Westwood Presbyterian Church

January 27th, 2008

197 Browning  Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba  R3K 0L1

REV. PETER BUSH's SERMONS

Matthew 18: 21-35

 

     We come this morning to the end of Matthew 18 and one of Jesus’ most famous parables. Yes, the parable can stand on its own – but we should not forget that Matthew has placed this parable in this section dealing with the issue of conflict in the church. Two weeks ago we heard Jesus’ prescription for reducing conflict in the church – live little, reduce our egos. Last week, Jesus invited us to take the initiative in bringing about healing and restoration in broken relationships – to deal with conflict, not let it just fester. This week we look at what Jesus believes is to be the end result of conflict in the church – forgiveness.

     The end of conflict is not repentance – it is forgiveness. We need to hear how different that is from our culture.

Listen to the words of those who are hurt by an offender – “I need to see justice take place before I can have closure.” In that context the end of conflict is punishment, retribution, and I sometimes think it borders on revenge.

Or “So and so is being released, they have paid their debt to society.” But as we all know the individual still has a criminal record and can not find a job. In this context there is no end for the one who has been imprisoned.

Or “What good is the apology of the one who ruined my life, can they give me back what they have taken.” Here the victim never stops being a victim.

     Jesus says there is a different end to conflict.  

 

     The disciples have been listening careful to what Jesus has been saying about conflict – and Peter raises an important question – how many times do I forgive someone in the church who wrongs me? What are the limits of forgiveness?

     In the Judaism of Peter’s day there was a belief that people should be forgiven 3 times and then after that there was no more forgiveness. This was not three strikes and you’re out – this was one better – four strikes and you’re out. Now Peter has been listening to Jesus – he knows Jesus will call for a generous pattern of forgiveness. So Peter doubles the number of times we are to forgive someone who wrongs us – forgive 7 times and with the 8^th request for forgiveness – the answer is “no”. Understand that Peter is pushing the limits on his culture – he is struggling to imagine what gracious generous forgiveness looks like in his world. And forgiving seven times seems huge.

     And then Jesus comes back with his shocking words – not 7 times – but 77 times. It is as thought Jesus is saying, “Peter, I know you are suggesting a very generous forgiveness – but there is still a limit on the number you are suggesting – I am inviting you to a forgiveness that is 11 times greater than the most generous forgiveness you can imagine – I am in fact inviting you to a forgiveness that is limitless.”

     Because to be honest who sits around with a score card and keeps track – “I have forgiven you 75 times.” “That was #76.” “Oh, just letting you know, that is #77 – last time.” “What you want me to forgive you a 78^th time? No, that is not happening.” When Jesus throws out the number 77 – he is not suggesting we actually take the number literally – he is saying our forgiveness is to be limitless.

     Jesus knows full well that his hearers are going to think this a completely ridiculous figure – they are not prepared to think that forgiveness is limitless – and he also knows that on the issue of forgiveness it is impossible to intellectually convince someone to be more forgiving – to make the case for forgiveness you have to touch people’s hearts and souls – not just their minds. And so He tells a story.

 

      There was a king who was settling accounts with his servants – and as he was going through the books he discovered that one of his servants owed ten thousand talents. It is worth taking some time to understand just how big 10,000 talents was. There were 6,000 denarii in a talent – and 1 denarius was what an average worker earned in a day. This one servant owed 60 million denarii to the king – that is he was 60 million days wages in debt – or 200,000 years’ income in debt. This is a very big number – in fact this is the largest figure for money that was in common use in Jesus’ day. If we want to get some understanding of how big this is in our time – this man owed a trillion dollars.

     What this man owed was bigger than what the banker in France has been accused of misappropriating and that is largest fraud case in the world. Now, we all want to know how the guy in Jesus’ story got this far in debt. But Jesus does not tell us because it is not the point of the story.

     The servant is brought to the king – and the king demands payment. The servant can’t pull out his debit card and invite the king to take the trillion $ from his account – he does not have it. So the king orders that everything the servant has be sold off – wife and kids included. The servant falls on his knees and asks for more time – “I will pay you back” he says.

     This is an absolutely hilarious line – the man would have to work of 4,000 life times to pay the king back. There is no way this debt can ever be paid. The king knows it, the man has to know it, everyone in the room knows it. And the king recognizing the impossibility of the debt being repaid – with the stroke of his pen cancels the debt.

 

     Jesus is inviting his followers to see themselves in the servant – the one with the enormous debt who was forgiven. Now we want to say, “Wait, I may still be paying off the mortgage – but my debt isn’t that big – and besides no one has ever canceled my debt.”

     In the Lord’s Prayer we pray “forgive us our debts” – and we don’t mean money (necessarily) – we have a different set of debts. Spiritual debts. Debts gathered up as we have hurt friends and neighbours with our words and actions, debts accumulated as we have disobeyed God’s will for human beings, debts accumulated as we have done our own thing – thinking we were in charge, we have quite a pile a debt.

