Year A 2017 - 19th Sunday after Pentecost - Text Matthew Matthew 22:1-14 – By invitation only

Sermon 15^th October 2017

Text: Matthew 22:1-14 – By invitation only

Having been involved in the preparation for our daughter Grace’s wedding earlier this year this reading today took on a new meaning for me.

Usually people only see the end result of months, maybe years, of preparation that goes into the big day.

Making sure everything is just right so that the day is perfect for the bride.

It’s not the day when you want things to go wrong, things to get forgotten, unexpected surprises.

You want everything perfect.

And here in Jesus’s parable we have a King who is throwing a wedding banquet and wants everything perfect.

And the most important part of the wedding banquet that is left is the guests who have been invited.

After all the work and expense he has gone through the King cannot understand why people won’t accept his invitation.

These people seem to not realise the expense and trouble he’s gone through and how privileged they are to receive an invitation.

One of the hardest parts of any wedding is settling on the invitation list.

You want family and friends there but you can’t afford to invite them all and venue size doesn’t allow you to anyway.

You hope not to offend family who might expect an invitation.

You don’t want to upset someone who thought that they were a close friend or had invited you to their wedding.

And it’s important to RSVP if you can’t make it so others on the shortlist can be invited and that your seat that has been paid for isn’t empty at the reception.

So the King is justifiably angry that the invited guests don’t accept his invitation.

In turn he reissues the invitation to anyone and everyone.

He wants his wedding feast filled to celebrate his son’s wedding day.

The parable is an image of the situation today of God’s invitation to all people to enjoy eternal life in Heaven.

Some believe that the first invitation is a description of God’s original invitation that had gone out to Israel who rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah.

God had promised a Messiah and the people had rejected the messengers preparing the way for John the Baptist and then finally Jesus.

We are seeing in this section of Matthew growing rejection of God’s invitation by his own people.

We had the parable of the tenants who rejected God’s messengers – even his own Son.

The week before that was the rejection of Jesus’ authority.

In the next chapter we will see the pain and anguish over God’s own children continuing to reject his invitation when Jesus look’s over Jerusalem in lament;

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing" (Matt. 23:37).

And as they were not willing, God now extends the invitation directly to all people.

In Jesus’ life and death God extends the invitation with the wording:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16).

God has opened the invitation list to all people.

No one is excluded despite what they might think about themselves.

Some think their sin is too great.

Their background is too awful.

Their heart is too hard.

Their temptations too strong.

They don't really believe that God's grace can be so free, so accepting, so forgiving.

If you are among this group you are reassured of the invitation of Jesus who died for all.

The parable Jesus told described that there was no social standing limiting the invitation anymore:

The King’s servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad;

But there is one there who should not be which is hard to understand.

If all are invited who is it that should not be there?

The only clue that we are given is that he is missing a wedding robe.

As the invitation to God’s heavenly banquet is now extended through Jesus’ death it is only through Jesus that one can be guaranteed entry.

In the same way that the blood of the lamb at the Passover covered the Israelites in Egypt assuring safety from the angel of death in Egypt, so too, it is by the cover of Jesus’ blood shed for our sins that we are assured safety from the coming judgment of sins.

St John saw an image of those in the wedding feast when he said:

“These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14,15)

We cannot assure ourselves of eternal life by our good works because we can never be assured that we have done enough.

We cannot assure ourselves of eternal life by following any other god because no other god has died for our sins.

We cannot buy our way into eternal life because only Jesus’ death has paid for our sins.

Only by the robe covering of Christ’s invitation can we be assured of our eternal life.

This parable is a difficult parable told by Jesus because it does speak about those who reject God’s invitation to eternal life.

It is a timely reminder to us to not take in vain God’s invitation to us.

There are so many that have rejected the invitation like the ones in the first part of the parable.

There are many who have rejected or neglected their baptism.

There are many who have rejected or neglected their invitation to the Lord’s Table.

There are many who have put their careers and personal lives ahead of their Christian faith.

They are the ones who have heard God’s invitation like the first invitees in the parable who made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business.

It hurts to hear that because some of them are our friends and family.

The good news is that God is a God of invitation.

The Bible is full of invitations to supper with God.

