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“Forgive Your Brother From Your Heart”
Matthew 18:21-35

 

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost—September 14, 2014

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Today’s Gospel Reading begins: “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?’” 

In the verses right before this, Jesus has just finished teaching what we should do when someone sins against us:  “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.”  But, Peter just can’t accept that we should forgive over and over and over again, so he tries to put a limit on the number of times we are to forgive.

“Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?  Up to seven times?” Peter thought he was being very generous.  The Jewish rule of thumb was to forgive up to three times but no more.  Peter doubles that, and adds one for good measure.  “Up to seven times?”

“Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.’”  “Seventy times seven” is the traditional translation of the King James Version, a better translation than some modern versions, which have “seventy-seven times.”  “Seventy times seven” equals 490, a very considerable number of times to forgive.  But, the words “seventy times seven” have much more than a mathematical meaning. 

Why is it that some high-rise buildings skip from the 12th to the 14th floor and do not have a 13th floor?  In the world of the Bible, many numbers had special significance, just as in our culture the number 13 means bad luck.  In the Bible, the numbers seven and ten both symbolize completeness and wholeness, as in the seven days of the week, in which God completed creation, and the Ten Commandments, the whole Law of God.  It’s no coincidence that “seventy times seven” is one number of completeness, seven, times another number of completeness, ten, times seven again. 

“Seventy times seven” is very much like the figure eight on its side which we use in mathematics as the symbol for infinity.  That’s what “seventy times seven” really means, a symbolic way of saying a complete, total, unlimited, infinite number—that’s how many times you must forgive your brother who sins against you.

Peter thinks he is being very generous when he offers to forgive “up to seven times.”  “No,” Jesus says, “not up to seven times.  Take that times ten and then times seven again.”  Just as we naturally understand why some buildings don’t have a 13th floor, Peter and the other disciples would have understood the symbolic meaning of “seventy times seven:” total, complete, unlimited forgiveness.

To drive home this point, Jesus tells the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant: “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.”  The servants in this parable are actually rulers themselves, governors, administrators, sub-rulers appointed by the king over different parts of his kingdom.  Their main responsibility is to collect taxes on behalf of the king and then forward the receipts to the royal treasury.  The king is now calling due what he is owed.

“As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.”  It seems one of the governors has been keeping the tax receipts for himself, perhaps wasting it all on luxurious living.  It’s estimated that the former dictator of the Philippines embezzled 10 billion dollars from his country’s treasury, and most of it was just wasted away with nothing left to show for it. 

A talent is a unit of weight equal to 130 pounds.  At the current price of over $1,200 per ounce, 10,000 talents of gold would be worth 25 billion dollars, a fantastic debt that could never be repaid.  But like “seventy times seven,” the number 10,000 also has a symbolic significance.  “Ten” is a number of completeness, as in the Ten Commandments.  Three is a number of perfection, as in the three Persons of the Trinity.  Ten thousand is ten times ten times ten, ten to the 3rd power, completeness times perfection, symbolizing an unlimited, infinite debt, really a debt beyond calculation.

That is the key to understanding the meaning of this parable for you.  The unmerciful servant owed his master an infinite, incalculable debt he could never possibly repay.  That debt represents our sins, an infinite, incalculable spiritual debt that we could never possibly repay.  Imagine you have a spiritual credit card, and each time you sin, a charge is added to your account.  Like the servant in the parable who owed his king a fantastic debt he could never repay, you owe God the spiritual equivalent of billions of dollars, and he demands payment!

“Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.”  The proceeds would not even begin to make a dent in a 25 billion dollar debt.  The purpose of selling the man and his family and property was not so much to pay the debt but as a punishment. In the same way, we deserve punishment because of our sin. 

“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’”  There is no way in the world that servant could ever repay what he owes.  In the same way, all our good works could never pay our spiritual debt.  Isaiah actually says that in the eyes of God “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”  The Good News is, because we could never pay off the debt of our sin and earn our own salvation, God sent his Son to pay our debt and earn salvation for us.  As Paul says in 1st Timothy, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.”

“The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.”  That is exactly what God has done for you.  Because his Son paid the price for you, God has canceled your spiritual debt and set you free.  Paul says in Ephesians, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.”  Peter says in Acts, “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”  The Lord says in Jeremiah, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”  Micah asks, “Who is a God like you, who par—s sin and forgives transgression?”  The Book of Revelation says, “He loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.”  “The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.”  That is exactly what God has done for you.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’  But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.  When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.  Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.  Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’  In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.  This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

This is the application of the parable to your everyday life.  This is the application of God’s forgiveness of your sins to your relationships with others.  How does Jesus say it in the familiar words of the Lord’s Prayer?  “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” or “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  Over and over again, Scripture says we will be merciful and forgiving to others because God has been merciful and forgiving to us: 

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” 

“As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” 

“’Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge.” 

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” 

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” 

“Love is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” 

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He that loves not knows not God, for God is love.  This is how God showed his love for us: He sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

 “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? . . . forgive your brother from your heart.”

Amen.

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