February 6, 2011Introduction
George Gallup Sr. and Jr. have studied the habits and preferences of the people of the United States since 1930. In a recent poll, George Jr. concluded that Americans are among the loneliest people on earth.
He cited a variety of factors including Western individualism that has intensified to isolation, urbanization, technology, and consumerism. Such an analysis points out something that many of us with our stubborn independence don’t like to admit: we need each other. I have tended to pride myself on the ability to take care of myself, to get along without needing anyone. But that’s not the way we were created to be. I’m finally at a point in life that I know in real experience the futility of such misplaced self-confidence.
In Matthew 18, Jesus spends time instructing his disciples on the kind of community life that should characterize their relationships with one another. This is the fourth of five teaching discourses in the Gospel of Matthew. The New Testament word for church (ekklesia), appears only once in the Gospels, here in Matthew 18:17. As followers of Jesus, the community of faith is called to live together with humility, accountability, reconciliation, and forgiveness.
Jesus said things like: “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (18:3). “If a brother or sister sins, go and point out the fault, just between the two of you” (18:15). And he said, “Forgive a brother or sister from the heart” (18:35).
So Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive someone who sins against me? Where’s the limit?” Jesus tells the parable. I. The First Servant (vs. 23-27)
“The kingdom of heaven is like… A king wanted to settle accounts with his servants.” There’s an ominous opening line. Judgment is the settling of accounts, setting the stage for the parable.
“A man owed the king 10,000 bags of gold.” Perhaps he was the governor of a whole region and collected taxes which he then embezzled and squandered on himself. For this was a huge amount of money. One talent equaled 20 years of a common laborer’s wages.
The minimum wage in Utah for 2011 is $7.25. That’s $58 for an 8 hour day; about $18,000/year; times 20 years equals the $363,000; times 10,000 talents (10,000 bags of gold in the text); equals the $3.6 billion he owed the king. That’s how extreme Jesus was being. The hyperbole of the parable is dramatic. And Peter asked if seven times was enough to forgive!
Just think for a minute, if you or I sinned only one time each day (and that would be hugely optimistic), over the average course of a 75 year life, that would be about 26,700 sins. How do you or how do I plan to make that up? Redeem ourselves? Pay it back? Double, triple or quadruple that and it becomes even more impossible.
“Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before the king.” Jesus then said, quite amazingly, “The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.”
Someone has said, “Mercy is not giving to a person what they deserve, while grace is giving what they do not deserve.” The first half of this parable is meant to show the infinite mercy and grace of God in Christ for all those who turn to him for the forgiveness that only the Lord can offer. II. The Second Servant (vs. 28-30)
But here comes the point of the parable. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.”
Everyone listening must have said, “Are you kidding me? What nerve! What a nasty blank-et-y blank-blank!” The servant who has been forgiven the unthinkable amount of 10,000 talents finds a fellow servant who owes him a hundred denarii (roughly $4,000, not an insignificant amount).
This, perhaps, is the most difficult kingdom of heaven value for us to understand, let alone practice. The kind of forgiveness that Jesus teaches (and also accomplished for us on the Cross) is an unqualified removal of all that we hold against someone. When we have been hurt, we don’t want to hurt again. We, sometimes, resolve never to be used again. Often we want to get even with those who have abused us. Remember the bumper sticker: “I don’t get mad, I get even.”
Once billed as “the most dangerous man in Mississippi,” former Ku Klux Klan member and terrorist Tom Tarrants became a Christian while in prison for attempted murder and for the last 12 years has served as president of the C.S. Lewis Institute in Washington, D.C. Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, he bitterly opposed the move toward racial equality in the 1960s, directing his hatred toward Jews. He was taught and
he believed they were involved in a communist plot against America and he viewed them God’s enemies. As a member of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, he was involved in some 30 bombings of synagogues, churches and homes before being apprehended by the FBI in a sting operation. In the shootout between Tarrants and law enforcement officers, he was shot 19 times, leaving him all but dead. After months of recovery, he began a 30-year sentence in a Mississippi State Penitentiary.
His only diversion from prison life was to retreat into reading. One day Tarrants picked up a Bible. The words of Jesus haunted him: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” Although he had attended a Southern Baptist church as a child, he realized he was not a Christian and his life had been totally contrary to Christ. Alone in his cell, Tarrants gave his broken life over to the Lord. He came to renounce his racism and hatred, and committed his life in service to Christ.
Later, he found out that the wife of an FBI agent involved in his capture had been praying for his salvation for years. After his conversion, the FBI agent and his wife, along with others who had been the targets of his hatred, were instrumental in securing his release after eight years in prison. Tarrants then earned college and seminary degrees and served as a pastor at Christ Our Shepherd Church in Washington, D.C. He wrote a book, The Conversion of a Klansman, and with well-known, Christian, black activist, John Perkins, co-authored the book He’s My Brother: Former Racial Foes Offer Strategy for Reconciliation. Conclusion
Jesus finishes the parable: “In anger his master handed the wicked servant over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.” Then he turns to his disciples and says, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive a brother or sister from your heart;” because mercy annuls alienation; mercy advances community. We read in Colossians 3, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
In our day of isolation, urbanization, technology, and consumerism, there is a great need for real community. Responding to Jesus’ parable and Paul’s teaching, the Lord wants us to lift one another up, to stand with and honor one another, to be a congregation/a family of faith that genuinely loves one another in this way. As we come to the Lord’s Table this morning, let’s stand and bless one another, saying, “The grace and peace of Christ be with you.”
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