Forgiving Like God

2011-03-08

Matthew 18:21-35: “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”

This is the quintessential passage on why we should forgive other people that do us harm or owe us something. Forgiveness is not always easy, but it is essential in walking with God!

Peter asks us a question we probably often ask God subconsciously: How many times should we forgive other people? He asks this after the passage we often refer to as the church discipline chapter. For all intents and purposes, Jesus answers him that he should basically forgive an infinite number of times. He then follows up with an illustration.

The king in this story, which is clearly God, brings forth a servant who owes him ten thousand talents. I do not know how much that is, but we know that a king in Ammon had a gold crown that was one talent (2 Samuel 12:30), so this servant owed him about ten thousand of these. It was not something he was going to pay back in his lifetime, if he was any ordinary servant. He and his family were going to be sold to pay the debt! The servant then begs the king that he will pay it back, but the king knew better; this was not possible for him, so out of the king’s graciousness he sets him free.

This is us before God. We have debt before God, and it is not possible to pay it back. Jesus Christ forgave us that sin by dying on the cross. God had to pay it; not us. We have to recognize that we CANNOT pay back this debt before God, and receive the free gift of eternal life from God. This is not what this servant did; he really believed he could pay the debt himself.

Immediately after being granted forgiveness of his debt, the servant found another servant who owed him a hundred pence. We know from Matthew 20:2 that a penny is about a day’s wages, so think of this as one hundred days salary. The forgiven servant begins to choke him and demand his money, and has him imprisoned when he cannot pay it on demand (though he is willing to pay it). This amount is a chunk of change, but it is possible for one to pay this given enough time. What was the king’s response when he heard this story? He required the servant to pay his full amount... ten thousand talents!

The moral of Jesus’ story is that we are required to forgive other people of their sins. If we truly understand what kind of debt we have before God, and what he went through to forgive us that debt, then we will forgive other people who have wronged us, no matter what it is.

“But you do not understand, he did such and such to me, I will never forgive him!” Do you understand what you did to God’s Son on the cross? If you still say this after a lot of contemplating what God did for us by suffering and dying for our sins, then you are not right with God and you need to change. And so do I.

Forgiveness is not always easy. We all know that. But we need to recognize that God forgives ALL sins... Why can’t we???