Keep on forgiving

I've been thinking about one of Jesus’ parables in Matthew 18 lately.  First of all, to set up context, there’s an exchange between Jesus and Peter that occurs right before Christ gives this parable.  Peter comes up to Jesus and he asks, “Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me?  Up to seven”” (Matthew 18:21)?  But Jesus must have made Peter’s jaw drop when He answered, “Not seven times, but seventy times seven” (verse 22).  A pastor that I’ve mentioned before in this blog – the late Pastor Rick Ferguson – often stated that Jesus’ point here is not that you forgive 490 times but no more.  It’s that Jesus is saying that there’s no limit; you must always choose to forgive.  I agree with Rick’s assessment.

This is further evidenced when you note that immediately after He said His "seventy times seven" statement, Jesus tells the parable known as the parable of the unmerciful or unforgiving servant to clarify.  This parable is from Matthew 18:23-35.  I’ll summarize it.  A man owes what Jesus says is “ten thousand talents” (verse 24).  In short, this is an astronomically high amount of money; an amount that essentially can’t be paid off in a lifetime.  This man goes to his master and he begs for time to pay off his debt.  The master, out of compassion, cancels the debt altogether.

So the man, freshly forgiven of his massive debt, goes to another man who owes him what Jesus says is “a hundred denerii” (verse 28).  This can easily be paid off in a short amount of time.  The man begs for time to pay off his debt.  But sadly the first man, the man who was forgiven of a debt he couldn't possibly hope to ever pay, refuses to extend the same forgiveness and graciousness that he was given, even though the debt is substantially less.

 

Jesus’ point is abundantly clear.  I, as a Christian, have been forgiven a debt of sin that was enormous, massive, and vast beyond measure.  This debt of sin was pardoned by God, based on Jesus’ shed blood on the cross for me.  How can I then turn around and refuse to extend forgiveness to someone else?  After all, whatever the grievance against me, it pales in comparison to the grievances that I had toward God, and yet He chose to forgive.  I must do the same.

I wish I could end there, but there's more.  Strap on your theological seat belt because Jesus actually ends the parable with a shocking conclusion.  The master, upon discovering that the man he forgave didn’t extend the same forgiveness to the other man, repeals his original offer of forgiveness, and he throws the man into prison until he can pay back the massive debt.  Jesus ends by saying, “This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart” (Matthew 18:35).  

This is a very hard verse.  Frankly, I've wrestled with this conclusion and its explanation for years.  First, let me be clear on one point: this text is not suggesting that the unforgiving man or woman loses his salvation, and that he/she now has to perform works of penance to appease God.  This interpretation is erroneous because it goes against the rest of the Bible.  Remember Ephesians 2 tells us that salvation or the forgiveness of sin is a free gift; we can’t possibly earn it to begin with.  So what is Jesus saying here, then?

Here’s where I've landed: I think what Jesus is saying here is that unforgiveness drives a wedge between God and the Christian.  The unforgiving Christian doesn't lose his salvation, but he does lose his fellowship, his intimacy, his sense of closeness with God.  Why?  Because he or she is not living the way God’s Word says to live.  All throughout the Scriptures we read to extend forgiveness to others; therefore to refuse to do so is to sin against God.  And sin negatively impacts intimacy with God.  It makes God feel like He is a million miles away.

Therefore, let me end where I started.  How many times did Jesus say to forgive others?  He said "seventy times seven."  In other words, there’s no limit to the amount of times I’m to forgive others.  Keep on forgiving, as I stated for this blog title.  If I choose to disregard this and inwardly nurse a grudge, there are consequences for this decision.  There are emotional, physical, and spiritual consequences.  Thus, the bottom line to all of this is obvious and clear: it’s far better to always choose to forgive, no matter what.

Kevin

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you” – Colossians 3:13