We Are a Forgiveness People
Trinity 22
Matthew 18:21-35
November 17, 2019
Louis Armstrong once said, “If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.” Peter’s question shows he doesn’t know what forgiveness is. Forgiveness doesn’t ask, “How many times do I forgive?” Love keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus explains this by means of a parable – a parable about a debt.
The national debt of the United States is currently about $22.7 trillion - up $17 trillion since 2000. Maybe it’s just me, but that seems like a lot of money. I don’t understand how it happened. I’ve never studied economics, but I wonder how we’ll ever pay it off.
The guy in today’s parable was probably wondering the same thing. He owes 10,000 talents. One talent equals 6,000 denarii. A denarius was about a day’s wage. So to get an idea of what this man owes, imagine your annual salary. Let’s call that about 310 denarii. If you worked for 19 years and saved everything you earned, you’d have about 6,000 denarii – or one talent. That means you’d need to work for 190,000 years to get to the amount of this man’s debt. It’s simply not possible. This isn’t the debt of a man, but a nation. How will he ever pay it off?
His pathetic groveling is laughable. “Have patience with me”? Right. I’m sure you’ll have it next month. As astonishing as the debt is, even more astonishing is the king’s response. He doesn’t have patience. He forgives the debt! Wipes it away. “Go in peace.”
And that man turns around and shows absolutely no mercy, not even patience, with his fellow slave. Jesus emphasizes that term – “Fellow slave” – showing us that all of us sinners are in the same position before God. The person you have a hard time forgiving is your fellow slave – a sinner like yourself.
At the end of the Gospel, Jesus directs us to forgive our fellow slaves their trespasses. It’s not the usual word for sin. It means a fault, a mistake. Forgive your neighbor his failings, his stumblings. St. Paul uses it as a reference to the fall of Adam; we must forgive our fellow fallen humans their fallenness.
But the man in the parable does not. So the merciful King, the merciful God, became a God of wrath to him. That King – so merciful – can also be terrible in His anger. It should make us tremble, and fear. “So My heavenly Father also will do to you,” Jesus says, “if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespass.” The slave who showed no mercy is turned over to the torturers, with no hope of release. This is a picture of the second Advent – the return of Christ. We are called to live in anticipation of that Advent, of the final judgment.
You have heard that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That word is forgiveness. If you will not live by it, then you shall die by it.
The challenging lesson in the words of Jesus today is that we are a forgiveness people. You have someone who has harmed you, wronged you – someone you would prefer never to see or deal with again. The thought of forgiving that person is difficult. But however badly they have wronged you, it is nothing compared to the forgiveness God has shown to our whole human race, and to you specifically. We who have been forgiven must also forgive. It is not easy. This is why the petition is given us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” It is as though we are praying, “Please forgive me my many sins, dear Father, and also give me the strength to forgive my enemies – the people who hate me, the people who have harmed me.”
Every sin against us puts us in danger. Gradually our heart hardens, until we’re ready to grab our neighbor by the throat and snarl, “You owe me!” When we have a hard time forgiving, it’s because we do not see ourselves as forgiven.
Unforgiven, we remain a slave: a slave to anger, a slave to hatred. It’s a poison that destroys the soul.
But you are forgiven. That’s not just a transaction. It’s who you are. That’s what it means to be baptized.
It’s not fair. God is not fair toward you, but merciful, compassionate, kind. Now you can live unfairly: forgiving when it is not deserved. That’s who God is. That’s who you are. You’re forgiven. Jesus paid the debt. You’re forgiven. You are free.