“The Unmerciful Servant is…Me”
Matthew 18:21-35
Oh, how I love this parable.
If there ever were someone who got what they deserved, it’s the unmerciful servant!
He owed a debt of 10,000 talents.
A talent was about 130 pounds of silver and was equal to about 15 years of a laborer’s wages.
Which means that the servant owed the king about 150,000 years of labor.
In other words, he would never, ever be able to pay him back.
But then, the king forgives this enormous, unimaginable debt!!!
Wouldn’t you be just a little bit relieved?
Perhaps even a little overjoyed?
Maybe you’d want to pass it on?
Not this guy, though.
After being forgiven 150 years of labor, someone else owes him about 100 days of labor.
And he has him arrested and thrown into jail!
When the king, who had forgiven him so much, heard about this he had this guy tortured until he could pay his entire debt.
Isn’t it delicious?
The weeping!
The gnashing of teeth!
Oh, the justice of it all!
But then these words of Jesus haunt me: “Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?”
Uh, oh.
The unmerciful servant is ME!!!
I’ve been shown so much mercy.
SO much mercy.
More mercy, in fact, than I’m comfortable going into the details about…
Who am I to judge another?
Why can’t I have mercy on the guy who owes me?
And that is what this passage is about.
Mercy.
Extravagant, ridiculous, over-the-top mercy!
Not just on the undeserving, but ESPECIALLY on the undeserving.
I mean, mercy wouldn’t be mercy if it were earned.
It’s so easy to want to jump all over one another in this life.
It’s so easy to claim the higher ground, and proclaim myself better than someone else.
But, that’s not the Way of Jesus.
Now, admittedly, Matthew 18:21-35 is specifically about forgiving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
But, we can’t deny that Jesus and the rest of the New Testament, for that matter, call for mercy and forgiveness for all people, especially those who strike us on the cheek and demand our cloak.
“How often should I forgive?” Peter asks.
That is what starts this whole thing off.
And Jesus’ response doesn’t so much as provide a precise answer as much as it points out how misdirected the question itself is.
How many times should we forgive?
The issue isn’t how much or how often we are asked to forgive or should forgive.
And this is because forgiveness, in Christ, is already limitless.
It can’t be measured or counted out.
It is just part and parcel of what the Kingdom of God is all about.
It’s a constant.
It doesn’t stop at a certain number of offenses.
We might want it to—and that is at the heart of Peter’s question.
“How much is enough” is what Peter is asking.
“I think I’m being pretty lenient if I forgive someone 7 times.
Surely that is enough?”
But Jesus says: “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times”…
…which means, every time, continuously.
And this can be hard to hear.
Because, after-all, how can we possibly bring ourselves to endlessly forgive?
Let’s face it…
…forgiveness…
…it truly has to be one of the most difficult things for a human to do, not only to give forgiveness but to receive it.
And for Jesus to tell the parable He tells in our Gospel Lesson indicates that forgiveness is extremely important for us and for God.
It’s is a necessity.
It is what Christ followers must aim to do and do and do.
Martin Luther King Jr., a man who knew a lot about forgiveness, said that “Forgiveness is not just an occasional act.
It is a constant attitude.”
And C.S. Lewis said, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
Now, we are making some sense, are we not?
We are the receivers of God’s amazing grace—the grace that cost the Son of God His life on the Cross…
…And if we accept this grace…
…if we truly have received God’s forgiveness, we will practice amazing grace with others.
A Turkish Officer raided and looted an Arminian home.
He killed the parents and gave the daughters to the soldiers, keeping the oldest daughter for himself.
Sometime later she escaped and became a nurse.
As time passed, she found herself working in a ward filled with Turkish officers.
One night, by the light of a lantern, she saw the face of the officer.
He was so ill that without a lot of hard work on her part, he would die.
And so, the days passed and he recovered.
One day, the doctor stood by the bed with her and said to the officer, “If it weren’t for her devotion to you, you would be dead.”
He looked at her and said, “We have met before, haven’t we?”
“Yes,” she said, “We have met before.”
“Why didn’t you kill me?” he asked.
She replied, “I am a follower of Him Who said, ‘Love your enemies.’”
Forgiveness and love are two sides of the same coin, are they not?
They are intertwined.
They recreate us into the image of God.
But, if you are like me, you sometimes find it hard to forgive.
