Sermon: The parable of the Unforgiving Servant: Forgiving and Forgiveness.
Text: Matt 18:21-35, Phil 1:3-11
Occasion: Trinity XXII
Who: Mark Woolsey
Where: Arbor House
When: Sunday, October 23, 2005
Audio link: http://providencerec.com/Sound%20Files/Matt18;21-35.TrinityXXIILittleOnesOffendedAndProtected.mp3
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I. Intro
The church year is winding down. From the beginning we have walked in the footsteps of our Lord’s life, witnessing again His birth, nativity, temptation, passion, death, ressurrection, and ascension. Starting in late Spring we have entered the Trinity season, or, as it is sometimes called, Common Time. Instead of walking in His footsteps, we are sitting at His feet, learning from Jesus’ own lips about who we are, our sin, judgement, God’s forgiveness, etc. It is called "Common Time" because we need to see that God is not only in the special seasons like Christmas and Easter, but in every day. He is the God of the Holy Days, and of Common Time. As this season draws to a close the Gospel and Epistle lessons slowly draw our attention to the end of things: the end of the world, for example, but also the end of our lives. Today we heard St Paul tell us "the He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:6) and "that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ" (v10).
Ah, but therein lies the rub, the "Day of Jesus Christ". What is this "Day", and what does it have to do with offense? To learn more out these things we must turn to our Gospel passage.
II. Gospel Context
The parable of the Unforgiving Servant comes at the end of a string of related teachings by our Lord. These teachings begin with a question by the disciples, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?" (Matt 18:1). If we had been asked that today, we might, depending upon our tradition within the church, have answered, "Billy Graham", "Mother Theresa", "John Calvin", or some other such luminary. These are people of great stature and accomplishment. Yet Jesus rejects accomplishment as the standard of greatness, and defines it in terms of humility, which children have in abundance. They know that they don’t know and are willingly led by the hand by someone they trust. Yet this great willingness to trust also leads to great vulnerability as Jesus warns next. In fact, He’s rather gross about it. He says that whoever offends or leads astray one of these little trusting ones, it would be better if he had simply poked his finger into his eye socket, grabbed his eyeball, and yanked it out. Offenses must come in the Christian life, but woe to him by whom they come! After assuing us that God the Father will search out and reclaim these lost sheep of His who were lead astray, He then gives two teachings, one straightforward and the other a parable, about dealing with offenses. In all these sermons I read as research for this one, not one brings out this fact, yet this context gives important insight to the proper interpretation. The parable of the Unforgiving Servant does not stand alone. Both teachings concern an offender and offendee.
III. Unrepentant Brother
In the first teaching we are told how to deal with someone who has wronged us, but won’t admit it. Suprisingly, we are not told to forgive anyway, but told to confront the brother, expecting repentance on his part. If he refuses to give that, we are to escalate the dispute, bringing witnesses. If he continues in obstinancy, the whole church is to cut him off and God promises to stand by that decision: "whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (18:18). I’ve heard so many sermons on forgiveness, and how we need to forgive even those who do not repent, that this was rather a shock. But it seems rather clear, that we are under no obligation to forgive those who do not repent. This also helps to make sense of the parable of the unforgiving servant, where forgiveness is first given, then rescended.
IV. The Unforgiving Servant
This is a familiar story to most of us, so I’ll just give a brief outline and then clarify some details before getting to the main point. A man owes a king an unimaginable amount and is about to be sold, along with his family, into slavery to help pay it off. After begging for an extension the servant is released from his debt because of the king’s compassion. Later, the scene is repeated, with the forgiven servant being the creditor and another servant asking for more time to pay off his small debt. The first servant is unwilling and has the second thrown into prison. When the king hears about this, he is furious with the first servant and has him tortured until he pays all he owes.
First, let me explain the difference between the amounts owed. The first servant owes the king what in today’s money might be around 6.5 billion dollars, while the second servant owes only around $11,000. While both are large sums of money to us, clearly the latter is workable while the former is in essence another word for infinity.
V. The Main Point
To best understand Jesus’ intention with this story, we need to remember the context. This parable is the end of a rather lengthy answer as to who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. We learn the highest in the kingdom are those who think lowest of themselves. That is, the greatest are those who know their sins and admit to them. It is those we are not allowed to abuse. God will seek them out and fiercely defend them, to the extent that we would be better off if we simply cut off our own hand rather than injure these seemly helpless and truly guilty people. In our eyes, these are "little people" who we would expect to be beneath God’s radar, yet to Him they are the essence of His rule, the pinnacle of His reign. So in the midst of teaching us the indispensability of forgiving others, this parable is a picture of the importance of not hurting these little ones. God can be vicious.
