The Seriousness of Forgiveness: A Meditation on Matthew 18

After a discussion with His disciples that started with a question about who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus is asked, “how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?”  To St. Peter’s apparently generous suggestion, Jesus replies, “I say not unto

thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”  Knowing that the problem in his disciples’ hearts was not really the number of times to forgive, Jesus begins to teach them about the relative gravity of their own individual sin before God.  Until they understood that, this question of dealing with a brother’s or sister’s sin could never rightly be addressed.

Jesus tells the story of a man who owed so much to his master, that he couldn’t pay it off in multiple lifetimes.  The master, according to the law, was about to cut his losses, sell the servant and everything he owned (including his wife and children) to recoup at least some of the debt.  The man begs mercy of his master, making a ridiculous offer to repay everything, and in compassion, the master unthinkably forgives him all his debt.  Rather than scolding him, or putting him on some kind of repayment schedule, he simply forgives the debt.  It is an act of complete mercy and compassion that is nearly unfathomable, but it is the heart of the master to have mercy on his servants.

That same man, shortly thereafter, finds a fellow servant who owes him a small amount of money—perhaps a few months wages—but enough to be significant.  The servant demands repayment, and when the second begs for mercy and time to repay the debt, the first has him thrown in debtor’s prison until he works off the money.  Disgusted at the lack of compassion shown by this ungrateful servant, the master’s other servants tell him the tale.  And the consequences are brutal.

Having first forgiven the servant his enormous debt, the master asks him why he did not have compassion on his fellow servant.  Unable to respond, the master then hands the unmerciful servant over to the tormentors, until he pays the last penny owed… a fate of eternal torment, since the debt was greater than his very life.  Rather than retaining the forgiveness of his master, the unmerciful servant now bears the full, eternal weight of his sins, because he refused to reciprocate his master’s mercy to his fellow servants.  His act of unforgiveness was an act of infidelity and unfaithfulness to his master.

This is the problem Jesus wants to deal with in His disciples.  To even ask the question about how many times I should forgive my neighbor, reveals my own lack of understanding about how much God has already forgiven me.  In truth, I owe a debt to God that I can never repay.  I can never go back and fix a single moment of my past, where my thoughts, words, or deeds were evil.  I can never go back, and undo what I’ve done, anymore than I can go back to do what I failed to do.  I can never become holy, because I am already wretched and blind because of my sin.  My debt to God, the Holy One I have insulted and mocked through my unbelief, my lack of love, my selfishness and idolatry, is greater than I could ever repay.  God’s Holy Law shows me this truth, and it should shake me to my core.  I deserve nothing from God but death and hell, to be handed over to the tormentors for all eternity.  By every right, God should cut His losses with me, and be done with me.

But He did not cut me off.  When the terrors of His Holy Law struck my conscience and taught me that I am a sinner destined to hell, His Holy Spirit worked contrition in my heart.  Knowing that I could not save myself, and that only my God could save me from the hell I deserved, His Holy Gospel came to me, and His Holy Spirit worked faith in Jesus who was crucified for my sins.  That Gospel of Salvation, so sweet and so pure, gave me faith that I might receive His Grace, Mercy, and Forgiveness, purchased for me by the precious Blood of Jesus spilled at Calvary.  I have become like the servant who owed far more than he could ever repay, but whose Master has forgiven my debt and set me free for Jesus’ sake.

In light of so great a salvation, how can I hold any sin against my neighbor?  How can I demand justice for any slight, any harm, or any wound a person might do to me?  I have been forgiven an eternal debt—how can I take my neighbor by the throat and demand he repay to me his little, temporal debt?  If my brother sin against me, no matter how often, and he beg of me forgiveness, who am I that I should bind him?  For the truth of the matter is, that my neighbor can do nothing to me, no matter how heinous, that holds a candle to what I have done to God.  If God can forgive me an eternal debt for the sake of Jesus’ Sacrifice for me, who am I to withhold forgiveness from anyone for any debt at all?

Jesus’ words are clear.  Like the ungrateful servant, if we do not forgive those who sin against us, God will revoke His forgiveness of our eternal debt.  This is no small business, but a severe preaching of the Law:  as we are forgiven, so we are called to forgive.  Do you harbor judgment against your neighbor?  Do you, saved from an eternity of hell fire, hold a grudge against your brother?  Do you, having begged the mercy of almighty God for your sins, hold the sins of your sister against her?  Do you, who seek to live by the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ, demand your neighbor live under the retribution of your judgment and law? 

If so, I say to you, Repent!  Turn from your unbelief and unforgiveness!  Hear the Word of the Lord which saves you, forgives you, has mercy on you—and carry that same grace to your neighbor.  Having received from Almighty God the grace of Jesus Christ by faith, undeserved and unmerited favor poured out upon you for the sake of His death and resurrection, rise up in the new life of His Spirit and speak the forgiveness given to you, to everyone you meet.  For Christ has died for you, that you might be forgiven—go therefore, and forgive, in the most holy name of Jesus.  Amen.