One of the
responsibilities I have during the month of October is to lead our church in
worship each Sunday. Our small church has a retired minister as our stated
supply (Presbyterian term) who takes a sabbatical during October (a well
deserved one I might add.) A few years ago he asked if I would speak in his
absence and the rest, as they say, is history. I am going to attempt to post my
sermons for this month here on this blog.
Disclaimer: What I am going to post is going to be a rough attempt at a
transcript of what I actually say. Now I am creating this transcript before I
speak so it isn’t really a word for word transcript. Also, when I write a paper
I try to use sentence structure and vocabulary and all those things you learned
about in school correctly. I do try and speak professionally as well but my
point is don’t grade this as a writing, but as a speech. Even then I hope you
get the point of the message and don’t get caught up in the grammatical issues.
Feel free to comment.
The Parable of the
Unforgiving Servant
Matthew 18:21-35
October 13, 2013
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if
another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As
many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not
seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. 23 “For
this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to
settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began
the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to
him; 25 and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered
him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions,
and payment to be made. 26 So the slave fell on his
knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you
everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the lord
of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.28 But
that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed
him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what
you owe.’ 29 Then his fellow slave fell down and
pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 But
he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the
debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had
happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their
lord all that had taken place. 32 Then his lord
summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt
because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not have
had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And
in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire
debt. 35 So my heavenly Father will also do to
every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your
heart.” (NRSV)
The Word of the Lord
(Thanks be to God)
“One of my favorite stories concerns a man who was bitten by
a dog, which was later discovered to be rabid. The man was rushed to the
hospital where tests revealed that he had, in fact, contracted rabies. At the
time, medical science had no solution for this problem, and his doctor faced
the difficult task of informing him that his condition was incurable and
terminal. ‘Sir, we will do all we can to make you comfortable. But I cannot
give you false hope. There is nothing we can really do. My best advice is that
you put your affairs in order as soon as possible.’ The dying man sank back on
his bed in shock, but finally rallied enough strength to ask for a pen and some
paper. He then set to work with great energy. An hour later, when the doctor
returned, the man was stilling writing vigorously. ’I’m glad to see that you’re
working on your will.’ ‘This ain’t no will, Doc. This is a list of the people
I’m going to bite before I die. Many of us live and die with that kind of list,
written in our minds, if not on paper.” [Gary Inrig. The Parables:
Understanding What Jesus Meant. (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1991) p. 63].
This parable helps us see why that way of thinking is against God’s will.
The parable really begins with verse 23 but verses 21 and 22
are what spark the reason for the parable. Peter questions Jesus about
forgiveness. Now a close examination of his question reveals something about
Peter’s thinking. The Phrases taught that you were required to give forgiveness
three times. Then, if the same person offended you a fourth time you were under
no obligation to forgive them again. This teaching was based on a passage in
the book of Amos. It was a misinterpretation of the passage but regardless,
Peter uses that as a basis for his question. He, however, comes across as being
an extremely forgiving person because he asks if seven times is sufficient. He
knows the teachings but asks in such a way that it makes it seem as if he
offers forgiveness seven times so wants to know if that is enough. Jesus’
response is the parable.
When we look at these parables it is important to examine
the story from a literal point of view first so we can better understand the
meaning behind it. A king is ready to settle his accounts with his slaves. The
one brought before him owes him 10,000 talents. If you remember from the
parable of the talents we discussed last week a talent was worth about 6,000
denarii. Since one denarius was a day’s wage this slave owed what would amount
to over 2 billion dollars in today’s money, adjusted for inflation of course.
In other words, the slave owed more than he could possibly repay. His debt was
too great. This is not the same situation we looked at in the Parable of the
talents, though. There the master gave the man his money to take care of. Here,
this servant more than likely acquired his master’s money in an unethical way.
