Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

Jesus knew that it was not really a question of how many times but of how, even if my brother sins against me just once. You see, everyone has their own number. For some the number of times they are able to forgive is higher, and for others lower. And also we seem to be able to forgive certain people more than others whom we have a hard to forgiving even just once.

 

Following Jesus teaching of calling our fellow Christians to repentance; and if they do not repent, taking along one or two witnesses; and if they still will not repent, to tell it to the church; and then if they still will not listen, to treat them like a sinner outside of the Church, Peter wants a number, to know when it is time to cut his brother off.

 

Jesus’ answer is not intended to provide any specific number. Rather, he emphasizes that we always must be willing to forgive whenever we are asked for mercy. This Gospel reading comes to us as we approach the end of the Church Year calendar and meditate upon the last things, including the day of judgment when all will be called to give an account to God. What can we expect? Will God’s judgment tell us that no matter how sorry we might be, we have passed the line of His toleration and the limit to His forgiveness has run out long ago? Do we fear that we have already now crossed that line or are fast approaching it?

 

The parable that Jesus tells is about the kingdom of heaven, that is, the Church. He is not speaking about how it is out in the world, but how it is here among those in the congregations of believers. Right now, here gathered as God’s people, we still struggle with our sins against God and against one another. Our sinful nature is still at war with our redeemed standing as God’s holy people. It is inevitable that we will still fall to that sinful nature. It taints our thoughts and words and actions. And so there is need not only to confess our sins to those whom we sin against, but also to forgive those who have sinned against us.

 

This is the very thing that we pray for over and over again in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). We need to keep praying that prayer until the day we see the holy face of Jesus and are wholly transformed by the full revelation of His love and grace toward us. It is important for us not only to keep that prayer on our lips, but also to be reminded over and over again in repeated words and new ways of expressing our Father’s great love for us in Jesus, through whom we have forgiveness whole and complete.

 

The parable pictures for us God the Father as a king to whom great debts are owed. He has been so generous and giving and his people so ungrateful for and careless with His treasures that we have amounted astronomical debts to Him. A day is coming when He will settle the account with us. He will demand payment for each and every sin that we have committed and for every good work that we have failed to do. Can you imagine the accounting sheet with your name on it? What does that bottom line mean for you? If you cannot make up for it what will you do?

 

There are many religions whose gods demand that you do make up for it. You have to work off that debt by doing good to both god and man. You have to make payments to appease them, endure great sufferings to try to balance the books. And when it becomes clear that there is no way to do so in this life, then they will make a claim on you in the afterlife, submitting you to horrors and tortures beyond imagination, demanding that you continue even after death to make your payments until all is accounted for and the books are balanced. And the greatest torture is that you will never in a thousand lifetimes be able to do it.

 

The one true God will not string you along like that. He simply demands that if you cannot pay your debts then, you are imprisoned forever in the torturous fires of hell. That is justice without deception or manipulation or extortion. That is the price to pay for your astronomical sin load against Him. That is how offensive your evil inclinations are to His perfect holiness and glory and all of the blessings that He has bestowed upon you in this life, and how He looks upon the treasured family of His against whom you have sinned.

 

All we can possibly do is to fall on our knees and beg for His mercy, which is exactly what the first servant does, who owes the master an unbelievable amount. There is no possible way he will ever be able to pay it back. In his foolishness he asked for time and intended to repay, but the master knows better. He did not give his servant more time. Rather, at the moment of the plea for mercy, he pardoned him completely and forgave all debt entirely.

 

We must remember that the debt does not just disappear. It still needs to be paid by someone. But the master is willing to take the debt upon Himself. He forgives his servant completely and will find some other way to make everything right, to fulfill the demands of justice.

 

Of course, we know how God the Father has done that in regard to our sins, and the sins of the whole world. He does not just make the debt disappear. The accounting has to be just. With unfathomable grace, He forgives each of us entirely and exacts the penalty from Himself. The suffering and death of Jesus Christ, God the Son, is given as the full payment for the sins of the world. His divine life and his holy, precious body and blood are spent on the cross in order that we should not have to pay on the day of judgment.

