J. J.
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
“Deep and Wide”
Last week in the Gospel, Jesus had taught his disciples about being the greatest and least, and to seek unity, being One Flock, One Shepherd. To do so, it meant that the flock would have to receive back the sheep who had strayed, to receive the brother or sister who had wandered off to its own way.
Today the lesson continues. Jesus teaches us that in receiving one another we must receive not only the one who wandered off, but also the one who sinned against us, the one who hurt us. To receive one another, so the flock may be one, takes forgiveness. Jesus teaches His disciples, and He teaches us, about forgiveness. About God’s forgiveness and about our forgiveness.
Here comes Peter again. We can always depend on Peter to ask the question that we would like to ask, that we want to ask, but haven’t the boldness to ask. Peter asks, “How often must I forgive my brother, up to seven times?” There are several theories how Peter got to seven. But it doesn’t much matter, other than Peter thought that seven times was more than generous, and ought to be enough. You know how we say, “Enough is enough.” And we don’t really mean that it’s exactly enough, as is “good enough.” We mean that it’s more than enough. Patience is not only wearing thin, it done has a hole in it. And forgiveness is the last thought on our minds, if it can even make its way into our thoughts.
Seven would be a lot. But at least it was a rule. It was measurable. It was something Peter could do. Or thought or hoped or believed he could do.
What is Jesus’ reply to Peter generous proposal? Not seven times. But seventy times seven. Four Hundred and Ninety! Patience would not have a hole in it, because there would not be any patience left to form the hole. Who can keep this rule?
And that’s the point. Jesus was not giving us another, or new, or different rule to keep. He was telling Peter, and telling us, about the nature of forgiveness.
There is no time for Peter to object. Jesus continues, and explains about forgiveness in a parable. The King has a servant who owes 10,000 talents. The servant could not pay. The King is going to sell him off, and his wife, and his children. He begs for mercy, saying, give me time, and I will pay. Well, a talent was equal to 6,000 denarii, and one denarius was a day’s wage. 10,000 talents would be 60 million days’ wages. That is more than 164,000 years, 7 days a week. It’s like you or me saying we can pay off the national debt, just give us time.
More time would not make a bit of difference. The King saw the miserable state of the servant. Not only his enormous debt, but his utter foolishness to think that he could pay it. So the King forgives. He forgives the debt.
Now this servant leaves the throne room. As he is going out of the front gate of the castle he sees another servant who owed him 100 denarii, or three months wages. He says, Pay up. The servant doesn’t have it, and says, I will make it good. I will pay you, just give me some time. Now, here, the request for some time is a reasonable one. Three months wages is not nothing, but it is a debt that could be paid.
But the first servant will not hear it. And sends his fellow servant to debtor’s prison. The King, when this is reported to him, is justly furious. And He locks the evil servant up until his enormous debt is paid off in full.
Here Jesus shows us that God’s forgiveness is deep. 60 million days’ wages! That is an enormous price. Tennessee Ernie Ford sang, “Sixteen tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.” You and I may have seen some deep debt, but nothing as deep as this servant. Yet, like Tennessee, we owed our soul to the company store. Our sin debt with God was deep. Really deep. So deep we could never pay. We owed our soul and more.
God’s forgiveness is deeper still. It cost Him more than 60 million days wages. It cost the price of His only Son. Like the servant, we don’t often grasp the size and depth of our sin. “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” We have no sin, so great or so deep, that His forgiveness does not cover it. God’s forgiveness is deep.
God’s forgiveness is also wide. In the parable the King forgives the debt of one servant. God’s forgiveness is wide. It is for all people. It is those of Jesus’ time and before. It is for us, for you and me. God’s forgiveness is for those yet to come. God’s forgiveness is wide, world wide. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son. God’s forgiveness is for all. None so evil he can’t be saved, none so righteous he need not be saved. God’s forgiveness is wide.
God’s forgiveness is not only deep and wide. God’s forgiveness is flowing. God’s forgiveness is alive. It is moving. It is now. Flowing from Him to us. God does not limit His forgiveness. No limit in depth, no matter the size of the sin. No limit in width, no matter who you are. And no limit in time. No matter what day it is, no matter how many times before. God forgives. And keeps on forgiving. 490 times, and more. God’s forgiveness is flowing.
Where do we see God’s forgiveness, deep and wide and flowing. We see it in King David. Murderer, adulterer, liar. But God forgave. We see it in Peter, who denied knowing His Savior and Lord. But God forgave. We see it in Pau, who helped in stoning Stephan and persecuted the Church. But God forgave.
God’s forgiveness, His deep and wide forgiveness, flows to you and me, and overflows to others. Forgive 490 times? No, we cannot do that. Not in our own reason or strength. But Christ says, in the closing verse, verse 35, to forgive our brother from our heart. Is He telling us to do that which we can’t do?
No. God’s forgiveness is as deep as the sword which pierced Christ’s side on the cross, which pierced His heart, and out flowed blood and water. Christ's forgiveness flows from his heart to us. It flows to us in the Lord’s Supper. It flows to us in His word, “I forgive you all your sins.” It flowed to us in Baptism. As Ezekiel writes, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
The King threw the evil servant into prison because the King’s forgiveness had not reached him. It was outside of him. It had not reached his heart. Theologian Frederick Buechner explains it like this, “God’s forgiveness is not conditional upon our forgiving others. … Forgiveness that’s conditional isn’t really forgiveness at all, [it’s] just Fair Warning. What Jesus [is saying is] that the pride which keeps us from forgiving is the same pride which keeps us from accepting forgiveness, and will God please help us do something about it."
God has given us His Spirit. He has removed our stony heart, and given us a new and living heart. His forgiveness not only flows from Him to us, it overflows from us to others. What does that look like?
It looks like Renee Napier who forgave Eric West, for driving DWI and killing her daughter. Did he go to prison yes? But did she let hatred and bitterness consume her? No. The love and forgiveness of Christ flowed in and through her to Eric. He is now a Christian and together they lecture against drinking and driving. Was this hard? Yes. Forgiveness can be hard. It’s costly too. It cost God His Son. Our forgiveness to others can be deep by the power of the Holy Spirit, when we confess our own sinful pride, and walk by His guidance and His strengthen.
Our forgiveness can be wide. Our forgiveness is not just for those we like, or we are pleased with. It is for all. Those we know and love. Those we don’t. Those we get along with, and those who hurt us. Proverbs says, ““Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.”
Our forgiveness can keep on flowing. A pastor asked his wife to forgive him for something he had done, and reminded her that Jesus wanted her to forgive him 490 times. She laughed and said, “Buddy, you’re already over 500 -- but I’ll forgive you anyway!”
And it’s in our everyday relationships that forgiveness needs to keep on flowing. If you forgive your spouse once a day, you get to 490 in 1 year, 4 months, and 5 days. It’s going to take way more than 490 acts of forgiveness to keep that marriage running.
Thankfully, God’s forgiveness is deep, wide and overflowing. In it, because of it, by it and through it, our forgiveness can be deep, wide, and flowing to others.
Deep and wide, Deep and wide,
His forgiveness is flowing, deep, and wide.
Deep and Wide, Deep and Wide,
We are a river of forgiveness – deep and wide.
S. D. G.