Jesus ate with a Pharisee; he dined with fishermen, tax collectors, the poor and the rich.

He called to a man up in a tree, "Zacchaeus, come down. I must have supper with you this day!"

And God continues to extend that invitation through you and me.

Entrance into God's Kingdom is by invitation only.

God does not use force on anyone to believe in him, to accept his Son, or to obey his laws.

God respects the free will of a person.

He invites, pleads, begs and will do anything except use force to get us into his Kingdom.

All he says is "Come."

We are God’s invitation and he sends us out just as the King sent his servants out to invite people to the Kingdom.

St Paul says in 2nd Corinthians; We are Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

And the invitation is for all – good and bad.

We are not to determine who deserves and who doesn’t deserve an invitation.

God excludes no one.

Only we exclude ourselves when we reject his invitation.

And that’s what made Jesus sad when he lamented over Jerusalem because all God wants to do is to lavish his love and generosity on everyone and can’t understand why people don’t want to come.

The wedding feast is ready for the guests.

We do not bring a dish of food.

We bring only ourselves.

God does all for our salvation.

By grace are we saved.

The refusal hurts God.

It means considering someone or something else more important even though he sacrificed his own son to guarantee our place at the wedding banquet.

The parable deals with evangelism.

The invitation of the king to those not in the king's household.

Evangelism is the church's outreach to those not in God's household of faith.

The king sends his servants to go to the people to invite them to come and we go as his representatives.

We are sent to the highways and byways to invite.

And just as the king wants his banquet hall to be full, God desires all humanity to come to him and to be reconciled.

The work of evangelism is not done until "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."

Year A 2017 - 18th Sunday after Pentecost - Text Matthew 21:33-46 – Stewards of God’s vineyard

Sermon 8^th October 2017

Text: Matthew 21:33-46 – Stewards of God’s vineyard.

Often when watching Current Affairs on TV you’ll see a story about a tenant of a rented property who has trashed the house and left it in a disgusting mess owing on rent.

They are terrible stories of disrespect for another person’s property and a lack of appreciation for another person’s generosity towards them.

In the parable Jesus told today we have a similar picture of ungrateful tenants.

And as we can see from the parable the ungratefulness stems from selfishness.

The reasoning behind their mistreatment of the tenant’s messengers is greed.

The desire to have what doesn’t belong to them.

After having put the messengers to death the landowner sends his own son to collect the fruit of the harvest.

And they say: let us kill him and get his inheritance.

What is extraordinary to understand is why they believed they had any entitlement to the inheritance.

They were tenants – workers.

An inheritance belongs to family.

And so the tenants start to treat the property leased to them as their own and thereby bring judgement on themselves.

The Pharisees knew that Jesus was talking about them and how their ancestors treated the prophets sent to them by God.

So they wanted to find a way that they could arrest Jesus and put an end to his judgment of them – the final part of the parable.

But like all parables, they don’t just speak to the people of Jesus’ time they also speak to us today.

So what connection is there between ourselves and the wicked selfish tenants, and the religious leaders who rejected Jesus?”

Are we not sometimes selfish like the tenants?

Don’t we at times treat God’s creation as if it is our own to do with whatever we want irrespective of how it affects others now and also future generations.

Do we not refuse to share the fruits of the “vineyard” and become as stingy and stubborn as they are?

How often have we failed to respond lovingly to the gifts of God’s creation that are lavished our lives?

Does it not follow, then, that we also deserve to be put to a miserable death?

Is that what Jesus is teaching in this parable?

It wasn’t Jesus who said they deserved a wretched death but their own self judgment.

As Christians, we always start with the understanding that God initiates the relationship with us – not we with God.

It was while we were yet sinners that God sent his son to us.

God’s reaching out to us is best understood as his giving us everything we have – with no strings attached and without our deserving it, without our having done anything to gain it.

That’s the basis of Luther’s explanation of the Apostles’ Creed:

“I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.”

God, in Genesis, and Jesus by his death has made it very clear that we are the most precious beings in all creation – so valuable, as he proved on the cross, that we are worth dying for.

We don’t have to earn God’s love; it is given freely.

So, why would a loving God put us to a miserable death?

It wasn’t God pronouncing their judgment but them on themselves.

