Christian Community

Sermon Proper 19A

Matthew 18:21-35

Rev. Jeff Springer

The Christian Community or the Communion of Saints or the Church is a forgiving community.  Over this summer we have been reading the texts from the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus teaches his twelve disciples about His kingdom the kingdom of the heavens. Included in His kingdom is the church.

We learned that the church is built on the confession that the man Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. Without this truth the rest of what I am going to say this morning would be utterly useless. If Jesus of Nazareth is not God then we are still left in our sins and we face condemnation before God.

We also have learned the message or the proclamation of the church,  that Jesus would go up to Jerusalem where he would be put to death on a cross, entombed and on the third day rise from the dead.  This is the Gospel message the good news. Jesus bears the wrath of God for sin pays the death penalty and defeats death reverses the curse for all mankind by coming back to life a complete, whole and perfect human while still in essence God.

Last Sunday we heard who is included in this kingdom and how the church is to care for its greatest which is also the least in the eyes of the world. Jesus shows us that children with their utterly dependent faith are not only included in the Kingdom of Heaven but Jesus considers them the greatest. “And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and  become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” (Mt 18:2-4)

Jesus threatens with utter condemnation those who would cause these “little ones who believe in him” to fall into temptation, to lose their trust in Jesus. He threatens with woes those who would block the children’s baptismal entrance into the kingdom, who deny them access to Jesus because they view them as incapable of comprehending or making a decision.  Jesus says, “So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” Mt 18:14

But Jesus, when offense is caused within the church gives his twelve apostles the way in which offending members may be confronted and restored by going to the offending party first one on one privately. If this does not cause repentance then the offended party returns to the offender with two or three witnesses so that the facts may be established. And finally if this does not convince the offender of the offence then it is brought before the church, all with the hope that the offender may repent and receive forgiveness from the offended and reconciliation may occur.

This is the point where today’s text picks up the onus switches from the offender to the offended.  Very appropriately St. Peter asks the question, how many times should I forgive my brother?  It is a valid question.   Perhaps you have been offended many times by this person. This person just can’t seem to get it together. How many chances do you give them for forgiveness?  Is it three strikes and you are out? Peter does at least four better, he asks if seven times would be sufficient, that seems more than generous.     

Imagine if your neighbor lets his dog run loose. And whenever the dog gets out it immediately comes to your yard and defecates in it. For those of you not familiar with the term the neighbor’s dog goes poo in your yard. You walk over and you confront your neighbor asking him kindly to keep his dog on his property. He says he is sorry it will not happen again. Next week it happens again. You go again to your neighbor and ask him to keep his dog off your yard. The neighbor again says I am sorry I will try to do better with the dog.  Next week it happens again. You go to your neighbor and he explains that there is breach in his fence where he keeps his dog and he is working toward getting it fixed. Next week it happens again… You get the picture.

How long do you think it would be until you simply decide to call the dog catcher. Three strikes seems reasonable seven strikes seems more than generous. Seven is even a good church number meaning completeness, but this is still putting limits on forgiveness.  Jesus casts away the limits.  Yes, Jesus says seventy times seven which is four hundred and ninety times. But the truth is you probably start losing count after seven. Jesus number implies fully, complete and unending forgiveness.

But make no mistake, we are not talking about cheap grace here. Grace is not a license for offenders to ignore God’s will and it is certainly not a license for the offended to spew hatred on the one that does not repent. You notice in my example that the offending neighbor is contrite and is asking for forgiveness. And even if he did not repent, ask for forgiveness, it would not give the offender a license to shoot his dog or severely and unreasonably retaliate in some other way. Why?

Jesus answers Peter and the twelve with a story that illustrates what is behind this forgiveness. “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.” So far not that unusual, we may think of it today as the bank calling in a loan, wanting immediate payment.  “When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. “ Now we hit something unusual.  A talent was a 25kg weight of currency perhaps silver.  With the average wage being a denarii per day the servant would have to work 600,000 days, perhaps more to pay back his king. This was impossible. So the King orders that the servant and his family be sold into slavery to recover his losses. This is not severe. It is justice.

But seeking mercy, the servant goes face down before the King. Even in his humble posture, the indebted servant boasts that he can do the impossible, that he can repay the debt, all of it. This is unreasonable. He will not be able to do it. He is trying to pay back something that cannot be paid.  It’s like a sinful being saying to God give me a few more years of life to do some good works and I will justify myself.  You will never in a million years be able to justify yourself by works before God.