You take things personally.
You hold on to resentments.
There are some folks who have hurt you too much…
…too much, that you just can’t bring yourself to forgive them.
Someone once said, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.”
And sometimes the person it’s hardest to forgive is ourselves.
Do you have this problem?
Do you have anything in your life that you don’t think God could ever forgive you for?
Are you allowing that inability to be forgiven or to forgive to cut you off from fellowship with Jesus Christ and His Body—the Church?
In a very real sense, Matthew Chapter 18 asks: “What is expected of us as we learn how to be Christians?”
And Jesus is teaching us that forgiveness must become a practice—a commitment—that is kept up and renewed each day throughout our lives.
It’s not just one single action, feeling or thought.
Forgiveness must become a way of life for all of us in our ever-deepening friendship with God and other people.
Peter is asking how generous he should be with forgiving, but he is still asking about limits.
He’s thinking quantitatively while Jesus answers qualitatively—with the offer of unlimited forgiveness.
This is what God is like.
It is only because we have been abundantly and mercifully forgiven and loved by God, that we are able to forgive others.
When I think about it…
…when I really meditate on my life and some of the things I have done, said or thought…
…when I think of all the persons I have hurt, all the hateful words that have come out of my mouth and out of my heart…
…when I think about all the times I have let God down…
…and then, when I think of how much God loves me despite all of this—it blows my mind.
When I know I am forgiven, through the blood of Christ shed on the Cross…
…how can I help but forgive others who do something against me?
The parable of the Unforgiving Servant, which follows Peter’s question to Jesus, focuses on those of us who are willing to receive God’s forgiveness but are unwilling to offer it to others.
I mean, the servant has been forgiven a huge debt and yet is unwilling to forgive even a small debt owed to him.
It’s like accepting that God forgives me for all the wrongs I have done throughout my entire life and then being unwilling to forgive someone who hurts my feelings or something.
And the parable is telling us is that such an unwillingness to forgive, shows that the Unmerciful Servant is really not able to receive God’s forgiveness.
Because, to truly receive forgiveness is to recognize how extravagant God’s gracious forgiving love is and, in response, to offer it to others!
But you know, again, if I am honest there are times when I find myself behaving like that unforgiving servant.
How about you?
I mean, are you pleased with the idea of a forgiving God, but not if it requires that you to change your life?
To be forgiven and to forgive really is hard stuff!
It takes time and it involves struggle.
The Book, “Dead Man Walking,” tells the story of Lloyd LeBlanc, whose son was murdered.
When he arrived in the field with the sheriff’s deputies to identify his son, LeBlanc immediately immediately knelt by his boy’s body and prayed the Lord’s Prayer.
When he came to the words: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” he realized the depth of the commitment he was making.
“Whoever did this, I must forgive them,” he later said.
Though it has been difficult not to be overcome by bitterness and feelings of revenge that well up from time to time, LeBlanc said that each day, for the rest of his life, forgiveness must be prayed for and struggled for and won.
Christians are people who know what it means to discover the miracle of God’s forgiveness, and are thus committed to a way of life as forgiven and forgiving people.
You know, to forgive someone is to set them free.
And to be forgiven is to be set free.
Have you ever really, really hurt someone and then felt horribly about it?
Have you ever gone to that person begging for their forgiveness?
And when they forgive you, do you not experience an amazing grace!!!
That is what God does for us.
And that is what we are to offer others: God’s amazing grace!!!
Forgiveness, like love, cannot be commanded or forced.
But we can pray for it, for the ability to forgive those—alive or dead—who have hurt us, even if we have distanced ourselves from them for good reason.
And we can pray that we can forgive ourselves for some of our own sins and regrets.
We can also pray for the ability to accept the forgiveness of others and especially—the Forgiveness of God!!!
So, let’s all take a minute or two to call to mind one person or maybe several persons we are having a hard time forgiving.
Let us confess our unforgiveness and ask the God of forgiveness to flow through us freeing us and those whom we hold in contempt.
Let us pray.
Lord, we want to forgive from the heart.
This is the grace we pray for.
We can’t do it on our own, and we know this.
Often we are unmerciful servants.
But, You are always good to us.
Have mercy on us.
Give us Your forgiveness.
Change our hearts.
In Jesus’ name and for His sake we pray.
Amen.