Jesus asked them: when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death.

It wasn’t Jesus pronouncing their judgment but themselves.

The wicked tenants received all they needed from the owner, but they refused to accept his graciousness and turned their backs on him, his servants, and even his son.

And that’s what judgment is – our continual refusal to receive God’s grace and forgiveness.

By their actions they cast themselves out of the vineyard in a similar way Adam and Eve’s disobedience resulted in their loss of the benefits of the Garden of Eden.

The judgment we receive is by our failure to accept the grace of God.

But we have been given a second chance (and a third and a fourth.....)  

The Second Chance is Jesus, the suffering Jesus, who became the Risen Jesus.

The Pharisees pronounced their own judgement.

God, the landowner kept coming again and again in grace even to the point of sending his own Son both in the parable and in real life.

The judgment comes from our selfishly acting as if the vineyard is all ours – no one else’s, let alone God’s.

What we are seeing here is the question of what we call “Stewardship”.

Stewardship is central to the life of the church and the life of Christians so we do not become focused on material things and claiming them only as our own.

We are called to remember that what we have is not ours to own, but is granted by God for our use AND to bless others.

When we look at the waste in our world and our desire for more and more and the starvation and homelessness around the world, is it God who is at fault?

God’s grace and love is calling on us to respond to our good fortune of living in his vineyard by reflecting that love in our actions toward others.

The tenants weren’t doing that – they were keeping the landowner’s harvest for themselves.

We care for God’s creation by our stewardship of his gifts – especially by caring for our fellow human beings – we do so as a reflection of God’s love.

God’s love is poured out into us in such measure that it should overflow from us, and through us can overflow onto all creation.

It is an overflow that allows us to maintain creation and preserve it and protect it from harm.

An overflow that moves us to love others and share with them the Good News of God in Christ.

We are tenants of God’s creation, not owners.

Everything we have is a gift by God so we should not think:

 "It's my money and I can spend it as I please."

"It's my body and I have a right to do what I want with it."

"It's my life and I don't need anyone to tell me how to live it."

It’s clear from the beginning of the Bible when God gave Adam and Eve the Garden of Eden, that they didn’t own it, they were tenants sent to care for it.

Life is a gift.

And we have a responsibility to use God’s gifts wisely and faithfully and generously.

And God gives his gifts in the hope of finding a harvest of fruit – fruits of repentance – fruits of the spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Today’s parable shows how humanity responds because of greed.

The tenants had the land but they wanted the land for themselves even though the landowner had been generous to them – but they lost it all.

It is the foundation of the very first sin when Adam and Eve, though given everything, still wanted more when tempted by Satan to “be like God” – and they lost it all.

The sadness for Adam and Eve is that they were more than that already.

They were more than being “like God” – they were created “in the image of God”.

And so too for us, when we allow what God has given to us to become our god our very nature changes.

We no longer reflect the unconditional love of God shown by sending his own Son.

We show love that is conditional both in how we love and who we love.

The judgment of death proclaimed by the Pharisees is an example of what you would expect under those circumstances without grace, in particular for putting the landowner’s son to death.

But the judgment of Jesus’ death is the opposite of what God did.

When God's son was killed, God didn't destroy the people who did it.

Instead, God raised Jesus from the dead and gave him back to us to lead us to a new and better land.

Not as tenants but as heirs.

Until that day…

Year A 2017 - 17th Sunday after Pentecost - Text Matthew 21:23-32 – By what authority?

Sermon 1^st October 2017

Text: Matthew 21:23-32 – By what authority?

There is not much doubt that the church has little to no authority in today’s modern world.

In Luther’s time the church was very powerful.

The Pope was a person with great authority not only in the church but also in the world.

Luther actually challenged the worldly power of the church when he taught his doctrine on the 2 kingdoms.

According to Luther the world consists of 2 Kingdoms.

The Kingdom of the Right and the Kingdom of the Left.

This has nothing to do with the realms of politics with the Left and the Right leanings.

Luther believed that the entire world belonged to God but God ruled it by different means when it came to Church and State.

He believed that God has established worldly governments to rule the Kingdom of the Left.

And so we have Law and Order – police, judges, politicians and similar authorities to keep the world in order.