Amazingly the King has mercy on the servant and releases him from the debt. It’s gone.  Clean slate.  He does not ask him to even pay part of it. Unbelievable, this is far better than bankruptcy.  His debts are paid.  His reputation is maintained. His credit is clear and he and his family can live in peace.  

This is the grace of God which has been poured out into the world in the death and resurrection of Jesus, where the Lord set aside the legal demands of his design of creation as well as the legal demands of the covenant given to the Israelites. He set it all aside nailing it to the cross into the flesh of Christ.

What does the servant do with his new found freedom? Does he rejoice? Does he have joy? No, what happens next is tragic. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. (Mt 18:28-30)

The sad thing here is that the second servant could repay the debt.  It is very reasonable to assume that the servant could pay such a relatively small amount in a reasonable period of time. This is not the debt of a sinner to an angry God. This is the debt a sinner to another sinner, completely able to be reconciled. The servant pleaded. He was willing to pay it. But the original sinner willed, desired and wanted to give no mercy.  He was looking for more than justice. He was looking for some kind of pay back or revenge and threw him into prison.

The comparison is striking, in the first case absolute total mercy that is undeserved is given and in the second an overabundance of wrath undeserved and vengeful unreasonable anger is given.

What happens next is that the on looking servants see what has happened. They see the treatment of the forgiven servant and how he used his gift not to forgive but for wrath and judgment against the one indebted to him. The result for the forgiven sinner is that now he is condemned. The King hears from the witnessing servants what he had done to his fellow servant. He summons the servant and says to him, “‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers (tormentors) , until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” (Mt 18:32-35)

Interesting one of the twelve who will betray the Son of Man later will suffer the same tragic fate.  The Lutheran understanding of single predestination makes sense it’s not that these men are not saved will never have faith but there is the warning that that one can take the Christianity they have been given take the total forgiveness of their debt which they received in Christ and turn their back on it by hating their neighbor without just cause given the context.

All the more so for these who are then pastors in the church to take these keys for binding and loosing which have been given to the church for the sake of the church and having been given them not use them just because of a personal grudge or because they assume they get to decide now when repentance has an end.

This is not in the context of forgiving those who do not want forgiveness. This is the context where both men knew they were wrong and are saying please forgive me. This is the purpose of the keys that Jesus has given to the church.  It’s the purpose of the office of the ministry to be there to publically proclaim absolution to and upon all sinners who confess their sins.

And so rightly so it is a condemnation especially to a pastor who would not exercise these keys but instead presume to judge for himself whether or not a heart is repentant. All the more so does it overflow into the life of all Christians who being forgiven all things by Christ would not reconcile with their neighbor with their brother over any trifling issue.

 

Jesus calls on us to forgive from the heart. Forgiving from heart is the act to repeal wrath, not a will to have gushy warm feelings and love. Not that you emotively want to forgive, but because as a sinner you are not always going to feel like it. But rather that you act as if you make it from the heart a reality. That the world would see that what you have done is forgiveness. What you have done is to absolve, that your neighbor your brother would actually feel and see from you not what they deserve but far less than that.

The desire of mercy will grow in the Christian the more you are receiving forgiveness in Word and Sacrament  so there will be times when you will be glad to forgive where you are released yourself from the burden of judgment by the ability to absolve.

But don’t get caught up in this I have got to perfectly forgive my neighbor thing. Are you trying to justify yourself before God based on how good you are at forgiving? That is not the purpose of this parable. The parable flows from the proclamation that you are forgiven in Christ. His cross is sufficient for you.

Therefore even though you don’t feel like forgiving remember what your brother your needs, he needs your forgiveness. He needs Christ’s forgiveness.  He needs you to point him to the place. Where he can receive forgiveness with you both sinners kneeling at the table being fed here, take eat, take drink, I forgive you.

Interesting Jesus changes to the topic of divorce next, a place where there is generally no forgiveness. Remember the greatest one is the weak one that must be forgiven. Remember you are the servant indebted to the King. You have been forgiven a debt you could not pay.  Christ did the impossible for you. You are debt free and free to forgive your neighbor. Father, forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors in the name of Jesus. Amen.