 

It is because we fail to realize the enormity of the debt of our sins against God and the tremendous cost to Himself that He assumed in order to set us free, that we struggle to forgive those who owe us for their sins against us. What others, even our brothers and sisters in Christ, have done against us is not insignificant. It causes great hurt and pain. It damages our relationships with one another and with the whole family of God. These sins threaten to dissolve our love for one another and our faith in the loving heavenly Father. For all of our sins against each other are also sins against Him.

 

And yet, these sins committed between us are so much less than what God has forgiven each of us. In the parable Jesus places the amount that the second servant owes the first well within the realm of repayment. He will be able with great effort to make it up to his fellow servant. And with knowledge of the gracious forgiveness that the master has extended to that first servant, the second is inspired to make every effort to make it up to him and to restore their relationship.

 

But that first servant did not act like his master. He did not forgive the smaller debt owed to him when the plea for mercy reached his ears. He was not willing to assume the cost himself, even though his slate had been entirely wiped clean. Instead of becoming like his forgiving master, he feared that his merciful master might become like him and not be as gracious as He promised.

 

That first servant still feels he must find a way to counter what he thinks he will still be held accountable for. He believes that he cannot afford to forgive any debts, but that he will have to use the resources that are owed to him in order to pay off a lying and deceitful god who does not truly forgive and does not keep his promises, but will come back at him in order to exact payment sometime, somewhere.

 

The threat of God’s Law and the just punishment for sin frighten us, but our lack of faith in His grace and mercy drives us to demand from others. We find it hard to believe that our God is so different from all other gods, and so different from us. When we are unable to forgive others for their sins against us, it reveals that we do not trust in God’s Word of forgiveness. This is a rejection of God’s character and His essence of love and mercy and grace. This is a rejection of the means by which He has taken on the payment for our sins, the great and tender sacrifice of Christ Jesus upon the cross.

 

When the second servant revealed through his unforgiving actions that he had rejected his master’s mercy, the master gave him what his hardened heart expected. And he was thrown to the jailers until the whole debt should be paid, that is, forever. And so it will be for all who reject God’s gracious forgiveness through the suffering and death of Jesus. It will be evidenced in their refusal to forgive others and brought to light on the day of judgment.

 

If we reject the forgiveness that is ours through what God the Son suffered for us, then we will have to suffer it for ourselves. And as Jesus was thrown to the soldiers who mercilessly tortured Him (Matthew 27:26-31) until it was time to lead Him out to the crucifixion where He died alone and forsaken 27:46), so all who do not have faith in God’s grace in Jesus will suffer that torturous punishment forever, and never get out, for they will never pay the last penny.

 

This is hard enough when we contemplate just one sin against us. We wonder how will we ever be able to forgive that. Peter asked about the same brother sinning against him seven times. Jesus threw the numbers out the window and told a parable about forgiving a great debt. It is only possible when we truly contemplate the great price that was paid in order to save us from all that we have ever done and ever will do against God Himself, against our brothers and sisters in His kingdom, and even against the enemies of ourselves and of Christ (for we are called to forgive them too).

 

It is possible, but only with faith in the great mercy and grace of our heavenly Father toward us. It is only possible if we hear this good and glad news that we have been pardoned and all our debt is forgiven through the love of God in Christ Jesus. Only constant assurance of God’s complete forgiveness can transform us.

 

As I come to know that God “has redeemed me, a lost and condemned sinner, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil” (Small Catechism. Apostles’ Creed. 2nd Article), the Holy Spirit works in me through this parable and all of God’s Word, that I might believe it; that I might believe in “the forgiveness of sins” (SC. Creed. 3rd Article); and that I might daily pray along with my brothers and sisters: “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” (SC. Lord’s Prayer. 5th Petition).

 

This is why in the holy Christian Church we stress the Gospel news of God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ, and why we emphasize remembering that we have been baptized for the remission of sins. This is why pastors are called to declare the forgiveness of your sins in the stead and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, and why we come together to eat and drink His body and blood which was given and shed for all of our sins. It is so that we know the only true God and what He has done for us, and are enabled to love one another.

 

The coming of the end of the Church Year reminds us that there is a coming day of judgment. But now we are in the time of God’s grace here in His kingdom, in His Church, and this grace He continues to pour out upon us that we may forgive our brothers and sisters from our heart as many times as we are given opportunity.