But it still belongs under God’s overall authority as Jesus reminds Pilate when he says, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. (John 19:11)

The authorities of God’s Left Hand kingdom are doing his job.

And that includes teachers, parents, anyone with authority, and we are called to obey and respect them just as we are respecting God according to the 4th Commandment of honouring our mother and father.

But it’s the Kingdom of the Right Hand of God that causes confusion because it is an authority that is not seen or understood outside of the church.

This is a heavenly authority that has been given to the church as Jesus explained to Peter when he said: I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:18,19)

So the authority that the church has is in regards to forgiving sins to assure people of their home in heaven so when judgment day comes they will have no fear but know that the sins they have had forgiven here on earth have been forgiven in heaven.

Confusion arises for the church when we don’t properly understand what our authority is.

And when we mingle earthly authority and heavenly authority we end up losing both.

When the church protests against worldly situations we are told that’s not our business and that we have no right to interfere.

We are seeing this at present in the marriage survey.

Those in favour of Same Sex Marriage are criticising the church for holding back society and that we have no right or authority to say who should be allowed to marry.

It’s interesting that the church is blamed considering only 52% identified as Christian in the latest census – a good percentage of which would not go to church – and of those who went to church not all disagree with Same Sex Marriage.

Things do get confusing when there is a crossover area.

In matters of ethics it’s difficult because there’s a lot of crossover such as in the marriage debate, the laws being introduced on euthanasia and abortion and it makes it very difficult when laws are introduced in the world, the Left Kingdom which we do not agree with in the Church, the Right Kingdom, but we are impacted by them.

And that’s where we need to use discernment.

St Paul gives instructions to the church when it comes to the world and the Kingdom of the Left:

He says: I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

And perhaps maybe that’s where we are failing as a church – in our prayer life for the world.

It’s so easy to move away from our position as God’s Holy People and join the fight.

Remember when Peter couldn’t agree with Jesus when he said that he would go to Jerusalem and be arrested and put to death.

Peter said NO – this will never happen to you.

He moved away from his post and Jesus put him back – get behind me Satan for you have in mind the things of the world not the things of God.

Notice Jesus’ distinction between the things of God and the things of the world.

Peter had taken up arms in the world and neglected his place in the church.

Likewise, when Jesus was arrested Peter pulls out his sword and cuts of Jesus’ attacker’s ear.

Jesus says to put it away.

Those who live by the sword (the world) die by the sword (Matthew 26:52,53)

If that were the way God wanted to fight against the world he could call 12 legions of angels.

God has equipped the church with spiritual weapons.

Our struggle, as St Paul says, is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)

God has given us the keys to heaven to pronounce forgiveness of sins.

That’s our authority.

We may win a battle here and there in the world but something else will rear its head and we’ll fight that one too and we’ll be taken away from what we have been asked to do – to administer the Gospel.

Like most people I get disheartened at the way the world is going.

I have at times become outspoken, and I have gotten angry and then I realise, that’s not what God wants me to do.

In fact we can neglect our duty as the priesthood of God praying for the world as we end up fighting against the world.

Our desire, like God’s is that all people be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

If it were God’s desire to fight against the world then he would be doing that.

Sometimes we may have to take a stand however.

We may need to stand up for what we believe.

And that may mean loss of some type.

And when we become disheartened about what is happening in the world we need to remember that the world and its leaders will need to give an account to God for how they have lived their lives and exercised their God given authority.

As Paul said in our 2nd reading: at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,  in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,  to the glory of God the Father.

What we are to do is to pray for those who do not yet call Jesus Christ their Lord and be there to forgive.

There are times when we want to take action now –when we want God to take action now – but it’s not about creating the perfect life now – it’s about ensuring people are part of God’s perfect life in heaven.

And that’s why Peter says; The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

The leaders questioned Jesus’ authority in the same way that the world questions our authority.

We may not have the authority we once had in the world, but we have  a much greater authority.

The authority to forgive sins and assure salvation.

The authority of the keys to heaven which the world cannot question or take away from us.

Not even the gates of hell will overcome it unless we step away from the authority given to us.

