“The Forgiven Forgive,” Matthew 18.21-35 Pentecost15A, Sept. ’17

1.                     Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word today comes from the Gospel lesson read a moment ago, from Matthew 18:21-35.  Here our Lord Jesus reminds us that, as His followers, we recognize God’s love for us in forgiving us our sins (vv. 21-27) and we then reflect that love by forgiving others (vv. 28-35).  The message is entitled, “The Forgiven Forgive,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                     How many of you have financial debts? Don’t you wish they could be canceled? Well, today’s Reading is about canceling the debt of sin. When someone does you wrong, he’s indebted to you until you release him from that debt by forgiving him. For instance, let’s say somebody is always saying bad stuff about you. The Jewish tradition was to forgive a debt only on condition, such as not forgiving someone until he or she apologized. And often with forgiveness came a price: the sinner had to make it up to you somehow. Also, you were only obliged to forgive somebody the same sin three times. In our text, Peter seems to be showing generosity, offering to forgive the same sin seven times, which is a lot. But what Jesus says is shocking: forgive the same “seventy times seven” (v 22)—490 times? What’s more, God’s not counting. He means freely forgiving all the time and with no condition. Think about it: endlessly forgiving that backstabber every single time he hurts you, treating him as if each time is the first? When she does me wrong, I owe her forgiveness? That’s not easy!

3.                     Jesus explains this heavy teaching with a parable about a man who owes a huge debt. The king is not a tyrant, but a just judge. The man owes him the money. He is guilty. However, this just king is also a generous king who’s willing to cancel the debt and take a loss. The king freely forgives.  Shockingly, then, this man who had his debt forgiven is unwilling to do the same to a man who owes him a much smaller debt. This wicked servant would not forgive as he had been forgiven. As a result, in the end, he’s cast into hellish darkness.

4.                     Do you ever notice how some churches look like courtrooms? This is no accident. We approach the Judge with our debt of sin and beg him to have mercy on us and forgive us. God doesn’t grab us by the throat and choke us. No, because of Jesus, he forgives us, announcing to each of us personally, “I forgive you all your sins.” There is a price, though. Jesus pays the debt of our sin with his life. Jesus takes our place under the judgment of God. He takes our place as the criminal. He takes our place in prison. He takes our place on the electric chair of the cross. We who are guilty are declared innocent, as God’s Son, Jesus, who really is innocent, is declared guilty—a beautiful exchange. And because of that great act of sacrificial love, we approach the judge every week, every day, and are continually freely forgiven. The courtroom is no longer a place of terror and judgment, but a place of celebration, as we rejoice in our forgiven debt. “This is the feast” of joy as we Christians participate in the body and blood of forgiveness. As repentant, believing sinners, we no longer need to fear condemnation when we approach his holy throne.

5.                     Think about it: if you owed someone several millions of dollars, that debt should haunt you every day. But to have it forgiven fills you with an indescribable relief and incomparable joy. In the Christian Worship service, our debt is canceled in and through Jesus. In response, we bend our knees and praise the Lord, telling of his wonderful deeds—namely, that God’s is, indeed, a strange court. The Judge himself takes our place in the judgment. He generously justifies us, declares us who are guilty innocent, and now he wants us to do the same. You have been shown mercy, so show mercy.

6.                     When someone does not forgive another, it shows that she or he never really received God’s forgiveness in the first place, because those who are forgiven naturally forgive others—and not just superficially, but from the heart. Such Christians don’t seek for revenge or keep grudges, continually remind others of past crimes and sin, or slander someone’s reputation as payback. How often do we avoid coming to a church function because we’re angry at somebody? Do we refuse to talk to somebody at church because of something they did to us? Or what about that in-law we’re always trying to avoid? If God treated us like we treat others, what would become of us? Our debt of sin is so heavy that we would sink into the depths of hell, just like the man in the parable. Revenge, or putting conditions on forgiveness, such as “She better ask me sincerely” or “He better make it up to me; I’m waiting, watching, and listening,” is the world’s response to sin, but it is not God’s response. God holds no conditions on absolution. He freely forgives us. Likewise, the Christian response to our Lord’s deeds is to forgive others freely.

7.                     That includes many times when the sinner doesn’t even ask for it! We don’t always remember all our sins against God, but he forgives us anyway: “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” (Ps 130:3). Let us not keep a record of wrongs committed by our brothers and sisters. Instead, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 Jn 4:11). Because God himself has surrendered his right over against you, he wants you to do the same.

8.                     I know it’s often difficult to forgive, yet the remarkable thing about Jesus is that he forgives us even for the times we don’t perfectly forgive others. This forgiveness in turn gives us a remarkable strength to forgive others. God gives you the strength and ability to forgive. Do you want help forgiving? Jesus is waiting to help. Furthermore, God does not forgive us because we forgive others, as if our forgiving will earn God’s forgiveness. No way. Instead, our forgiving is the indication, sign, fruit, and proof that we ourselves have been forgiven, that the forgiving Holy Spirit indeed rests in us by Baptism and is at work in us in our fruits of forgiving. The Christian prays, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”; our forgiving is evidence of our faith in Christ, that we have been forgiven.

9.                     Jesus is not saying that we forgive and forget everything others have done to us. If somebody sins against you in a big way, you can forgive them, but you probably will be more careful trusting that person the next time. If someone steals money from your wallet, you forgive them, but you’ll likely be more careful about leaving your wallet around. Jesus wants us to live responsibly and in safety, but always to forgive.

10.       Could your situation have been worse than our Lord Jesus Christ?  Jesus was the faithful Son of God, whom his own people tried to destroy because they didn’t like his message. He, too, was sold by his people into slavery. He suffers a difficult life of temptation and abuse as the slave of humankind. Yet after he rises from the dead, he stands among his unfaithful disciples, who shake in fear, and speaks to them words of forgiveness and blessing: “Peace be with you” (Jn 20:19). He says this to us as well, for we stand among them. When we think we’re the victim and feel sorry for ourselves once again, we find out that we, too, have been the abuser—of God. But when we see all that we’ve been forgiven, it is a lot easier to forgive others and pray for their conversion.

11.       Martin Luther comments that before the master in our parable approached his debtor, the debtor wasn’t concerned at all about his debt, and he would have incurred more debt, laughing all the way. It’s when the king approaches him that he begins to feel the debt. So it is with us. The old Adam doesn’t concern itself with sin, doesn’t fear the wrath of God. But when the Law holds his debt before him, demanding him to pay it back, then he feels it, and the laughing stops. Then we exclaim, “I am the most miserable man; there is none as unfortunate as I on the earth.” And then the Gospel cancels our debt, frees us from our sins, and lifts us out of the guilty seat, giving us a place in the mercy seat.

12.       You may not know how high your credit card debt is until you get that statement in the mail. “Wow! You mean I owe that much?” Well, the Law of God does precisely the same. All for a purpose: when we see our great debt and ask for mercy, the Gospel shows us that God forgives us. In Baptism, Jesus stamps “void” on our debt. And we are led to stamp “void” on the debt of others.

13.       Was somebody mean to you last week or unsympathetic to your need at church? Forgive him. Treat him as if it never happened. Did somebody really burn you in life? Though not excusable, it, too, is forgivable. Forgive her just as Christ forgives you.  Generously forgive as you have been generously gorgiven.  Because of Jesus, God has removed our transgressions “as far as the east is from the west” (Ps 103:12). Now that’s far! God delights to forgive you, to show mercy, having compassion on us, treading our sins underfoot, and hurling our iniquities into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:18–19).  You may still have financial debts, but your debt against God is canceled. It is “void” in Jesus Christ. Amen.