Last week, we read the verses that come in
the Gospel of Matthew prior to today’s reading.
These verses together tell of a method Jesus prescribed for Christians
to encourage each other to reconcile when there is conflict or disagreement
between individuals or groups of people.
Jesus wants his followers to take many steps to resolve and “put right”
misunderstandings and hurt feelings.
In
today’s lesson, Peter will ask Jesus for specifics: How many times do we have
to forgive each other? Once we reach that
number, can we stop? Are we allowed to
hold on to grudges afterwards?
Jesus
answered Peter’s question and used a parable to underscore his response. The Christian “way” or strategy is to
forgive.
Listen to the rest of the conversation in this reading of Matthew, chapter 18, verses 21 through 35:
21 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?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 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.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “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.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayer for Understanding
O God, our guide, set your path clearly before us and lead us to
follow you willingly for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Message
Always Reconciling
Later
this month, our Jewish brothers and sisters will celebrate their new year. The Jewish calendar is based on cycles of the
moon…Rosh Hashanah is the first day in the New Year and it comes on the day of
the new moon (when the moon is not visible to the naked eye). Rosh Hashanah starts a ten day period when
Jewish believers confess the sins they have committed over the past year. Some believers recite their prayers of
confession next to bodies of water and throw pebbles into the water to
represent each sin – they then recite a prayer that says: “God will suppress
our iniquities, for two thousand generations, and God will cast all their sins
into the depths of the sea.”
During
this celebration, in addition to apologizing to God because of their sins,
Jewish believers are encouraged to apologize to each other for the wrongs they
have done. And, they are encouraged to
ask each other to forgive the sins they have committed against each other. At the end of the festival, believers have
the holy day of Yom Kippur, where they contritely ask God to accept their
apologies and forgive them their sins so they can start out the New Year
forgiven and made clean.
Confessing
our sins is difficult. Apologizing is
both anxiety producing and embarrassing. And forgiving each other is one of the
hardest things we do.
In
today’s reading, Peter asked Jesus how many times he has to forgive someone
when they sin against him – does 7 times work?
Peter wanted a number that would be easy to keep track of – there are 7
days in a week, seven colors in a rainbow, and the seven year itch.
But,
Jesus told Peter no…not seven times….by seventy times seven. Four hundred and ninety times….or too many
sins to keep track of. Countless numbers
of sins to forgive. We are supposed to
forgive each other. Period.
To
illustrate this point, Jesus tells a parable of a king who forgives his
servants. A man who owed the king ten
thousand bags of gold was brought to the king.
This amount is hyperbole – it can’t be taken literally….ten thousand
bags of gold would be about 60 million denarii…a denarii was a day’s wage for a
laborer. It would take 60 million
working days to pay off the debt.
The
king forgave the servant his debt.
But,
then the servant turned around and doesn’t forgive another man who owed him a
hundred silver coins – one hundred denarii – one hundred days of work. It was a measurable sum.
When
the king found out his forgiven servant couldn’t forgive the debt of another
man who owed him a measly 100 silver coins, the king was furious. Jesus said it will also anger God if we do
not forgive our brothers and sisters from our hearts.
When
we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. We ask God to forgive us our
ever-increasing sins, as we forgive the sins others do against us. God has a never-ending capacity to forgive
people. Praise God! But, people have to constantly work to
forgive each other too. Forgiving others is very difficult for
us.
Most
days, I like to read what our neighbors say on the local Skippack facebook
page. As I scrolled through this week,
people complained about dangerous drivers, jerky men catcalling women while
they do yardwork, the political posts others added to the page, PECO’s work
hours while they fix power lines, and what business is going to be built at the
corner of 113 and 73 (apparently a Dunkin Donuts). Our Skippack forum is definitely not an
example of “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it at all.” Facebook seems like a venue where people
enjoy starting arguments with each other over miniscule differences in
opinion. We don’t play well in the
sandbox.
On
a page created to post community matters, people start fights with their
neighbors. Sometimes, those fights
escalate and escalate. We struggle to
listen to one another….we struggle to understand each other….we struggle to
forgive each other.
I
don’t know about you, but for me, in this midst of a pandemic, with wildfires
raging, people protesting unhelpful policing tactics, and election posturing, I
don’t need more stress in my life. I
don’t think any of us need more stress in our lives. And, when we look for reasons to pick on each
other, and argue with each other, and disagree with each other, we create more
stress. When we hold grudges, we create
more stress for ourselves.
When
we forgive each other, and work to not create conflict in the first place, we
lessen that stress. We help ourselves
just as much as we help the person we are forgiving.
Jesus
wants us to work on forgiving each other.
Jesus wants us to forgive. This
is not easy. This is not something that
comes naturally to us. But, when we stop
hanging on to anger, we help both the person we forgive and we help
ourselves. Our stress level
decreases.
Forgiveness
is not something that is easily quantifiable.
Somedays it comes easier than others.
But, when we work to have love be the principle that we lead with, when
we work to forgive each other our sins, we will both help our hearts and help
our neighbors. May we work to do so
always. Amen.
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