It can be disheartening at times when we look at the church’s decreasing authority in the world but we need to remember that our authority is a hidden authority that will be revealed when Jesus returns and all people will bow the knee and confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

And then, when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)

So stay strong in the Lord and keep near to where Jesus has promised to be – in his Word, in your Baptism and in his Body and Blood as neither the world nor all the powers of hell can remove them and their authority.

Year A 2017 - 16th Sunday after Pentecost - Text Matthew 20:1-16 – Is God Unfair?

Sermon 24^th September 2017

Text Matthew 20:1-16 – Is God Unfair?

Sometimes life just isn't fair?

It's one of the hard realities we learn early on.

You can learn it in kindergarten when that child won’t share with you.

You can learn it in primary school when the other children won’t play with you or you’re not invited to a birthday party.

You can learn it in high school when the bully keeps picking on you.

You can learn it in the work place when you miss out on that job, on that promotion or one day you find out your job is no longer there.

Sometimes life just isn't fair.

Sometimes we see things as unfair but it’s not that they are unfair but not how we like it, which is highlighted in today’s parable.

The landowner was not being unfair at all.

Those who complained received exactly what they had agreed to.

They thought it was unfair that the one who came in later got the same as them.

And so sometimes we say things are unfair but really it’s to do with our own feelings.

When we read the papers and see criminals receiving what we believe to be light sentences or they receive a suspended sentence we may believe it’s unfair even though it has nothing to do with us.

We weren’t affected by their actions but we believe they should have been punished more.

Sometimes life doesn’t seem fair.

In our world, particularly in our First World Society, what we deem as unfair is seen by Third World Countries as abundance.

We complain about slow food service – while starving countries get no food.

We feel an injustice when our WIFI drops out or when our favourite TV show starts late and we have to wait.

We complain about all the reality TV shows when for many countries war and starvation is their reality.

We worry about our fashions while children lie naked and exposed to the elements.

For some life works pretty well for much of the time.

Then life deals a blow and our entire life seems unfair.

It seems particular unfair when bad things happen to good people while the wicked sometimes live long and seemingly happy lives;

Sometimes life is so unfair and there just are no answers.

Job’s friends tried desperately to find a reason for his suffering but couldn’t.

They kept insisting with Job to search deeper – surely life could not be that unfair if he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Sometimes life is so unfair we can't begin to understand it.

And that's when we begin to question not just the fairness of life, but the fairness of God, which is what the labourers in the vineyard did.

In fact, there are plenty of people in the bible who express their unfairness to God.

Jeremiah was one: Cursed be the day I was born! Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame? (Jeremiah 20:14-18)

I know people who feel like that – maybe you do too.

It’s part of the reason why many are pushing for euthanasia laws to end life before it gets to that.

Or there’s Habakkuk in the very first verses:  How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?  (Habakkuk 1:2)

But there are others treated unfair who do not complain, like Joseph in the Old Testament dumped in the pit and sold into slavery by his brothers.

But because Joseph saw everything from God he was able to forgive.

So many people reject their faith or refuse to believe when they see the unfairness in the world and even within the church:

What kind of God is this?

It's just not fair!

Life isn’t fair if you start with the premise that we deserve everything – which is the way modern society has become.

We need to hear again and again the words of Amazing Grace – how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

Saying life isn't fair does not mean God isn't fair.

And that’s because God's fairness doesn't work the way ours does.

The lives we live are lives that God has given to us; the breath, the clothes on our backs, the food on our table, our health in its varying degrees – are all given by God.

But all that fades into insignificance when we consider the amazing grace given to us through Jesus Christ that is beyond all imagination.

Even when life seems so unfair we remember Pauls words: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18)

No one deserves God’s grace – which is why we call it grace – an undeserved gift of God.

Everything God gives is pure grace.

And because God makes the sun to shine on the righteous and the unrighteous does not make God unfair when he only shines it on the unrighteous.

We shouldn't think of God's love lavished on those we think are undeserving as unfair because God's justice doesn't work the way the world's justice works.

When the laborers cried out “unfair”, the master answered the outcry with a reminder of the justice they received. "Look, you got paid what we agreed on!

No matter how unfair the world sometimes seems, God is always fair."

God has promised us eternal life and that is what we will receive through Jesus Christ.

But there are still so many that are standing idle like those in the market place at the 11th hour.

