September 19, 2017     Forgive as You Have Been Forgiven                                                      

         Our gospel lesson this morning begins with Peter asking Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”  

         I love how Peter offers an answer before Jesus has a chance to respond, it reminds me of the numerous times a church member where I served asked me how often they were supposed to forgive someone, sometimes they don’t really ask me as much as tell me – I only give someone one, or two, or three chances before I  give up on them – and then look out if they ever cross me again. That’s reasonable, isn’t it? Sound familiar?

         Jesus answer on the other hand, sounds quite unreasonable, not seven times, seventy times seven. Now I’ve read some sermons where preachers have said that Jesus gives such a ridiculous number to point out that we should always be forgiving, and that counting times we forgive others really isn’t forgiveness, cause when we reach our limit, it’s back to our good ole worldly vengeful ways.

         And while I would agree with that, I think Jesus is also pointing to something else with his answer, something that the rest of our lesson is about. You see, Jesus answer recalls the story of Lamech. After Cain killed Able, vengeance and violence grows among human beings. At one point, one of Cain’s descendants, Lamech brags about killing 7 men because someone struck him, and that if someone killed one of his own he would avenge himself 70 times upon them. So in his answer, I think Jesus is telling Peter, and his disciples, that through forgiving others, they are reversing the curse of violence and vengeance started by Cain’s murder, and Lamech’s retribution. And then, Jesus tells them a story, about only forgiving people so far.

         In the story, a man owes 10,000 talents, we all know talents are a gold measurement, and 10,000 of them might amount to 1 billion dollars today, the point is that there is no way the man could pay the king back, and so he begs for mercy, and the King, thinking about the pointlessness of putting the man in prison, forgives the debt.

         Now you might think that this would change a person, but of course you know the story the man goes out and runs into someone who owes him 100 denari, not a particularly large debt, but pretty much for the average person - say $4-5,000 today. He demands the money, and when he doesn’t get it, he has the man tossed in jail. Of course, the king finds out about it, and decides to pursue the original debt, which interestingly enough, involves torture. Eeeeeek!

         Two things strike me about this story. The first is that we could see in this story, God who has forgiven a multitude of our sins in Jesus Christ, and so we should show mercy to others as God has shown mercy to us. But that’s not how it happens, people who have been shown mercy, so often seem to forget mercy when it comes to others. Remember that 7 times comment by Peter…. Or that three chances thing I mentioned before.

Even those who believe themselves to be Christians, often put people off, and even their children off, by praising God’s forgiveness of us, and then not practicing it towards others. The usual excuse goes like this, you can only turn the other cheek so many times. But practicing forgiveness, doesn’t mean allowing yourself to be abused, and it doesn’t mean one cannot seek justice, it simply means not living by the worldly ways of vengeance and retribution. 

         And the other thing that strikes me, is that age old adage, What comes around, goes around. Meaning that if we continue in the never ending cycle of vengeance and retribution, it will eventually come back to torture us, and will do so unendingly. This warning Jesus gives us, reminds us, how desperately we need salvation from the endless torture of this world. Yes, I think Jesus story says there are very real consequences for our not practicing forgiveness in our lives. Real consequences for our lives if we do not actively model forgiveness for others in an unforgiving world.

      Vengeance and violence poison our hearts and our minds, it poisons our relationship with God and with others. It poison’s our world with hardship and suffering. Think of the many times in your life when you have faced a vengeful person, or indeed how your own vengeance upon another went to far, and hurt you or even someone you loved. I can think of two occasions, where parishoners allowed vengeance to poison their relationship with their church, where they accused others in the church of doing things, they never did, or were never present to do. Vengeance is indeed one of the most powerful spirits that destroy people’s lives.  But the Good News is, that forgiveness has the power to overcome vengeance, and to end the grip of sin and death it places upon our lives, and that is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Amen.