22nd Sunday after
Trinity – November 16th, 2014– Matthew 18:21-35
In the Name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost +
Once again, let’s consider the purpose, the reason for the
existence of the Church. There are many
for whom the Church is about social connections. I’ll go to this church, it has the most
people, the wealthiest people there. If
I go there I’ll be in with a good crowd; it’s the Church to be at. For some, Church is mainly a family place,
something for their kids with lots of entertaining programs. For some, it’s even their main social hub –
this is where my friends go, and we get there and we chat. For some, Church is about learning to live a
disciplined life and better morality, for some Church is about trying to get
blessings from God – a favorite of the TV preachers. But all of these dance around what Church,
what the Christian faith is really to be about.
Church is about, first and foremost – salvation. The reason Christ comes down from heaven is
for our salvation – Jesus comes so that by being forgiven we may be reunited
with Him for all eternity. The central
thrust, the central focus is that we have been Justified, made righteous,
forgiven by Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection; that we receive this
forgiveness, that we cling to it by faith.
This is what our Lord teaches us today with His
parable. Peter had asked a question to
our Lord – “How often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Peter was wondering just how much he really
had to put up with – how much he should forgive. He suggests the number 7. . . and as we know
where the story is going we can scoff at Peter.
We shouldn’t. 7 is a generous
number – it’s more generous than we think of today. Seriously.
For us, it’s Once bitten, twice shy.
How quickly can we write someone off because they did 1 thing that
annoyed us? If we are honest with
ourselves, Peter’s suggestion of forgiving the brother seven times is often
much more generous than we are willing to give.
But our Lord brushes Peter’s suggestion aside – Jesus said to him, “I do not say
to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” Nope, Peter, not even close – try 490
times – try forgiving your brother so often that you cannot even remember how
often you have forgiven your brother.
This is what the Christian faith looks like. We as Christians are to be not simply those
who receive forgiveness, but we are to be those who forgive. And we are not to make excuses why we don’t
forgive, we aren’t to stop and pause and think, “Well, I don’t know if they
were really sorry, so I’m still going to hold a grudge.” Nope.
Put all thoughts like that far away from you – vengeance, punishment,
comeuppance, just deserts – all that belongs to the Lord. As for you – when your brother wrongs you,
forgive and show love. Our every effort
should be so that eventually our brother is restored to us in love and
fellowship – and we should never, never feel justified in bearing anger or ill
will towards another – and any thought that would excuse or justify those ill
thoughts is of the devil.
This is a hard teaching.
It’s one none of us like, and why?
We, in our own sin, delight in finding excuses on how and why we don’t
need to forgive, making excuses to give us loopholes to grouse, to be hateful
towards our neighbor and yet feel good about our hatred. We know this song and dance, and we know over
the long wrong it really harms us. So
why? Why can it be so appealing to hold
on to wrath, why does it appeal to us so – and how can we learn to avoid
it? Our Lord tells us a parable to
explain why.
Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to
settle accounts with his servants. When
he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. Now, first, let’s go over what a talent was –
a talent was roughly 20 years wages for a simple worker. Consider that – let’s say that one makes
25,000 a year, at 20 years, that is half a million dollars. So, conservatively, this man owes at least 5
billion dollars. We are talking crazy,
stupid money here. And the man cannot
pay. And since he could not pay, his
master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had,
and payment to be made. So the servant
fell on his knees, imploring him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you
everything.” And out of pity for him,
the master of the servant released him and forgave him the debt. Now note, this is very important. The servant never says he is sorry. The servant never says he is wrong. The servant is still arrogant and brash –
I’ll pay you back. That’s a stupid boast
– it can’t be paid back. And yet, even
for a servant as annoying as this – the master releases him, and he forgives
the debt. No, you don’t need even to pay
me back – I will write it off. What
love! What generosity! What little that servant understood.
But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow
servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, began to choke him
saying, “Pay what you owe.” Now,
hundred denarii is a hundred days wages – let’s call it $10,000. A serious chunk of change – not 5 billion,
but something of note. But the servant
just goes crazy – chokes the other servant, demands satisfaction. So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded
with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” He refused and went and put him in prison
until he should pay the debt.
No, for this debt, there is no mercy given. And this is shocking, it is horrifying to the
other servants. And they go and tell the
master, and the master summons this servant and says, “You wicked servant! I forgave all that debt because you pleaded
with me. And should not you have had
mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy upon you?” And in anger, his master delivered him to the
jailers until he should pay all his debt.
