Exodus 14:19-31 Psalm 103 Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:21-35
Call to worship:
If we could sing in church this Sunday, I would have chosen 10,000 reasons by Matt Redman, or O worship the King by Robert Grant. Both of which are amazing invitations to praise, worship and adore God. Instead, here are the words of the ancient Hebrew hymn of adoration:
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103:1-5)
I remember reading some years ago: Children learn what they live, by Dr Dorothy Law Nolte http://www.empowermentresources.com/info2/childrenlearn-long_version.html
And I’ve always wondered what the sentence would read if it began ‘if children live with forgiveness…’ Of course, you know the answer, as it is here in the readings, which help to explore the forgiveness at the heart of divine generosity, and our calling to participate.
Peter’s magnanimity
Though we find instances in scripture of Peter producing the most astonishing insights, often as not, he has a tendency to gets things completely wrong. In this story however, the opening scene reveals a man of amazing magnanimity.
So, let’s eavesdrop on Peter and Jesus deep in rabbinic discussion in Matthew’s account. Peter knows that, according to the consensus among people of faith, it would be considered generous to forgive a member of the fellowship for a repeated sin, up to three times; but on the fourth time there would be no forgiveness.
Those first hearers would no doubt have been ready to applaud Peter’s generous spirit when he suggests that we should be ready to forgive seven times. And maybe Peter was expecting Jesus to agree with this approach. Instead, as Peter and the hearers bask in the comforting glow of this generosity, Jesus moves us all out of our proverbial comfort-zones.
How many of us can remember forgiving someone seven times for the same wrong-doing? (You don’t need to raise your hand, but I expect that some of us lost patience after the first occasion!). Yet I rather suspect that Jesus probably intends that we have lost count before coming anywhere near 77 times.
And to illustrate the point, Jesus offers a parable that shows just how much we have been forgiven – which is far more than any of us will be able to forgive. Nevertheless, this is a very challenging parable, for as followers of Jesus we are commanded to forgive and forgive, as we become those who are invited to live by a new standard as we seek to bring about the reign of God here on earth. And can I just point out that offering forgiveness is not weakness, nor does it reduce the person offering to a doormat.
Those who choose to ignore this teaching – as we quickly discover – exclude themselves from the kingdom of God. After all. Isn’t this what we are praying, when we say the Lord’s Prayer asking to be allowed to participate in building God’s kingdom here on earth in the way we seek forgiveness: and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us …
The parable is staged like a miniature play:
Scene One: a very large debt is forgiven
When it comes to the parable itself, the first character we meet must have been a very high-ranking official within the colonial empire, for he has run up debts of 10,000 talents: a colossal sum, probably worth over 15 years’ wages for the average working person at that time. On the other hand, his fellow debtor owed a mere sum that was about a few month’s pay. And in point of fact, it would have been highly unlikely that the official with the large debt could ever have repaid this sum, the king felt he could at least some of the losses by selling the man together with his family. The man begged for mercy and incredulously found that he was to be released, his family set free and his debt cancelled. What generosity. So he exits the scene to begin a new life.
Scene two: a modest debt called in
One might assume that this act of generosity would have had a huge impact upon the person who owed so much, particularly with a change of way of life. Not one bit. Having seen the generosity of the king, the behaviour evidenced now takes us to scene two, where the forgiven employee now has his hands around the throat of a colleague demanding back the money he is owed.
Scene three: true justice
When the king got to hear of it, the greedy employee went from a place of freedom and delight, to one of ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’. At this point in the tale, some may well be relishing the imposition of true justice on this villain; he has really been given his just desserts. And he will stay there until the debt is repaid … which of course is never. How did this debtor think he would get away with this appalling piece of double-standards?
More importantly perhaps, what does this story tell us about God?
We must be careful to distinguish between parable and allegory. As in many rabbinic parables, the figure of the king serves allegorically as a reference to God, but this does not mean that all the details of the king’s behaviour can be taken as statements about the nature of God… Just as we do not regard God as an Oriental despot who would sell women into sexual slavery as punishment for their husbands’ sins, so we need not take the concluding detail about unending physical torture as indicative of the divine nature.
Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew (in the Interpretation: a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching series. (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox, 2009), 218
The real point of this tale can be found when we stop for a moment and reflect on one tiny sentence within the parable; the words of Jesus to all who love and follow him:
Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you? (v 33)
The story becomes the proverbial wake-up call, the issue that brings one up short, because it is addressed personally to all who take the claims of Christ seriously. For the good news is all about grace, which is revealed to us through Jesus Christ. And it is about how we live our lives within the grace of God.
Psalm 103:1-5, Exodus 34:6-7, Jeremiah 31:3, 33-34 all reveal something of the amazing love of God. Look again at the words of the Psalm, notice how verse two is one long sentence building and building to a crescendo of adoration for God’s grace.
Truly Forgiven?
A few years ago, I was privileged to have a study trip to Yad Vashem, Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, where I picked up a book, The Sunflower, in which Simon Wiesenthal asks this question:
You are a prisoner in a concentration camp. A dying Nazi soldier asks for your forgiveness. What would you do?
In the symposium, which forms the second part of this book, José Hobday, Christian nun and native American describes how she wanted revenge on one occasion where she had been badly wronged. Her mother’s response was:
Go to an elder and ask for the medicine that will turn your heart from bitterness to sweetness. You need to learn the wisdom of how to let go of poison.
Jose Hobday in The Sunflower, by Simon Wiesenthal. (New York: Schocken books, 1998), 175
At the end of the day, we are invited into a community that never gives up on making forgiveness and reconciliation its goal. And where the inevitable bit of confrontation appears, it should always be with forgiveness in mind, and never revenge. So God’s grace must not be taken lightly. Like pharaoh of old, those who live with vengeance become hardened and lose the capacity to forgive. If you cannot forgive, you reveal your own incapacity to be forgiven; you may find it hard to move forward and experience healing; you will struggle to grow and mature emotionally. In other words, forgiveness is good for the giver as well as the recipient. We need the wisdom to let go of the poison.
Sadly, the servant in the parable did not discover this, so the story ends with a remarkably challenging warning to all who are unable to work towards forgiveness and reconciliation. I was saddened to have dealings with someone who sought to undermine and destroy a colleague within the church. The pain meted out by this individual on those involved was both deep and enduring. And as one part of the issue came to a conclusion, I was left asking, ‘where is the grace of God in all this?’
When St Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, he spoke about how God has reconciled us to himself through the work of Christ and reminded the people that this work is now theirs: God has entrusted us with the work of reconciliation. So what will we do with it?
Worship at home 