13 September 2020 Saint Athanasius Lutheran Church
Pentecost 15 Vienna, VA
“Living in the Joy of
Forgiveness”
Text:
Matthew 18:21-35
G |
race, mercy, and peace to you from God our
Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Peter asked a question.
So Jesus told a parable. No surprise there. Jesus frequently answers questions
with stories which contain His answer.
So what is His answer
here? To Peter?
Well, Peter had asked
Him: Lord,
how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven
times? First, give credit where credit is due. Peter is
being generous here. The rabbis of that day said three times was the limit.
Peter does them more than two times greater. So good for you, Peter! You’re
learning.
But Peter, here’s where
you’re off track: not with the number you picked, but that you picked a
number. Because it’s not about numbers; it’s not about counting. Never was. Never will be. In fact, if I can speak like this, God really
doesn’t like to count. He can, of course. He knows the exact number of
hairs on each and every one of your heads, we are told (Matthew
10:30). But if you think God is into counting sins, knowing
how many times you’ve broken each commandment, you’ve got God all wrong.
So Jesus tells a parable,
to help us understand. And it’s the beginning of this parable that we need to
get right - otherwise we will misunderstand the whole thing.
So here goes: Therefore the
kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with
his servants. Now here’s the question we must first answer to get
this parable right: why? Why did the king want to settle accounts? And why
do it himself? The president doesn’t pay his own bills - he has someone do
it for him. The CEO doesn’t send out invoices - he has an accounting department
to do that for him. Because presidents and CEOs have more
important things to do. Presidential things, executive
things. And this king has kingly things to tend to! This seems below
him. It doesn’t really make sense, when you think about it. Have a servant tend
to the accounts. Why do it himself? . . . . Unless
there’s more to it than meets the eye. Unless it’s
really not about the money . . .
And that’s really the
answer: he did it to do what he did! This king wished to be merciful. He
brings his debtors in not to demand from them, not to coerce
them, not to punish them, but to forgive them. This wasn’t something the
king would suddenly have decided to do. If he wanted his money, he would get
his money. But the king knew such a debt could never be repaid. Ten thousand
talents is more like a national debt than a personal
one. It couldn’t be repaid if the servant lived several lifetimes. The servant
was pleading for his life. So the king wasn’t going to hammer him for a few
bucks - what’s the point of that? And not very kingly.
So instead of a debt that couldn’t be paid and a servant who couldn’t pay it,
the king forgives. And in doing so, both receive what they could never
have gotten before. Forgiveness brings the king joy and gives the servant his
life back again.
Therefore the kingdom of
heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his
servants.
And notice what Jesus says here; don’t overlook this little nugget: it is
the king Himself who would settle the accounts, not the servants.
Which
is what the kingdom of heaven is like, for it is what happens here each
Sunday. The King is here to settle accounts. You have
a debt you cannot pay. You don’t even know how big the debt is! How much you
have accumulated, how many sins you have done. But you cannot repay it. What
you have done cannot be undone. What you have failed to do you cannot now go
back and do. The hurts you have inflicted. The people you walked by and didn’t
help. The lies, the hate, the lust, the anger, the greed.
So what are we to do but plead for our lives? Plead for mercy and grace and
forgiveness. And that is the very reason the King is here: not to hammer
you for a few bucks, or looking for a few drops of your blood; not to demand
from you, coerce you, or punish you, but to forgive you. So He does. I
forgive you all your sins. And they really are. Every
last one. It is His joy, to give you joy. And life.
Because your King, your God, is not about counting, but about mercy.
That’s how He is. And that’s how He wants His children to be. Not counters, not
demanders, not coercers, not punishers, but joyful forgivers. And by our
forgiveness bringing joy to both God and those we forgive.
So it is a problem when
we do not. When we take the life that our good and gracious and
generous King has given us back with His kind and merciful forgiveness, and use
that gift of life that we have received to take away the lives of others and
make them bitter.
