Sunday, November 8, 2020

Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity

Philippians 1:3–11 

St. Matthew 18:21–35

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant - Rembrandt

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Peter asks for some practical advice, but he sure doesn’t get it. He wants to know how many times do I actually need to forgive the same person? What if he keeps doing the same thing again and again? How patient do I need to be? The answer he gets is not very practical. It’s not even very straightforward. I do not say to you seven times, but seven times seventy. I think we all know Jesus well enough that He didn’t mean that you only have to forgive someone 490 times, and then call it quits. The following parable shows that.

No, Jesus is being a bit difficult here. He will not let Peter off the hook. He will not let us have forgiveness figured out in such a way that we can control it, limit it, ration it. The answer to the question, “How often must I forgive someone?” is this: You keep on forgiving others as you are forgiven by God. Jesus establishes a principle here, and He’s not interested in exceptions.

You are forgiven, so you must forgive. This can’t be surprising to us if we take the Lord’s Prayer seriously: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And immediately after giving His disciples the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, He gives the same principle He gives at the end of this parable: For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matt. 6:14–15). To put it another way, if you live in the forgiveness of sins that God gives, then you will also share that forgiveness with others.

This is how the kingdom of heaven works. It’s like a man, a king—that’s Jesus. And this King likes to get accounts settled. He’s a bit weird. Moneylenders don’t usually want to settle accounts, they want to keep their debtors in debt. But this kingdom of heaven works by the King’s extravagant superabundant grace. So extravagant, that He forgives the debt of 10,000 talents. Let’s convert that: one talent was an amount roughly equal to 20 years wages for a laborer. So, 10,000 talents is worth 200,000 years of wages. We are talking billions of dollars. No human can spend or waste this kind of money. This is a sum only corporations and governments can imagine. There is absolutely no way this guy can pay this back to his king. But the King has the authority to forgive the debt. And this King has compassion on the man. Frankly, it’s all astounding. The King forgives the debt, which means He covers the cost Himself, and He releases the man from slavery. That’s the Gospel. 

But then this ungrateful servant, who has everything—he’s practically made a peer of the king. And he wants more. He thinks he deserves more. He goes out looking for it, and finds a man who owes him. This second servant owes the first one a debt of 100 denarii. One denarius was about one day’s wage. So, 100 is about 100 days wages—about 4 months salary. It’s a significant debt, but not one impossible to pay off. And it’s definitely not significant compared to what he had been forgiven. This selfish servant is not a true son of the King. He does not belong in this kingdom that works by forgiveness. So, he is thrown into prison and he will never get out.

Now, if all this bothers you, I would say that’s actually a sign that you are a Christian. You know you have been forgiven. You know that your forgiveness cost the Son of God His life, His blood. And you know that your King has commanded you to forgive others. But you also know that you struggle with doing this. If you are not bothered by this because you think you’re so good at it already, then you are deceiving yourself. It should bother us because we don’t live up to it. We don’t forgive others the way we have been forgiven. And we must confess that sin too. We still need forgiveness ourselves. We are forgiven, but we are not without sin.

Yet, Christians strive to forgive. And we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and we decide to forgive, and we try to stop the feelings of bitterness and vengeance in our hearts. So, put your grievances in God’s hands because he’s the only one who really can forgive, and he wants to forgive all sinners, including you. And we want what He wants. Our forgiveness for others doesn’t cause God to forgive us. But it is a sign, a fruit, a good work that we Christians must strive for. And at least, we make a beginning at it.

But what about some practical advice? What do we do about people who sin against us in extreme ways or do it again and again? Well, that really has to be given on a case by case basis. We deal with persons in the Church, not policies. God and His Church deal with actual flesh and blood, sinful yet redeemed, weak yet desiring-to-do-better people. 

Still, I will say a little about how the principle gets applied. The teaching of Jesus is that you keep on forgiving others just as God keeps on forgiving you. But there are three estates, three spheres of life, and forgiveness gets handled a little differently in each. In the State, or Civil realm, there are still consequences to sin and wrongdoing, even when the person repents and is forgiven. The debt may be forgiven by God but there is still a debt to society. In the Church, forgiveness is given freely to those who repent and want to do better. But the Church and her ministers must not knowingly forgive unrepentant sinners. If they do, they make a mockery of God’s forgiveness. Now, the estate of the Home can work in both these ways, freely forgiving while also recognizing consequences. Ideally, the home is where we work on helping sinners with their habitual sins or addictions. The absolution never means their sins just go away, as if it never happened. People with destructive desires need to be kept away from situations that would lead them into temptation. Children should not be rewarded for sin or allowed to deliberately continue it. And habitual liars cannot always be trusted. Some restrictions have to be in place to keep sin under control.

But the individual Christian must forgive. It’s not your job to retain sins and withhold forgiveness when someone is unrepentant—that authority belongs to the Church and her ministers as they speak for God. It’s not your job to punish or look for vengeance—that’s the job of parents or the government. For the individual Christian (apart from holding one of those offices), your job is to forgive, as hard as that might be. Your job is to pray that God would help you to forgive the one that wronged you, and then let the proper authorities do their jobs.

Forgiveness and patience for others is the way we are meant to behave as Christians. You are not perfect, not in this life, but you are making a beginning. And your fellow Christians are also making a beginning. They’re not perfect yet either. This doesn’t excuse anyone’s sin or shortcomings, but it does teach us the need for patience with others, the need for charity, and the need to be generous with our forgiveness, as our King has been so insanely generous with us.

This year in particular should teach us the need for forgiveness, patience, and charity. There have been many disagreements, lots of stuff can turn nasty on your Facebook feed, or at work or church, or even with your family. There have been many controversies that can quickly turn people against each other. Who should you vote for? Should you wear a mask? Can the news be trusted? You can disagree, but be charitable towards the person. Be patient. And let forgiveness rule the day.

In the Epistle, St. Paul rejoices at the Philippians’ partnership in the gospel. That word “partnership” is really the word “communion.” And where is our communion or unity in the Gospel meant to be seen most obviously? At the Holy Communion of our Lord’s body and blood. That body and blood that forgives your sins and unites you with your King, is the same holy food that forgives your brothers and sisters in Christ and so unites you with them. Let there be no division or bitterness between us. Let us make our beginning in this holy life of love that Lord has called us to. And, as St. Paul said, I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.