Finnish Lutheran Church in Ball

Pastor Timo’s sermon, September 14th, 2008

18^th Sun after Pentecost, Matthew 18:21-35 translated by Katja Kupari

Today's gospel begins with Peter asking how many times he has to forgive a brother when he sins against me. Up to seven times? Not seven times, but seventy-seven times, Jesus replies.
The numbers seven and seventy-seven have a specific meaning, which may not be obvious right away to those reading the Bible today. As many of us know, numbers have a significance in the Bible. They are not lucky or magic numbers, but represent and are symbols of a specific spiritual truth. For example, when Jesus was choosing His 12 disciples it was no coincidence - the number 12 represented all of Israel's tribes. That is why 12 disciples, 12 apostles meant restoring Israel, God's people and through these 12 tribes the message of God's Kingdom begun to spread all over the world.

The number seven is also not a coincidence in today's writing. The number seven is a symbol of pefrection and purification. As early as in the Creation, when God was done with all the creating, He sanctified the seventh day as a holy day. Also the last book of Bible, the Book of Revelation uses the number seven frequently in connection with perfection.
This as background for today's gospel. So, when Peter asks Jesus if he should forgive a sinning brother 7 times, he is actually asking if he should forgive "completely". Jesus replies to Peter 'not "completely", but "completely completely"', seventy-seven times.

The parable that Jesus tells about the unmerciful servant has important information about the money of New Testament times. Through the information the meaning of the parable becomes more clear to the reader. The servant owed the king 10,000 talents. 10,000 talents was completely different from dollars or euros of today. The servant's debt was more like a corporate debt than a personal debt, because one talent was worth 6,000 denaris, and 1 denari was a laborer's daily wage. In denaris, which was indeed the everyday currency, the servant owed the king 60 million denaris! With that amount the king could've, for example, hired over 164,000 laborers to tend his estate for a year. No small change, then, and as we can see this is a parable, for no ordinary servant would've ended up with such debt, after all there were no banks offering adjustable rate mortgages back then!

But the king ordered the servant's property to be repossesed. Everything the servant owned, even his wife and children, were to be sold. The servant broke down and begged the king to have patience to let him pay everything back, for how could he give up his own family. It was obvious that the servant would have had to work endless double-shifts, because at the rate of one denari a day it would've taken 450 years for him to pay the king back. But what ended up happening? The king took pity on his servant and canceled the whole debt, 60 million denaris

This could’ve been the happy ending for the story, but unfortunately this is not what happened.

The servant who got his family back and all of his debts forgiven left the king’s house with a light heart and ran into a fellow servant who owed him 100 denaris. What did the servant whose amazing 60 million denari debt had just been forgiven? He attacked the fellow servant and finally had him thrown in jail and expected to collect his 100 denaris. The parable ends with the king restoring the servant’s debt of 60 million denaris and the servant also ends up in jail until he has paid his impossible debt off.

The message of the parable is clear, as said by Jesus – the King is the Heavenly Father who forgives those who repent ”completely completely”. Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and the forgiveness are so great and ”completely complete” that millions and billions are mere fractions in comparison.

God is willing to forgive our immeasurable debt of sins through Christ. A debt that we could never pay off with any amount of money or good deed. God forgives ”completely completely”. Today’s gospel asks if we are ready to receive this forgiveness that brings us salvation and eternal life. If we are, we must also forgive those who have trespassed against us. Because their trespasses against us are insignificant and minuscule compared to our trespasses against God.

Am I, are you, willing to forgive ”completely completely”, from the bottom of your heart? This is a question that every christian is asked according to God’s word. The way we answer it also shows our attitude towards God’s grace and forgiveness. Do we see God’s grace for us as so great that we understand that the things and people who truly hurt us are only raindrops in the pond compared to the eternal ocean or grace.

Forgivenes according to God’s word is ”completely complete”, because Christ has paid all our sin-debt by dying on the cross and as an absolute sacrifice. Naturally, humans do not comprehend this and only the Holy Spirit can reveal to us that we are sinners but yet by God’s mercy, we are forgiven through Christ.

Christianity’s message of God’s grace and forgiveness is still a very current topic to today’s humans, and the fact that God requires us to forgive eachother touches all of us and makes it even more current. That is why forgiving is even today one of the most challenging and important issues in our christian lives.