Which
is what the servant in this parable did. Just as the king
did what he did because he wanted to be merciful, so the servant did what he
did because he did not. This was no chance encounter. He went out and
found a fellow servant who owed him a few bucks . . . now that he could keep
it! Right? Before, when he owed the king,
had he collected the money he would have to give it to the king to pay his
debt. So what’s the rush, right? But now that he was debt free, it would be
his! So he does what the king would not: he demands, he coerces, he punishes.
Payment in full! No mercy. No forgiveness. No life. Prison.
So if you came here
today, came before the King, and confessed your sins and received His
absolution, but have no intention of forgiving that person who wronged you the
other day . . . If you’re going to make ‘em pay for
what they did to you! . . .
Or if you are planning on
coming to the Altar in just a few moments to receive the Lord’s Body and Blood
for the forgiveness of your sins, all of them, but intend to hold onto that
grudge you’ve been nursing, that slight you experienced, the payback you’ve
been plotting . . .
If you think that is the
way to live the new life of mercy and forgiveness you’ve been given by the
death and resurrection of the King’s own Son . . . If you think you’ve forgiven
enough - even more than seven times! - so your forgiveness is used up . . . If
you think that’s how God rolls . . . that God’s just going to let that be . . .
For maybe, this servant
who owed his fellow servant was one who also owed a debt to the king,
but had been forgiven, too. And filled with joy and life he went out from the
king, only to have that joy and life taken away from him by this other servant,
this wicked servant. The gift of the king taken away,
robbing not only the servant, but also the king.
Do you think the king’s
going to take that lightly? No. For the king, this sin was worse than
the enormous debt that had been forgiven. No spitting in the King’s face. Or on His mercy.
So Peter, you decide. How
big would you like mercy to be? How big would you like God’s forgiveness to
you to be? Seven times? Is that what you want? Or
seventy times seven times? Or do you want that mercy that is as wide and high
and long and deep as the cross? That forgiveness of each and every sin Jesus
paid for by His own blood. What say you, Peter?
And what say you, O
Christian? Still want to hold that grudge? Still want to make
that person pay? Still want revenge? Is that the life you have been given in
your Baptism, where your enormous, unpayable debt was paid and the old man in
you died and a new man arose to live a new life? Is that the life that is fed
and nourished here by the Body and Blood of your Saviour?
Is that the life that brings joy to your Father in heaven? Is that the kind of
life that brings joy to you? To go out from here and grab
your fellow servants by the neck?
Lord, how often will my
brother sin against me, and I forgive him?
He’s your brother! So as often as it takes. And even if he
continues to sin against you, you are living in the joy of your
forgiveness, and bringing joy to your Father in heaven.
And it is of benefit to
you, too. Holding onto grudges, exacting revenge, plotting payback does not
leave your heart undamaged, and even forgets the forgiveness it has been given
and begins to think of God in that way. And so you wander from the forgiveness
you so need, and the merciful Father you so need. And all of life becomes one
big accounting - getting what I can and holding others accountable. And while
that may be the way of the world, that is not the way of the kingdom of heaven;
of your King, your God, your Saviour.
If that’s the way you
want it, that’s the way you’ll have it. But be careful what you wish for. And
what you live for. Better by far is the way of the cross. The
Son of God who gave His life for you that you may live. That Son of God who paid your debt to make you free. The Son of God who came to settle accounts, and did. Himself. The Son of God who didn’t come to wrap His hands
around your neck and say: Pay what you owe! But who came and
wrapped His arms around you and said: I paid what you owe! Go, you are
free. And you really are. That’s why He came and what He’s all about. What He
came to do what He did. Not looking to shed a few drops of your blood, but
wanting to shed His, for you.
That’s the joy of the
Lord for you, and the joy the Lord wants for you. Don’t let the devil, the
world, or your own sinful nature ruin it or take it away from you, when they
try to convince you that revenge is better than forgiveness, that anger is
better than love, that greed is better than grace. No. That’s not how your
Father rolls, so that’s not how you roll. The one who gave you new birth is merciful - then and now. So come,
receive that mercy and life. Come, receive the
debt-cancelling forgiveness of God in the Body and Blood of Jesus. And then go
and spread the joy! Go and mercy. Go and forgive.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+)
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.