And God is making his 11th hour bid and sometimes God’s grace to the undeserving seems unfair.

But we remember, we too are undeserving but have been enlightened by grace.

God is more loving than we can imagine anyone being.

God looks at the workers and says, “I love you regardless of what time you showed up for work, I’m just glad you showed up.”

God’s love is not conditional on our behaviour, God just wants us to be in heaven with him.

It is a reminder that we need to be grateful for what God has given us, regardless of what he is doing in the lives of other people in order to lead them to eternal life.

The work of God is about love to the world and finding ways to love others even if they don’t agree with us, look like us, or behave in a way we disagree with.

One of the best ways we can be signs of love in the world is to say thank you to God and be examples of gratitude.

Gratitude is an expression of love that can be a witness to others.

Gratitude in life is extraordinarily important because it is how we understand the goodness of God —but also, it is easy to forget to be grateful and to grumble about what we don’t have rather than be grateful for what we have received.

Third world countries are becoming the church of the future and the future of our church because they know what it is to have nothing and when they receive anything they give thanks to God.

The point of this parable is that we will become blind to the goodness and the fairness of God with a jealous eye.

God's grace is pure grace.

It is the same for everybody.

Sadly to some it doesn't mean as much as we have become comfortable with our affluent lifestyles.

To others who have little or nothing God's grace means a lot more.

But the gift of grace is all the same.

Sometimes it may seem unfair, but God is never unfair.

God took all the unfairness of our lives and our troubled world and placed them on Jesus who suffered the unfairness of death on a cross that we might have life.

Jesus died for all so we are not to consider who does or doesn’t seem to deserve God’s grace.

Remember that, except for God's grace in Christ, neither do we deserve anything from God.

The kingdom of heaven is a gift.

And in Christ it's never too late to come home to God – just ask the thief on the cross.

And that is what God is working hard to do – to bring others into the Kingdom by extending his love and grace – the same love and grace that we have received.

Year A 2017 - 15th Sunday after Pentecost - Text: Matthew 18:21-35 – Forgive us our sins

Sermon 17^th September 2017

Text: Matthew 18:21-35 – Forgive us our sins

On the first Tuesday of every month many Australians nervously await the announcement from the Reserve Bank regarding what they are doing about interest rates.

Our nation’s debt is so high that even a small rise of .25% will send many mortgages into default and households with huge credit card debts into arrears.

The latest figures reveal that our average debt to income is 212%.

This means that for every dollar we earn we spend more than double.

With house prices increasing at record rates it means people are going to go further and further into debt to purchase that valuable asset.

Our housing debt is around 1.7 trillion dollars

Credit card debt is around 47 billion dollars – so you can understand why so many people are nervous.

So many factors can cause a collapse – a crash in house prices – a sickness – a job loss – an unexpected pregnancy – could cause a massive change in circumstances because of our reliance on debt.

Jesus talks about an impossible debt today as an example of the huge debt that humanity owes to God because of our sin.

He talks about a servant whose debt was ten thousand talents.

A talent was a weight used to determine gold and it was estimated that 1 talent was worth around 16 year’s salary.

The servant owed 10,000 talents – 10,000 times an average year’s wage which in Australia is $80,000, times 16 would be around 13 billion dollars that he owed.

The king demands he repay it and until it is repaid he ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions.

The servant begged for mercy and the king granted it to him.

What amazing generosity as there is no way that debt could ever have been repaid.

But unfortunately the servant didn’t quite grasp the generosity or soon forgot about it.

And that’s where we too fall down.

We very quickly forget just how much God has sacrificed for us to clear our debt.

The forgiven servant came upon one of his own servants who owed him a miniscule amount compared to what he owed the king.

He owed him a hundred denarii.

A denarii was a day’s wage – so 100 denarii was roughly $35,000.

Still a lot of money but nothing compared to the 13 billion dollars he had just been forgiven.

And so he demands repayment.

The 2nd servant pleads for mercy, just as the first servant had to the king, but he refused and he threw him into prison.

Jesus told this story as an explanation of where things are at with us and God.

It’s a difficult thing for us to understand and a difficult thing to explain to people that we owe a debt to God.

But that is how the sin is defined.