Although this is pretty straighforward so far, there are some quirks in the parable that make it imperative that we bring to it certain understandings. For example, why, or even how, could God forgive a debt and then require its redemption? If we sign a contract today to agree to release someone from debt, it is considered illegal and certainly immoral to then turn around and demand payment anyway. Secondly, why did God escalate the severity of punishment on the unforgiving servant from slavery to torture? Isn’t torture for insolvancy simply immoral and inhumane? This is more akin to something we would ascribe to Hitler rather than God.
VI. Trisection of Humanity
In addition to knowing the context of this parable, we must also understand something about the division of mankind. As Christians, we tend to bisect humanity into the delivered and the damned, the redeemed and the reprobates, or the saved and the sunk. However, we really need to see that there is a third category that some people fall into. They are neither fish nor fowl. This can be best thought of by considering the church. There are those outside the church, and must be considered lost. But not all those inside the church are elect. Just as we are taught in another parable, the wheat and tares, even those in the church are divided into the saved and lost. The difference between the lost inside the church and those outside it is that those inside must be treated by us as saved, not lost. We can’t see in their hearts, so we don’t know God’s decision about them. All we can see is what God has shown us, and that is that they are a part of the church and thus must be treated as elect. From our perspective they are saved, but from God’s they are lost. The Scriptures frequently shift back and forth from these two perspectives when discussing those in the church. This is why, for example, it appears at times to say all those in Christ will remain so eternally, while at other times it implies that some who start out in Christ will not continue.
VII. Forgiveness thru the Law
Realizing this, let’s examine what happens to the unforgiving servant. The most important thing to note here is the exact nature of his petition to the king. Instead of asking for forgiveness, he simply asks for time. He thinks that he can pay back what he owes. His debt was so enormous that 4000 lifetimes would not be sufficient to pay it off. As bad as he thinks it is, the reality is that things are actually much worse. Instead of asking for mercy, he simply asks for delayed justice. So what does the king do? From our perspective, he forgives the whole lot. In reality, as we shall see at the end of the parable, his mercy, which is real, is simply to give the man what he asked for. He gives him more time. Forgiveness never comes thru the Law.
You see, when God grants forgiveness, it is a package deal. Sort of like a "buy one, get one free" sale, God bestows not only forgiveness, but also a changed heart, new desires, and love toward others. The unforgiving servant, by not extending forgiveness to others, reveals that it never really got the real thing himself.
Another thing to notice is that there is no mediator between the man and the king, no one to plead his case. This is always a crucial component of true, eternal forgiveness of sins.
Jesus Christ, man and God, always stands between man and God pleading the case
for men.
You see, even the man himself did not consider that he received forgiveness from the king. Notice how he treats the second servant that comes to him for an extension. He refuses. When we think that we have settled accounts with God based upon our own performance, we are very strict on others. We expect them to work as hard as we think that we have. Since the first servant simply asked for an extension, what he’s doing to the second man is trying to get some money owed to him. He thinks he’s doing a good thing, getting money to pay off a portion of his debt. What he does not realize is that he is in so much debt that no matter how much he collects from others, he will never have enough to pay the king. When the wicked servant’s unforgiving heart is revealed, the king reveals his judgement. His "Day" has arrived.
VIII. The Day of Christ
On this day, the "Day of Christ", all that was hidden will be revealed. All motivations, all actions will receive their true reward. All those who have accumulated debt toward God will be required to pay. Payment, as seen in this parable, will not be delayed any longer, but will be exacted with perfect justice. So what about you? What about those who have wronged you and have sought forgiveness? Have you held back, at least inwardly? Will the judge see unforgiveness in your heart even as you are asking Him to forgive you?
Think of the other parable that was mentioned earlier in this section. In this section, we learn of man trying to relate to God thru the law. In the other parable, it is God who takes the initiative and seeks out His own lost sheep; those sheep who trust upon Him. Do you trust upon your own ability to pay, or do you trust upon Christ’s ability to pay for you? You see, all debts are paid. Every debt today, whether from man to man, or God to man, is paid. Either the debor pays - he pays back the money he owes - or the creditor pays if the debtor has to declare bankrupcy. That money does not just evaporate; it comes from somebody. In this case, it comes from the creditor. You see, all debts are paid.
Just as this "Day" will be a terror to those who have trusted in the Law, so it will be a joy to those who have trusted in Christ. We are rebellious, He is subservant for us. We have sinned, He has obeyed. We have held grudges; He has released them. Consider well this Day that is coming and decide in which of the three parts of mankind you fall - lost, lost in the church, or trusting in Christ. Trust in Him and even your unforgiveness will be turned to forgiveness.
IX. The Day now
In fact, as you come to the Table of the Lord, you see that judgement is already poured out upon Christ instead of you. He bore the pain so that you can forgive. His Blood that you drink supplies the ability to forgive others; His Body that you eat strenghtens you to face those that hurt you. Drink, eat, forgive and understand that it is He who will keep you until that Day. As we prayed today in the collect:
"Lord, we beseech thee to keep thy household the Church in continual godliness; that through thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve thee in good works, to the glory of this Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
This is the word of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Soli Deo Gloria!
