Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 18:21-35
Peter came and said to Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Sermon by the Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
I’ve often wondered, as I come back to this particular text from Matthew’s gospel when Peter asks Jesus how many times he must forgive the person who sinned against him, did he have a face in mind, a particular incident in mind?
Peter asks, “seven times, isn’t that enough? Seven times should be enough, shouldn’t it?” Afterall seven is a pretty perfect scriptural number - that time during which God could complete creation of the world and rest. So perhaps Peter is thinking that the seventh time that he is called on to forgive that person should be enough. And he, too, should be entitled to some rest.
Likely Jesus’s response took him aback. Seven times is not enough, Jesus tells him. Seventy-seven times might be getting a little bit closer. Might be.
The gospel can be hard. The past 2 weeks and today we are being brought face to face with some hard texts from Matthew’s gospel and from Paul’s letters to the Romans – hard in the sense that these texts affect us all and remind us of some things that we are called to know about ourselves as Christians.
We are told again and again that we are called to forgive and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We are told that we are to bless those who persecute us.
We are told that we are not to be overcome by evil but we are to overcome evil with good.
We are told that love does no wrong to a neighbor. But love sure does go to some awfully great lengths to be reconciled with neighbor and with God. And in these last couple of weeks we’ve looked at some pretty powerful contemporary accounts:
An Amish man who wakes every day to the very real struggle to caring for his disabled daughter who was injured at the hands of a man who didn’t even know her.
In the Bibliophiles group a couple weeks ago we read stories of people wrongfully convicted of terrible crimes based on so-called expert testimony, corrupt police and prosecutors or the inaccurate identification by traumatized victims. In one case, an innocent man spent 27 years on death row and was hours away from death when a witness at his trial admitted he had perjured himself after being threatened by a corrupt prosecutor. The truth set him free.
But in today’s lesson from Matthew, we find Jesus telling a very clear parable about why it is important for us to be a forgiving people:
A servant is called upon to settle a tremendous debt, an unimaginably large debt, with the king. He is unable to do so. And he begs the king to have mercy on him. And out of pity, out of compassion, the king does just that.
But later, when another servant who owed the first servant a much smaller debt was unable to repay it, the man who had been given so much mercy and compassion showed none. And the king’s wrath poured out on the man who had received great mercy but in turn was unable to forgive. And so Jesus makes the point – if we want to be on the receiving end of forgiveness and mercy then we, too, must be forgiving, merciful people.
Now back to Peter’s question about how many times we should forgive, I’d answer it this way: as many times as we would hope to be forgiven ourselves. And theologian N.T. Wright, a Bishop in the Church of England offers this perspective: “if you’re still counting how many times you’ve forgiven someone, you’re not really forgiving them at all, but simply postponing revenge. Seventy times seven is a typical bit of Jesus’ teasing. What he means is “don’t even think about counting, just do it.’”
Now notice something about this group of texts for the last 3 Sundays:
These texts are not addressed to the person who has committed the wrong. They are not directed to the person who needs to ask for forgiveness. The texts are directed to those who have been wronged and who need to be forgiving. If we would ask for forgiveness for ourselves for our own sins, so we must be a people who are willing to forgive the sins and offenses of our neighbors.
We forgive so our own hearts will not harden.
We forgive so we will not continue to suffer because we have been wronged.
We forgive so that we can find healing and peace.
Now to be clear, to forgive does not mean we need to place ourselves in harm’s way. We are not required to allow anyone who would cause us harm to continue to do so, to continue to cause harm. For us to forgive is to acknowledge their humanity and our humanity and our collective need for God’s mercy, for God’s forgiveness.
To forgive really may mean surrendering those who have wronged us to God. In the words of composer Renee Clausen, forgiving really may mean to condemning our neighbor to God’s mercy as I mentioned last week. God did not promise to spare us from the consequences of our own misdeeds.
We are always given a choice. and scriptures shows us the history of those who chose to live as unforgiven people and so be separated from God and from neighbor. God’s desire for us is not for us to live in separation from God and one another but to be bound in love with one another.
A few days ago we remembered saints among us in the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks in New York, Washington DC and Shanksville, PA and those who sacrificed their lives to save the lives of those who left their homes that morning never assuming they would be harmed. Our Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Sean Rowe sent a letter to all diocese that shows what the path forward once forgiveness is truly given.
Dear People of God in The Episcopal Church:
Twenty-five years on, we live in a world shaped by 9/11. Our lament will never end for those who died in the attacks, those who gave of their lives in the days and weeks following, and those who still suffer. Our grief is particularly sharp on this historic anniversary.
We also mourn that, since that day in 2001, our common life has been deformed by division and fear of one another. Sometimes it seems that the chasm has become unbridgeable.
As Episcopalians, however, we know there is a better way. We saw it then in the extraordinary witness of first responders, and especially in the heroic relief ministry at our own St. Paul’s Chapel in lower Manhattan. We see it now across our church in countless ministries of reconciliation, peacemaking, and in our commitment to interfaith cooperation with our Muslim siblings in faith.
Even in the face of unimaginable evil and suffering, God calls us to be repairers of the breach and restorers of paths to dwell in. I pray that this commemoration of 9/11 renews our commitment to answer that call in our own lives and communities, and together as the body of Christ in the world.
The Most. Rev. Sean Rowe
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church
In remembering, we are reminded what it means to be community that loves one another, that is willing to sacrifice for one another, willing to look past all outer barriers that might separate us and see ourselves only as God’s people – a people forgiven and forgiving. And a people united to one another in love.
Amen.