Perhaps he skimmed off the top. Or maybe he embezzled the money. Some of this
could have been from asking for and receiving a loan, but the king in this case
would not have loaned out this much money knowing it would be impossible for
the man to repay it. It really is not important how the debt got so big. This
is not a news story of what someone witnessed, it is a story Jesus is telling
to relate it to the Kingdom of Heaven. So when the king calls him forward to
account for his debt, then ordered that this slave and his wife, children, all
that he owned should be sold and payment made, the servant realizes what kind
of mess he is in and immediately asks for more time. Does he really think he
has the ability to pay this back? If he does then he has no concept of time and
money. If he realizes the severity of his debt then his asking for more time
signals that all he is doing is postponing the judgment that will surely come
eventually. Seeing the hopeless situation this man is in, the king has
compassion on the man. He does far more than give him more time to repay, he
cancels the debt. He does not reduce it or give him a grace period of a few
months or years, he eliminates it. A
couple of billion dollars, gone. I’m sure we have all at some time in our lives
been behind on a bill. We give the company a call and ask if they will give us
until we get paid again to pay our bill. When they agree not to turn off the
power, for instance, until next month, there is a great feeling of relief. A
burden is at least temporarily released. So imagine how you would feel if a debt
that would take a lifetime plus some was forgiven. You would think this slave
would be overwhelmed with gratitude. But what we find out as the story
continues is that “…as he went out, [he] came
upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing
him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’” A hundred denarii is what
this other slave owed him. If we use a similar money exchange rate we are
talking about a few thousand dollars. No small sum to be sure, but compared to
2 billion dollars it hardly seems significant. He proceeds to throw the other
man into debtor’s prison even after the man pleads for more time to pay just as
he had just done. This troubles the other slaves who know everything that has
just happened. They proceed to go back and tell the king of this servant’s
actions. Enraged that the man would not extend the same kind of mercy he
received, even when the debt was insignificant compared to his own debt, the
king hands him over, according to some translations, to be tortured until he
can repay a debt that he never will be able to repay.
The lesson from the parable is stated in the last thing
Jesus says in verse 35, “So my heavenly
Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or
sister from your heart.”Our failure to forgive others results in
severe consequences. Other lessons we can learn from this parable is that we
are all God’s debtors. Not only are we all debtors but the amount we owe is
more than we are able to pay (Copeland). That is the key phrase.
Since a question about forgiveness is what brings on this
parable we need to focus on that term forgiveness when we look for the deeper
meaning of this passage. The debt we owe to God is the sins we commit over and
over. The example of the man in financial debt is used to express just how much
we owe God for the sins we have committed against Him. The Bible teaches us
that God offers forgiveness for those sins through the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. We are also taught that we are to ask for that forgiveness and
it will be freely given. So why do we have the parable involving someone
getting forgiveness but not extending it? Well, we all just recited the Lord’s
Prayer and in it we asked to be forgiven in the same manner that we forgive
others. “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” This is not saying,
“Ok, God. Let us off the hook for all the sins we commit against you and we
will forgive others of the small ones that didn’t really hurt that much
anyway.” We are asking to be forgiven by God following the same criteria we use
to forgive those who have wronged us. In Matthew 7:2 it states, “For with the
judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the
measure you get.” This measure of judgment we administer to others is the same
measure that will get used on us. If we are unable to forgive those who have
injured us, then we are asking God to treat us the same way and not forgive us.
You have heard the phrase “forgive and forget.” I saw it
stated that the best way to begin the process of forgiveness is to first
remember…remember how much you have
been forgiven. The Law is the measuring stick for entry into heaven. Follow it
perfectly or the “wages of sin is death.” Our only method of redemption is
through Jesus Christ who takes those sins upon himself so we no longer pay the
price, a price we cannot afford. Once we remember that and truly accept that
gift of grace, we should be so grateful that the minor sins against us should
be easily forgiven.
Let’s talk about how easy or hard that really is sometimes.
You go to the drink machine at work and put in your dollar, think for a second,
decide on Dr. Pepper today and push the button. The drink comes out and your
phone rings. Well you don’t get good reception in the canteen so you place your
drink on the table and walk out in the hall to take the call. When you come
back the drink is gone. Someone decided that since it was there it must be for them.
