Forgive, Just as God in Christ Has Forgiven You – Mt. 18:21-35
 

“Out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.” (Mt. 18:27) Amen.
 

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Ps. 139:23) Amen. Forgiveness is hard! Jesus’ disciple Peter sure thinks so, so that he wants a limit on how many times he must forgive his brother who’s sinned against him. He asks Jesus: “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” (Mt. 18:21) It’s a good bet Peter would be fine with a smaller number. According to late LCMS pastor, synodical and seminary president J.A.O. Preus in his book Just Words: Understanding the Fullness of the Gospel, “Peter undoubtedly [thinks] he [is] being more than generous in using seven, the number of completion.” (100)
 

It can be hard as nails to forgive those who’ve wronged us – especially if they’ve hurt us deeply. Yet our Lord’s answer to Peter indicates that being forgiving for only so long, and then being unforgiving, isn’t God’s will for us in the least. “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Mt. 18:22) As Rev. Dr. Preus wrote, “In this way, Jesus tells Peter that true forgiveness is limitless.” (Preus, Just Words: 101)
 

The Lutheran magazine Good News has a good take on Jesus’ Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. “When you are tempted to wallow in self-pity or bitterness and to withhold forgiveness,” hear Jesus’ words to you in the parable of the unforgiving servant. In it, “God, your King, rules with mercy and forgiveness. But He also calls you to deal mercifully with others.” (CMS; Good News, Issue 10, Kingdom of God, 17)
 

Mercy lies at the heart of the parable since our great God and Father is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin….” (Ex. 34:6-7) We see Him as the king who has pity on his servant and forgives him his entire debt. And what a debt he forgives!
As we reflect on how God comforts our wounded and fearful consciences with the Gospel of forgiveness in His Son Jesus, our attention is usually drawn to how He removes our sins from us. For us, divine forgiveness is about Christ our Passover Lamb Who was sacrificed for us to take away the sin of the world. (See 1 Cor. 5:7; Jn. 1:9) Meaning that God in His tender mercy has laid on His Son the iniquity of us all. (See Is. 53:6) Only Christ suffered God’s terrible wrath and punishment for our dark misdeeds – since they’ve become His alone.
 

There’s another way to understand divine forgiveness in Holy Scripture, and that’s the cancellation of a debt owed. Our Lord speaks to this, saying: “The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.” (Mt. 18:23-24) If that sounds like a lot of money to you, that’s because it is! How much? That amount today in silver equals hundreds of millions of dollars. A better way to get at the value of ten thousand talents is the cost of labor, which would be 160,000 years of work, or as-much-as $15 billion dollars in today’s money. (davidashirey.com) So the servant’s plea, “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back everything” (Mt. 18:26) rings hollow since he couldn’t pay his debt to the king in many lifetimes!
“Out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.” (Mt. 18:27) The king, “being rich in mercy, [and] because of the great love” (Eph. 2:4) which he has for his servant, cancels his entire debt, and assumes it or takes it unto himself.
 

“After being forgiven by the king, however, this servant refuses to forgive a fellow servant [of his] who owes him” (Preus, Just Words: 101) 100 denarii, or 100 days’ worth of labor. (gotquestions.org) He treats the man cruelly, demands immediate payment of what’s owed him, and has his brother servant thrown into debtor’s prison when he can’t pay up. Note that, before being thrown into jail, the man makes the same plea to his fellow servant that he himself made to the king: “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” (Mt. 18:29) Yet the servant refuses to be anything like his king. He’ll gladly be forgiven, but won’t forgive from his heart one bit.
 

Why’s the unmerciful servant so cold and heartless toward his fellow servant? He’s just been forgiven the biggest debt ever! Shouldn’t it be a small thing for him to forgive such a small debt? He just doesn’t care to; nor does He care for his king and his mercy toward him. Sure, he accepts his master’s mercy alright. But he doesn’t share it with another person who needs it as-much-as he does. In this way, the unforgiving servant treats his brother – as-well-as his king – with contempt. 1 John 4:20 certainly applies here. There we read: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother…cannot love God….”
 

That’s why the king throws the merciless servant’s debt back in his face and buries him with it again. The man has thrown the king’s rich mercy and example of love back in his face.
 

This parable should alarm us since we’ve been unmerciful to others, while at the same time we’ve never refused, but have always accepted God’s mercy. Whenever we refuse to be merciful, we’re dissing God’s mercy to us in Jesus.
And we’re blowing off our heavenly Father. We sure don’t want to be thrown into the prison house until we pay off all our debt, since we’ll never pay it off, or get out!
 

So our Gospel lesson calls us to acknowledge our lack of mercy toward others, and to repent of it and turn from it hard.
 

Don’t let an unforgiving heart be your downfall! As we ask our Lord in the hymn: “How can Your pardon reach and bless the unforgiving heart, that broods on wrongs and will not let old bitterness depart?” (LSB 843:2) Good question.
 

In Dr. Preus’ words: “We are so deeply in debt because of our sins that we [can] never pay God off on our own. Our only hope is that God, out of His gracious favor, will cancel our debt. And He has. The price was paid as the Son of God poured out His blood on the cross in payment to satisfy our debt.” (Preus, Just Words: 101)
 

So lay your failures to forgive on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God. God has cancelled your sin-debt since Christ assumed it unto Himself and paid it with His own life! “Who can condemn [you?]” The devil can’t. No person can. God sure won’t! Because “Christ Jesus is the One Who died – more than that, Who was raised – Who is at the right hand of God, [and] Who indeed is interceding for us.” (Rom. 8:34)
 

Forgiveness isn’t easy – for Peter, for you, me, anybody. Neither was it easy for your Savior to suffer and pay for all your sins. But He did! So ask Him to lend you His forgiving heart when it’s hard for you to be merciful. Ask Him to help you forgive others as He’s forgiven you – as you do in the Lord’s Prayer. And then “forgive as the Lord has forgiven you.” (Col. 3:13) Yes, “forgive your brother from your heart.” (Mt. 18:35) This is what you, who are in Christ, do. Amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
 

Not included in the sermon above due to context, but still good material: Yet our Lord Jesus has us pray to our Father in heaven: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” (Lord’s Prayer) “As You, dear Father, have absolved us of our sins, and have saved us in Your dear Son from a well-deserved condemnation, so help us in every way to forgive those who trespass against us, without fail.”