Gospel Reading Matthew Chapter 18 v 21 – 35
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.
Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“At this the servant fell on his knees before him ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go.
“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
SERMON
What image comes to mind when you think of the word “Bounty Hunter.” Maybe we think of a scene from Star Wars as Darth Vader is enlisting their help to fuel his obsession with finding Luke Skywalker. The imperial admiral leans down to one of his lieutenants and quietly says, “Bounty Hunters? We don’t need their scum…” Even evil imperial officers have their standards.
Maybe you think more about someone like Clint Eastwood – a loner in the movies “A fistful of dollars or a few dollars more.
We are living in a day that is rapidly accelerating from biblical values and the ideals that Jesus built His church upon. We find in our media scenes of protest, men and women are beaten savagely by “protesters.” We can find ourselves questioning our politicians who are there to represent us but instead we appear to find that their speeches to us sometimes leads us to think of lies, confusion and deception.
We always seem to want to be paid for someone’s mistakes. The dinner that the restaurant didn’t make just right. Even in the church, many spend time mumbling and groaning because the preacher said something we didn’t like or the wrong song was played.
Does someone owe you an apology? A second chance? An explanation? A thank you? If you were to stop and think about it, you could make some people aware of a debt they owe you and you could amass some good reasons why it’s owed.
We’ve lost the meaning, purpose, and origin of forgiveness in the church. We’ve lost it because we’re trying to use worldly standards of a godly principle. We’re like Peter asking Jesus today. “How many times should I forgive my brother… 7 times.” He’s proud of the number he’s willing to reach. But like Peter, we need to be reminded of Jesus’ standard – God’s standard – and resolve that in our heart and soul.
Why? Because it’s the standard that God applies to you. True love doesn’t keep a record of wrongs!
I wonder if Jesus didn’t give Peter a smile and a pat on the shoulder at his attempt to be pious with his forgiveness. So Jesus says, no Peter. Your forgiveness isn’t enough. If you want a standard, 70 times that number is more like it. And then he uses this as a teaching opportunity with a parable.
The king has called for an audit. The debts are to be paid and we have found a massive debt. Ten thousand talents. To put this in perspective, a talent in New Testament times was a unit of weight for valuable metals, chiefly silver. One talent was about 75 pounds of silver. Therefore, 10,000 talents equalled 750,000 pounds or 375 tons of silver.
Another way to quantify this is that one talent equalled 6000 denarii or a day’s wage. Thus one talent equalled 20 years’ wages for a common labourer. Therefore 10,000 talents equal 200,000 years’ wages or 60 million days’ wages.
The debt to the King 10,000 talents was the largest number counted in the Roman world.
But what about our debt? The debt to God the Father and the debt we owe him? We are the servants, and no matter what our net worth, we owe God a debt of wrong-doing we cannot pay.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is no way we could ever pay God back and measure to his holiness. Ten thousand years in hell wouldn’t even begin to pay on the interest of the debt.
But back to our story; the King respond to the servant.
26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
That’s an image of God’s forgiveness. It is complete. Undeserved. It looks nothing like the kind of forgiveness of the world. To the world, it is inconceivable that God can forgive freely. The man asked for only forbearance and volunteered to repay the debt, but the King ignored all of this and freely forgave. God’s forgiveness will wreck you for the ordinary and take you deeper.
Romans 3:23-25 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a appeasement by his blood, to be received by faith.
This part of the parable is where most people who come to church, push the pause button in the movie in their mind. They see the forgiveness of God and rejoice. But in doing so, we only receive half the lesson Jesus is teaching us because the other half has to do with our response to God’s forgiveness in our personal relationships.
Look at what happens next: 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.
The servant, now forgiven of his massive debt now encounters a man who owes him 100 denari and tells him he wants his money back. When the King hears of this he is indignant and Jesus says he throws the first servant into prison until he can pay back the original debt in full. The point Jesus is making is painfully clear. Jesus is comparing our un-forgiveness with each other to the man choking the servant. The spiritual equivalent of this is when we have our hands around the neck of someone who has wronged us, despite the forgiveness we received from God. The wrong isn’t in question. The debt isn’t missed. The wickedness is attributed to the person who holds onto bitterness and refuses forgiveness. I think there are many today say they’ve forgiven but they continue to hold bitterness in their hearts. There are many who have attributed forgiveness but have omitted without mercy.
And the attributed forgiveness but have omitted without mercy leads many Christians to run the danger of living in prisons of their own making. Prisons of unforgiveness.
Unforgiveness hinders and keeps our prayers from being answered, it hinders our fellowship and intimacy with our Heavenly Father, it invokes God’s judgment on us!
However Matthew 6:14 tell us “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” and in Matthew 18:35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
May I put a fine point on what Jesus is saying? Unless you forgive others in the same way and with the same mercy that God forgave you, then you are not a part of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is so strong and loving here.
A Christian who forgives also enjoys God’s forgiveness. A Christian doesn’t forgive by the world’s standards but rather a Christian who freely forgives displays and gives genuine forgiveness (from their heart).
I’m not saying the hurt isn’t real. I’m not saying that a wrongdoing against you isn’t wrong and I’m not saying we should excuse a wrongdoing. But a wilful, hardened, unforgiving heart may indicate the absence of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Forgiveness cannot be done through our own strength and power, but only through the power of the Holy Spirit.
A father said to his son, “can you fetch me a hammer please?” “Yes, Dad”. “Now get a nail and fetch that piece of wood please”. “Here they are Dad” replied the son. “Can you hammer the nail into the wood?” It was done. “Can you please pull it out again?” “That’s easy,” said the son and prised out the nail.
Now, and the father’s voice dropped to a lower key, “pull out the nail hole”.
You see every wrong act leaves a scar. We are all hurt and hurt others so easily – as easily as banging a nail into a piece of wood but it’s how will we respond to those scars – Forgiveness or vengeance? Amen
PRAYERS
Gracious and merciful God each one of us struggles to do what is right, but we find it hard – especially when it comes to how other people have hurt us. Help us today to make a break through, bring to mind the new and the old resentments, the old grievances and the old wounds that still haunt us and help us to heal. As you forgive us through the blood of Christ Jesus – so, in his name, and by his power, help us to forgive those who have trespassed against us.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer
Father, we pray for those in our world today who are caught in the ancient cycle of violence. We think in particular of nations which are divided by ancient feuds and of families that are fractured by grudges that have not been allowed to pass away. Lord, we know that you are Holy, and that your standards are not lessened by your mercy.
But we know that it is not your will that walls exist between persons, nor is it your desire that we seek vengeance in your name. Bring healing Lord to those who have been afflicted and peace to those who are in conflict with their neighbours and their brothers and sisters.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer
Lord – hear our prayers for the world – and within the world – for all who are burdened and heavy laden. Indeed at this time, hear the prayers of your people in this place for those around them and for those who are in other places this day….
We pray for children who are abandoned by their parents and for the parents who abandon their children…
We pray for those overwhelmed with financial worries that they may find understanding, opportunity and support…
We pray for those who suffer from afflictions of the body that leave them weak and unable to do all they desire – may they find strength in you and we pray for those under more stress than usual – and who have less strength to deal with it.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer….
Father of us all, hear all our prayers and bless us so that the world may see how much we love one another and remember how much you love all that you have made. We ask it through Christ Jesus your Son, he who gave his life for us so that we might live in your presence and be able to do all you desire us to do.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
And so sealing our prayer together, we pray the prayer that Jesus Christ taught his disciples… the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever.
Amen
Revd Kevin. Priest at St.Wilfrid and St.Thomas
