15 years ago, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 when I was pastor in the Bristol, TN/VA area, I saw on the marquee of a business, the words “Never forgive: never forget”. I think we have all heard the phrase: “Never forget” referring to that day of the infamous terrorist attacks which observed its 25th anniversary on Friday, and it is probably good to never forget that day…but “never forgive”? Regardless of the event or the harm caused by anybody or anything, the encouragement to “Never forgive” is a sentiment and advice that would certainly not be in line with Scripture. However, when people have been wronged or feel they have been wronged, our human nature has the tendency is to react with a “Never forgive, never forget” mentality. Or a I’ll “forgive” but I will still hold it against someone. Is it possible to forgive without forgetting? Is it possible to forget without truly forgiving from the heart? In our Gospel text for today Jesus warns, that unless we have mercy and forgive every brother or sister from our heart, we too will end up as the unforgiving servant in the parable, for he wound up unforgiven of his great debts to the king, languishing in prison because he had no mercy on one who owed him so little. Yet what seems impossible for us is possible with God through Jesus Christ.
In the last verses of Matthew 18 leading up to the verses for today, Jesus taught about the importance of rebuking our brothers and sisters when they have sinned against us and/or gone astray in some other manner. Why? Not for the sake of our pride or our hurt feelings, but that those who have strayed might come to repentance, be forgiven, and be restored to the church.
Our text continues for today with Simon Peter coming up to Jesus and asking a follow up question. He asked Jesus, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? But Jesus answered, “I do not say to you seven times but 70 and 7 times.” This number is symbolic, because what Jesus means is that there is to be no limit to forgiving your brother or sister in the church. No making a list of how many times you have forgiven a certain person or a certain sin.
Jesus told a parable to illustrate His point. Here on earth, men and women of the church are like the slaves or servants in the text. The king representing God, is not only our master, but the one to whom we owe our debt. That debt refers to sin, missing the mark of the Law.
That first slave owed the king 10,000 talents. A talent of gold, by the way, equals about 20 years of labor. That means it would have taken this servant nearly 200,000 years of work to repay. Obviously, he never could have paid the king back. He pleaded for mercy and despite the massive sum, the king does have mercy on him and declares his debt forgiven! Imagine how freeing such a burden might feel! Yet this slave meets a fellow slave who owed him the equivalent of 1 day’s wages: significant, but nothing compared to what he had just been forgiven. Look at his violent merciless treatment of his fellow slave: seizing him, choking him, and telling him that they must pay right then and there. When this one couldn’t pay back the debt immediately, that first slave took the fellow slave who owed so little and threw them into debtor’s prison. When the king heard that this had happened from the other now distressed slaves, He called that first slave before him and condemned him for not having had mercy as mercy had been shown to him. Therefore, that slave’s debt was reinstituted and he was thrown into prison until he could repay it, which he never would have been able to do. Jesus ends by saying, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” In other words, forgive or you will not be forgiven.
Those powerful words condemn the unforgiving and grudge filled heart. Why should one unwilling to forgive and forget anything done to them expect their sins and trespasses to be forgiven?
This parable that Jesus used serves to illustrate the literal results of our prayer in the Lord’s Prayer when we say, forgive us our debts, our trespasses, as we forgive those who are in debt or who trespass against us.
Probably each and every person here from the youngest to the oldest could right now tell in vivid detail at least one incident where they were wronged or hurt or betrayed in one way or another by somebody else. Yet, who of us can recall with as vivid detail all the times we were the ones who wronged somebody else, caused them pain? However, each and every one of us has most likely, at some point in their lives, shown cruelty, anger, and/or betrayal to somebody. We may have forgotten the effect of our sin on others, but we expect to be forgiven and allowed to move on. However, if we are on the receiving end of a hurt, we often hold a grudge against somebody until our pride or our hurt has been satisfied, until we are convinced that that person who wronged us is truly sorry and truly humiliated enough, then maybe we can forgive.
What is forgiveness? Forgiveness is literally: dismissing or releasing something from one’s presence. Forgiveness is to release from legal or moral obligation or consequence. Forgiveness is to let the matter go without concerning oneself about it any further. Is forgiveness conditional? It can be, as in the business world where a person agrees to pay back their debt or some of the debt while declaring bankruptcy.
But the true Forgiveness that Jesus is talking about here in Matthew and other places in scripture is unconditional forgiveness. It is forgiveness that forgives and forgets about it and moves on. It is of Grace, a gift that nobody deserves. It doesn’t forgive, and then bring it up all the time as a threat, “well remember how I forgave you that time?” It does not expect repayment except in gratitude lived out in love, joy, hope, and the other gifts which the Holy Spirit gives.
How can anyone receive this forgiveness when in the hardness of our hearts we continue to put conditions on other people, we continue to harbor within our own hearts anger, jealousy, bitterness, and malice? Perhaps our hurts are justified, suffering at the hands of others is a problem. But Jesus is not saying “just get over it”. It is possible that you have been greatly hurt in ways that can hardly be expressed in words, and perhaps the guilty party hasn’t repented, hasn’t apologized. But, does that great hurt give us permission to retain the sins of that person in our heart forever? No, if we hold onto it, it will continue to fester within us, so that we will never be happy, free, or able to show mercy to others in the fullness that should be.
Ultimately, we must recognize our own pride, our own sin, our own inability to forgive rightly. We must recognize that we are powerless to purge ourselves. We need God’s help to get passed it. Concerning our indebtedness to God by our sin and our lack of mercy and forgiveness to others we are bankrupt, and the debts we owe to God and others can never be repaid. Lord have mercy upon us! Let us confess our sins and throw ourselves upon the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and He will show mercy and show it in abundance. Thank God He does not deal with us the way we would to others and as we deserve.
Instead, He sent His innocent Son to be a true victim: to be hated, to be scorned, to suffer without complaint as the perfect sacrifice for our sin. He died on the cross for our sins so that forgiveness may be offered and given freely to all those who understand their neediness and repent, even for those who have sinned against us. Through faith in Jesus Christ and the payment He made we are saved from the prison of Hell which our sins deserve. Through Faith in Jesus Christ, we are no longer in our sins, instead we are declared righteous and freed from the debt load of our sin though His grace and merit. God in Jesus Christ takes all the pains which we have inflicted upon others, and all the pains done to us to the cross and nails it there, so that you may be free in Him. In Holy Baptism we were washed in His blood and declared a new creation through faith, and in confession of sins and remembrance of our baptism, we are renewed in that Grace. Now God the Father sees us through the lens of His suffering Son’s death at the cross. Through Jesus, He sees us as His righteous children and gives us the hope of eternal life now and in the future. You are reconciled to your heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, be now reconciled to one another. He gives us the power to make that movement toward reconciliation, to confess our sins to one another, and to forgive one another in Jesus Christ as fellow members of the household of faith, to forgive and forget, to release from our minds the sins and wrong doing that others have done to us. For them we continue to pray unto the Lord and heap even more mercy and love upon them.
Let us in peace and unity give all our hurts and troubles unto the Lord laying it upon Jesus at the cross, receiving His forgiveness. Let us receive His healing forgiveness in His body and blood as He serves us the power to live in unity and peace in His Word and with each other. Here our bitterness is removed and we are renewed in charity and love for all people but especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.
We bask in the love of Jesus Christ for He has forgiven us, He has forgotten our sin, but He will never forget us. May God continue to renew our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ who is our Savior from our sins. In His name. Amen.
Pr. Aaron Kangas