So also My heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not
forgive your brother from your heart.
Well, sometimes our Lord can be blunt, and His bluntness cuts through
our excuses. We are to forgive. Period.
But consider this question with me for a moment – why is the master so
angry with the wicked servant? It has
nothing to do with that servant’s debt – the master was willing to forgive
that. Rather, what angered the master,
what made the servant wicked, was that the servant did not recognize what
mercy, what forgiveness really was.
Consider this – you have received God’s love. Christ Jesus has died for your sin – you have
every blessing imaginable – you have life and salvation and heaven – all yours
on account of Christ Jesus. He has
covered your debt – every sin, every vile word or deed you have done, every
unclean thought – He has forgiven. Your
debt to God is huge – it is nothing you could ever make up. Yet the Father in His love and mercy says,
“On account of the death of My Son Christ Jesus upon the Cross – I forgive
you.” To make this truth completely
clear, God even sends pastors out to proclaim this forgiveness over and
over. This is what God has done for you. This is reality, that great and wonderful
truth. There is forgiveness!
The wicked servant, though, seems to just blow by the mercy
that he has received. He does not learn
to show mercy – and instead he shows anger.
He does not know what mercy, what forgiveness is. So – do you recognize, do you understand what
forgiveness is? Do you understand what
Christ Jesus has done for you? Do you
see the veritable mountain of sin that He has forgiven you, is your focus and
wonder there – or with wickedness, do you your turn your eye to the annoyance
that your brother has done to you, and do you look at your brother with hatred
and anger? This is where the rubber
meets the road in the life of one who would be a Christian. Is your focus going to be upon Christ and Him
Crucified, is your focus going to be upon the God who comes down from heaven to
win you forgiveness so that He might have you with Himself for all eternity –
or is your focus going to be upon the people who have wronged you, and upon your
anger, upon your hurt, upon the petty self-satisfaction you get from thinking
you are better than them? Which is
bigger, which is more important, because your focus cannot be both upon Christ
and upon your anger – and here is the kicker – when you choose to focus upon
your anger, to harbor it – you are choosing to turn away from Christ. You are choosing anger and wrath over
forgiveness – and God will say, “fine, have anger and wrath for all eternity,
since that is what you crave.”
Kind of chilling, is it?
So what now? Do I count up how
many times I have proclaimed forgiveness here?
(Oops, I’ve been here 10 years, that’s more than 490 times I’ve forgiven
you, you’re off the wagon/ well, I’ve done around 170 services here, you only
get 320 more times and then you’re out of luck?) No – rather, out of His love,
God calls you to repentance over and over again. Repentance means to turn away from your sin,
your sinful desires, and rather to turn to Christ, to behold Him, to keep your
eyes there. Your Lord knows you are
tempted in this way – your Lord knows that Satan loves to stoke the fires of
your anger – and so our Lord, in His great love you, in His ardent and fervent
desire to have you with Him for all eternity, calls out to you once again, and says
that while your sin may be great, His love for you is greater, more wondrous,
more astonishing. God repents you, turns
you back to Himself, pulls your eyes off of your own thoughts and feelings and
sins and instead gives you Christ for you again. You are forgiven, this is the great
truth. Take and eat, take and drink –
this is My Body, this is My Blood, and you are forgiven, and you are
strengthened in love towards your neighbor, even the neighbor who sins against
you.
This is the wonder.
Our sin is so real. The weight of
it, the vileness of it, it’s real. It’s
heavy – it’s a $5 billion dollar burden none of us could pay. And yet, our Lord forgives – and this
forgiveness is the heart, the center of our lives. He wants nothing to take our eyes off of
this, nothing to shake us loose from this – to let His mercy be the highest
truth in our lives. And so, over and
over, He tells us of His love, gives us His forgiveness again, calls us to
receive His Body and Blood – all so that we might not fall again into great
shame and vice, all so that when we do fall, we might repent and be
restored. Christ in His mercy has forgiven
you. Keep your focus there. Do not let sin, including the sin others have
done to you, wrest your eyes off of Christ.
Rather – remember that this place is a House of mercy for all sinners
who desire forgiveness. In the Name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost +
2 comments:
Excellent sermon. Now....if each of us could just control our passions and our visceral reactions....and learn to deal with people as Jesus tells us to do. What a change?
Oh wretch that I am, who will save me from this body of death?
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