     I have a friend who works on universities campus inviting students to make decisions to follow Jesus – and he hears often, “Oh, I haven’t lived a bad life, in fact, I think I have lived a good life and so I don’t think I need Jesus’ forgiveness.” My friend gently responds – “If everything you have thought this week were turned into a movie and played for everyone on the campus to see – would you have to leave town?”

     When we ask ourselves a similar question – we have a pretty big pile of debt – things that we are not proud of – things that are sins we have done. And no matter how hard we try, we can’t get rid of that debt – that sin – that wrong doing. And then God comes along and in Jesus’ death on the cross – the debt is gone – we are forgiven.

     Oh, yes, we are the servant – as soon as we say, “I want that forgiveness – I want my debt wiped out” – we are like the servant.

     But Jesus’ story does not end with servant having the enormous debt wiped out – because that servant went out and met a fellow servant who owed him about $10,000. The second servant asked for time to pay back the debt. A reasonable request – something that would be possible to see happen. But the servant who had been forgiven would not hear of it – he had the one who owed him money thrown into debtor’s prison - - until the money could be paid back.

     The king got wind of what had happened and called the servant who he had forgiven back in before him – reinstated the debt – why? Because those who receive mercy are expected to show mercy – those who enjoy the benefits of having been forgiven by God – are called to show forgiveness.

     We have been blessed – forgiven – so that we might be a blessing – offering forgiveness.

     Notice the second servant’s debt is not nothing – this is not a small thing that is the cause of friction in the relationship. Jesus is wise to note that it is substantial – that the debt – the hurt – is not nothing. But in comparison to what we have been forgiven – what we are asked to forgive is inconsequential. The generosity of God’s forgiveness to us overwhelms any size of debt we might be invited to forgive.

 

     I want to go back to top of the sermon.

The desire to find closure when justice is enacted upon the offending party is a dominant theme in our culture. Jesus reminds us that justice is not the end – at some point there must be mercy -- there must be forgiveness. Justice alone is a hard brittle thing – that leaves people locked up. Justice alone does not bring freedom and reconciliation and joy – that comes only from radical forgiveness.

Is punishment appropriate? – yes, discipline is necessary – we have talked about the fact that a loving God disciplines. But a loving God also forgives – and then removes our guilt from us – infinitely far from us – as far as the east is from the west which is an infinite distance. Restoration requires the last word to be, “I forgive you.” There is no closure until that moment.

Offering forgiveness not only frees the offender – it also frees the victim. As long as I hold on to the hurt that someone has caused me – as long as I play the tape of how that hurt happened – I am trapped by it – it is part of my identity as someone who has been hurt – someone who is a victim. When I forgive – I find a new identity – one that is no longer defined by my victimhood – but one defined by my generously offering forgiveness. I move from victim to giver – from passivity to action.

 

     Corrie Ten Boom, who hid Jews in her home and was then taken to a Nazi concentration camp, told this story. After the war she spoke often about the need for forgiveness if the church in Europe and in fact all of Europe was going to find healing and hope after the horrors of the war. On one particular speaking tour she was speaking in a German town, after she was finished speaking, and people were lining up to shake her hand, she recognized one of the people in the line – it was one of the guards from the concentration camp. As he got closer to the front of the line, Corrie wondered how she could shake his hand – and she said it was as though God spoke to her, “You talk about forgiveness, here is your chance to put it in practice.” She responded, “But he abused my sister and I.” And God responded, “I have forgiven you even more.” So when the man got to the front of the line Corrie willed herself to reach out her hand and shook his – and in that moment she felt a desire to forgive him. In choosing to follow God’s call to take the step towards offering forgiveness, she found that she was able to truly forgive from her heart.

 

     The passage in Matthew ends on a challenging note – unless we forgive our brothers and sisters in the church who hurt us – with whom we are in conflict with, we will not be forgiven. And the hair on the back of Calvinist necks is on edge – does this mean we can lose our salvation? No, it does not mean that. But it demands that if we find ourselves unable to forgive -- we need to ask if we have understood the forgiveness God offers us.

     To forgive in the radical way that Jesus invites us to forgive, does not come easily – it does not come from our own strength. We can forgive this way only if we lean on Jesus - - tapping into the roots of his generous forgiveness for us – so that that may flow through us to touch our brothers and sisters who have hurt us - -that we are in conflict with.

     Jesus promises that He will give us all that we need to forgive others, all we need to do is rest in His generous forgiveness that frees us from our debt.

 

     Thanks be to God that we have been forgiven, our debt cancelled.

     Thanks be to God that out of that forgiveness we can forgive others.