So what does this ”completely complete” forgiveness then mean to you and me, in our relationships that so often hurt us and our feelings, when we feel that someone is mistreating us. When I’m asked if I forgive a certain person, I’m asked if I forgive with all my heart. It is not something like; I can forgive this and that, but not that other thing. This kind of partial forgiveness is not true forgiving, according to Jesus. Forgiveness is all or nothing.

What does is mean to forgive from the bottom of your heart then? Someone put it very well, I think, when they said that forgiveness is like blowing out a candle. When you blow the wick out, the flame disappears, but a little bit of smoke remains. It could be thought then that forgiveness is a matter of wanting. I decide and want to forgive the person who has trespassed against me, a person that I hold a grudge against, who has hurt me. I decide that I no longer plan a revenge, hate him, am no longer bitter and do not blame him. In my mind I release him from everything he has done to me. At the same time I can trust God’s righteousness, God watches over us and sees all injustice and He is a fair judge. When I have made a decision like this, the wick of my candle has gone out. The feelings may still be there, though. There’s still some smoke and I have to process my feelings of hatred and bitterness. When the hurt is deep, the process of forgiveness is long. The feelings are still there, but you have made your decision and want to forgive, even though you’d have to remind yourself of the decision you’ve made, so that your candle would not burn again. Because with time the process of forgiving will come to it’s end and there will be no more smoke on your candle, and your feelings will not be hurtful regarding this issue or person and you are truly free of what happened to you.

At times forgiving can be very quick, without long emotional processes. Your conscience is bothering you and in order to be more at ease and breathe lighter, there’s a need to ask for forgiveness and forgive.

The closer the relationship, the harder and often more difficult the forgiveness. The most common topic of pastors at weddings in Finland is forgiveness. All married people know how asking for forgiveness and forgiving are the most important things in caring for a relationship. When married couples make up and forgive, that particular issue does not need to be addressed when the next argument arises, otherwise forgiving is only superficial and building true trust becomes difficult.

Forgiving does not always mean that you can continue life with something or someone like nothing never happened. If there’s violence or infidelity in the family, one does not have to remain a victim in the name of forgiveness. If someone is bullied at work or at school he can try to change things or location. Forgiveness is not stupidity but intelligence. When you forgive you may learn to avoid certain situations, learn to choose. But nevertheless, in order to be able to continue your life, you must forgive what happened. If the past lays heavy on you, you cannot start building the future.

I’ve heard and read about christians who have experienced really horrible things, all possible things that can happen in this world. But these people have said that only when they first really were able to forgive their assailants did they start recovering and experiencing their own freedom. Forgiveness is therefore a healing process too, for your own self. Forgiveness makes your life and relationship healthier. Not forgiving suffocates and makes your own and your loved ones’ life bitter. Unfortunately we often remind ourselves, either secrectly or publicly, of those who have done us wrong. In that case we are not ready to forgive and are therefore bound with our bitterness and not being able to forgive. In the Bible Josef’s big brothers abused their little brother and sold him as a slave in Egypt. After several years things had changed, though, and Josef was in a high position by the Pharaoh and his brothers were now starving and fearing for revenge. But Josef said: 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done (Gen 50:20) Josef had forgiven and he took the brothers who had wronged him in and supported them in Egypt. Someone else may have thought of revenge and bitterness, Josef had learned forgiveness and to see God’s guidance in even the difficult times.

God can allow defeats and even bad things to happen to us, but He can also turn them into victories and good things, when we are ready to forgive.

Today’s gospel started with the question, what should I do if a brother, fellow parishioner trespasses against me? And it is no coincidence that it’s a congregation in the parable, for a congregation, if any establishment, should forgive, to maintain the connection, the hallmark of any congregation. Jesus’s reply and request is clear to us; it is our mission to forgive, completely, from the bottom of our heart. If it’s possible to settle the whole argument, even better, for it may be easier to forgive after that. But if you cannot face this person who you have something against, forgive him in your heart at least. Only then will you realize how you are really free of your weight and how you comprehend, in a completely new way God’s ”completely complete”, eternal love and forgiveness for you.

Saarnat Suomeksi	Previous Sermons in English

*Elok. 24, 2008*	*Aug. 24, 2008*
Toukok. 25, 2008	May 25, 2008
Toukok. 11, 2008	May 11, 2008
Huhtik.27, 2008	April 27, 2008
*Maalisk. 30, 2008*	Mar. 30, 2008
Maalisk. 23, 2008	Mar. 23, 2008
Maalisk. 09, 2008	Mar.09, 2008
	Feb.10, 2008
	Jan.27.2008
	Jan 13,2008 Baptism of Our Lord