Here we go!
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 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.
At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed
him a hundred silver coins. 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 it 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 outraged 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 handed 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 or
sister from your heart. (Matt. 18:23-35)
In Matthew 18, Jesus calls a little child whose humility
demonstrates what is essential for greatness in heaven. He denounces
those who would cause these "little ones" to sin and how if any part
of you causes you to sin, get rid of it. He continues with "See that
you do not look down on one of these little ones," and how their angels in
heaven are always watchful. He tells a parable about a man who diligently
searches for one sheep who has wandered off from the flock, and how His Father
is "not willing that any of these little ones should be lost."
Wow. Children, who are the weakest members of any society, have a special place in Jesus' heart. Their love and faith brings a smile to the Father's heart, and they become a model for us. Jesus then starts to teach about if a brother sins against you, what are you to do? Most people do not have that child-like humility, and if we want to serve Him, forgiveness must be part of our daily lives. Listen to Jesus' plan of restoration:
If your brother or sister sins, go and point
out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have
won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so
that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three
witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if
they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a
tax collector. (Matthew 18:15-17)
Isn't interesting that if you didn't know Jesus, this sounds like a sanctioned pharisaical action against those who just can't listen to reason. In other words, Jesus is allowing us to kick them to the curb. But how did Jesus treat pagans and tax collectors? He started at the beginning of the faith He was promoting: He loved them in spite of the darkness they were walking in. He modelled a life of faith. He was kind. In other words, He allowed His Father to work in their lives, knowing that a tax collector could become a Matthew and a pagan like a Luke.
We must allow the Spirit to convict people of sin. Our job is to model a life in the Kingdom. But in order to function on a sin-saturated planet, we have to be forgiving, because people are so slow to open their eyes and really see their lives.
We see sin for what it is: it binds, blinds, and confines people. We have to handle the sinner with wisdom and compassion, knowing their soul is in danger. Why? We have the power of God, but it is to be used for the Kingdom, not pridefully, but to warn, love and forgive:
Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.
Another wow. We have His presence, His power and His prerogative. I am sure that the disciples are feeling quite empowered at this point... Look at what we can do! We have this amazing power, brought to us by the Son of God! We are humbled and yet, look at what we can do! Stop. Peter, whose sensitivity to Jesus is quite profound, realizes that with all this power comes responsibility. He suddenly feels some urging by the Spirit. He is probably harboring some anger or hurt at a fellow believer, and senses the incompatibility between his sin and Jesus' words:
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked,
'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?
Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but
seventy-seven times.' (Matthew 18:21-22)
In other words, Jesus is saying that you have the power to bind and to
loosen, but the greatest power you can unlease on behalf of the Kingdom is
forgiveness.
Then Jesus tells this parable about a king.
Jesus is saying that forgiveness is not based on
the level of the offense itself, how much it has hurt you or how much remorse
(or lack thereof) has been shown by the one who has transgressed. The
standard of forgiveness is Who is offended: God Himself.
The king takes what people owe him very
seriously. One of his servants owes him a lot and Levitical law allows
for such a person to be sold off for seven years, to pay the debt. It is
the modern equivalent to the bank repossessing your house or car due to
non-payment.
The next servant sees the
king's righteous judgment against the first servant. He senses the king's
judicious ruling and begs for mercy. He wants to pay the debt but needs
more time. The king goes even further than that: He cancels the
debt altogether. The servant walks out a free man. It is the king
to whom he owed and it is the king that forgives the debt. The king is
satisfied and so should the servant be as well.
But nooooo. The servant goes out and finds
another servant who owes him a far lesser amount. He chokes the guy,
aggressively demanding money. This guy also begs for time. If the
forgiven servant is debt-free, then why is he so aggressive? The money
owed to him is his own; he need not use it to pay the king. He has the
guy thrown into jail--no mercy, no time extension, no willingness to extend any
grace. The parable could have ended there.
The king reenters the scene, due to the other
servants telling him of this servant's aggressive action. The king
quickly hunts this servant down, for the servant's meanness is a transgression
ultimately against the king. The king's mercy is to be evinced in how
this servant treats others. The servant's unmerciful attitude is
thwarting the values of the king. The king is angry and reminds him of
just how large the debt was and how much mercy this servant thus received.
When we forgive, we must keep our debt in mind as
we examine the debt owed to us by someone else. We have been forgiven
much...our King paid the debt we owe
with His life. Yes, we have been hurt, wronged, violated...but
when we compare the enormity of the mercy He gives us, what others owe us is
rather small.
Jesus cried out to forgive the
very ones who had nailed Him to the cross. He forgave the Romans, the
Jews and, you and me.
We have every right to demand payment
from the ones who hurt us. But as we look into the face of the King upon the
cross, we need to hear the words: "Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do."
We have been forgiven much. What kind of servant will we be as we face those who have transgressed against us?
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