or my team.’  And though I didn’t say it out loud, my thoughts of that man were sprinkled with some of the same profanity he had thrown at me an hour earlier. 

I wish I could attempt to justify my thoughts by saying it was the 491^st time the guy had done this.  Or the 71^st time.  Or the 8^th time.  But it was the first time.  So I can’t live up to Peter’s suggested standard, let alone the unlimited grace that God demands.

But this is the definition of grace.  Not according to Merriam Webster.  This is grace according to Jesus. 

It sounds a lot like insanity because, no matter how hard we try, it is impossible for us to do it from our heart.  We can’t just decide to be gracious.  We can’t forgive seven times or seventy or four hundred ninety times from the heart.  That can only happen as we invite the Spirit of God to flow into us, through us and out to others, including those that don’t appreciate it or return it.  Some who continue to hurt us and show no sign of change.  

Grace is tough.  It does not seem fair.  Grace is countercultural.  It is not the way of the world.  It does not originate with us but it can flow through us.   

To do the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result, is actually not the definition of insanity. That popular quote is attributed to renowned physicist Albert Einstein. Without realizing it, he may have been on the verge of discovering the essence of grace.