Now the severity of this offense can vary. It was only a dollar. If that was
your last dollar or the last Dr. Pepper in the machine then that ups the level
of frustration, but in the grand scheme of things you probably could afford the
extra drink. In fact, you probably think to yourself, “I would have bought him
a drink if he needed one, why steal mine?” You have a choice. Do you forgive
the person or do you let it fester under your skin to the point that you become
obsessed with who did it and why? Your forgiveness of the sin does not mean you
endorse what happened or that it is ok that it did. It was wrong for someone to
steal your drink, but you can forgive them. How easy or hard it is to do that
is up to you. What if the person thought, “Well, I know this person makes more
than I do so I am going to take it?” Would that make it ok? How about the
person who takes home some extra office supplies because that big company can
afford to buy more? Is that ok? Have you ever found yourself in a situation
where you know you did something wrong and now you wanted the chance to make it
right? If you have not been in that situation before then you are a better
person than I am. Many times when we do something that hurts someone else we
don’t even realize it at first. It could have been a misunderstanding of
something we said, or an action we did not feel was bad but did hurt someone
unintentionally. I think if we were a part of that type of situation and were
told our actions or words were hurtful then we would ask to be forgiven. Or if
we were the one hurt and the other person had the opportunity to explain
themselves then we would be likely to grant that forgiveness. However, the real
test of our faith comes when something more egregious happens to us. When
something far more valuable than a bottle of Dr. Pepper gets stolen or damaged.
Are we then able to see there still is a great divide between that offense and
our own offenses toward God?
We have got to be careful about getting into the frame of
mind where we begin to think we are sinners, but…not as bad as he is. There
must be those out there that have a bigger debt than I do, right? This is not
some contest to see who gets into heaven and all I have to do is be better than
you. It reminds me of the joke about two guys talking about whether or not they
could outrun a bear. The one says to the other, “I don’t have to outrun the
bear; I just have to outrun you!” We do not want this to turn into a contest
where we try to determine which sin is worse than another and base our
forgiveness on that. Because when we do, remember, we are asking God to do the
same for us. And since we are unable to live the perfect life as required under
the law, we are going to need some forgiveness along the way.
According to Joseph Tkach, “Forgiveness does not mean that
we pretend like nothing ever happened. It does not mean trusting a swindler
with money, trusting a wife-beater to not get abusive again, or appointing a
child-molester to be a youth pastor. However, forgiving means that we do not
harbor grudges, we do not seek vengeance. It means letting go of our need to
get even. It means praying for our enemies. It means seeing ourselves in their
shoes, knowing that God has, for the sake of Christ, forgiven us all our sins
too. No groveling required. God does not want us to sin again, but his mercy
lasts forever.” Our actions have consequences. Sometimes we are not in a
position to pardon someone who has wronged us. But we can forgive them. Nobody
said it was going to always be easy, but that should be the goal.
Withholding forgiveness hurts us as much as, if not more,
than the person who needs it. When we refuse to let go of something then the
pain never goes away. It is like ringing an old church bell similar to what we
have here in our church. When you pull the rope the bell starts to swing and
eventually begins to sound. Once you get that momentum going all you have to do
is tug on that rope and it will continue to ring. Even when we let go of the
rope the momentum will cause the bell to ring another time or two. The bigger
the bell, the harder it is to get it started but the longer the momentum keeps
it going. Grudges are like the rope. As long as we hold on to them it is like
pulling on the rope to keep the bell ringing. Forgiveness is like letting go of
the rope Sometimes the momentum keeps the pain alive for a while, but once we forgive
it takes away the momentum of the grudge.
Too many friendships are destroyed. Too many families are
broken. Too many small businesses fail. Too many churches split or are
dissolved. Many times all because there is a grudge being harbored. For all you
NCIS fans out there, Rule #6 – Never apologize, it’s a sign of weakness. Actually
first used by John Wayne, makes for a good line in a movie or recurring line in
a TV show, but here in the real world, sometimes we make mistakes and need to
ask for forgiveness and other times we are injured and need to extend
forgiveness. You might be thinking that’s easy for you to say because you’ve
never had “this” happen to you. Fill in whatever you want to for “this” and you
may very well be correct. But ask yourself if you’ve ever been nailed to a
cross for doing no wrong. When you think about it that way it helps us appreciate how insignificant the sins against us are compared to those we commit
against God. Yet, he loved us so much that he gave us a way to get to him. And that
way came at a tremendous price that we helped drive up. All we have to do is
accept that grace and then in turn extend, by comparison, just a fraction of
that grace to others. “And forgive us our debts; as we forgive our debtors.” Pray
for the guidance and strength from God to forgive others even as God has forgiven
each of us.
Let us pray.
Copeland, Mark A. Executableoutlines.com. http://executableoutlines.com/pa/pa_11.htm
Thach, Joseph. http://www.gci.org/bible/matthew/unforgiving