St Paul uses that terminology too when he says – the wages of sin is death.

As Christians we know that Jesus Christ has fully paid for our debt by his own death which paid the wages of our sin – as St Paul so beautifully puts it - God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus’ death paid the wage of death for sin, but since he himself had no sin he was able to pay our debt in full.

So the impossible debt has been paid.

We have been freed from the debt to sin.

But it’s that 2nd part of the story that is the difficult teaching.

After having been forgiven of his impossible debt he went back to his daily living and forgot about what had happened.

He saw one of his own servants indebted to him but refused to show him the same mercy.

As a result of his refusal to show mercy, the King reversed his decision to forgive the first servant’s debt and imprisoned him until the impossible debt was repaid.

Basically if follows the principal of Jesus’ teaching: For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:2)

Jesus follows up the action by the king with a warning:

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.”

Wow – that is one massive warning by Jesus.

But rather than focusing on the punishment, I believe that Jesus is wanting us to see, firstly the severity of our sin to God in that it is an unpayable debt.

And secondly he wants us to understand the enormity of grace that God has bestowed upon us by the cross of Christ.

Jesus is not trying to frighten us into forgiving – that would not be true forgiveness.

It would be like God forcing us to love him.

He gives us free will to love him or reject him.

But what he is trying to remind us is about God’s unlimited forgiveness that should prevent us from limiting or forgiveness.

Peter had tried to limit forgiveness.

He asks Jesus – how often should I forgive someone who sins against me?

Seven times?

A somewhat generous offer by Peter considering Jewish law only required 2 times and on the 3rd time you were not obliged to forgive.

Now that’s going to be an important distinction later on for Peter who denies Jesus 3 times.

Will Jesus forgive him for the 3rd denial?

Peter has doubled it and added one for good luck – a bit like a “bakers’s dozen”.

But Jesus is warning Peter that if that is what he thinks about forgiving others – what does he think about God forgiving him?

If he limits how much he forgives others, will he be in danger of wondering whether God has forgiven him.

What if Peter sins against God 8 times – will God still forgive him?

Does he want that uncertainty?

Especially with what is about to happen to Peter and his denial of Jesus when he is arrested – Jesus wants Peter to know that God will forgive him

Otherwise he will be in danger of thinking like Judas who could not take the guilt of having betrayed Jesus and took his own life.

Judas tried to pay back his debt of sin but it would never be enough.

Jesus wants Peter to know that God is not going to forgive him only 7 times – but he is going to keep forgiving him without number.

For God there is no number because when God forgives he forgets our sin – as the writer to the Hebrews says: Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." (Hebrews 10:17).

If there were a limit then we could never be sure if we’ve gone over.

And if we limit how much we forgive then we have not understood what forgiveness is and what it means that God has forgiven us.

And that’s Jesus point.

Not that God WON’T forgive us but that we have not really understood our own forgiveness and that’s what Jesus is wanting to avoid for us.

Debt enslaves and obligates us to the creditor.

Interest paid on the debt keeps us in debt.

There is no escape unless the debt is paid in full and in Jesus parable he clearly states that our debt of sin is too much for us to pay – but Jesus has paid it in full.

And now Jesus wants us to forgive so we can be freed from the consequences of unforgiveness which includes:

Human relationships are broken between friends, in the home, in marriages.

A person who does not forgive harbors bitterness, hatred, and resentment in the heart.

This keeps God's forgiveness out and the person is too full of negative feelings to experience the love and peace of God's forgiveness.

A person who does not forgive is usually an unhappy and experiences loneliness.

Sadly forgiveness is often seen as a sign of weakness – giving in.

But it is the most powerful thing to do.

It is easy to fight back, to hold a grudge – but it takes real power to forgive.

Satan uses our hurt to keep us hating and holding a grudge.

He reminds us of our sins so we don’t experience God’s freeing forgiveness and he reminds us of other people’s sin against us so we withhold our forgiveness of them.

God wants us to forgive, not because he withholds his forgiveness unless we forgive – no, otherwise it’s not grace.

God wants us to forgive so we can open our hearts to know and experience his forgiveness of us.

There is no better feeling of having the weight of hate and bitterness released and living in harmony with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

So may God give you the strength to forgive others as God has forgiven you.