The Giving
Part of For-Give-Ness 饒恕的給予 (Matt.
INTRODUCTION
There are quite a number of passages in the Bible where the meaning and applications are fairly straight forward. This passage is an example of it. Jesus reminds us Christians that since our Heavenly Father forgave all of our sins we should forgive those who sin against us. That’s it! You say, yes, I get the message. Can we be dismissed now for an early lunch? Not so fast. Very often when we study the Bible it is not the “what” part that is difficult to grasp. It’s the “how” and “why” that bothers us. I know what the Bible passage tells me to do but why should I do it and how can I apply the truth in my daily life?
This story is a typical example of how Jesus uses a parable. It all starts with a question, then Jesus gives His answer, which is followed by the parable to further elaborate Jesus’ point, and finally Jesus gives a concluding remark on the moral of the parable. With that in mind let us take a look at the passage in detail.
QUESTION AND ANSWER
Peter the disciple comes to Jesus and asks how many times he should forgive a brother who sins against him (v. 21). Are seven times good enough? Commentators point out that Peter may have based his argument on a rabbinic teaching at that time. Some rabbi suggested that if the same person offends you three times with the same sin you should forgive him. But the fourth time onward no forgiveness should be granted. Peter may be thinking in his heart: see how gracious I am; I go beyond the norm and extend my forgiveness up to seven times!
Jesus’ answer must be very shocking to Peter (v. 22). If we take “seven” as a number for perfection then what Jesus means is: your forgiveness should be more perfect than your own definition of perfection. Whether Jesus’ answer is seventy times seven (or 490 times, as in the Chinese translation) or seventy-seven times (as in the NIV) does not make any difference. Most people would lose count of the number of forgiveness being granted if their forgiveness goes that far.
From this we can draw some quick applications. True forgiveness is not number counting. It is either being given or being held back. If we set a limit in our hearts how many times we should forgive someone who offended us then it is not true forgiveness. In the well-known “Love Passage” of 1 Corinthians chapter 13 Paul reminds us in v. 5 that: It (Love) is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Law sets a rigid limit on what should or should not be done. But love breaks the barrier goes beyond the legitimate requirement.
THE PARABLE
Jesus begins His parable in v. 23 with the phrase “the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus speaks on a number of parables about the kingdom of heaven. The term does not refer to heaven itself only, for the Bible tells us that there will be no sin in heaven and therefore no forgiveness will be needed. In a broader sense “the kingdom of heaven” refers to the collection of believers of Jesus Christ as a whole. But to the individual believer “the kingdom of heaven” can be understood as his or her local church. This can be confirmed by Peter’s question when he asks Jesus for advice when “my brother” sins against him. You who have a quick mind may think that since this passage applies to believers only that would mean that you should not extend your forgiveness to your non-believing spouses, family members or the people at your work place. I hope that by the end of this message you can figure out an answer to that question.
This parable has three major characters: the king, a servant and his fellow brother. The king may be doing an annual auditing and wants to settle his accounts with his servants. He may be the director of IRS and his servants are the local tax collectors. Verse 24 tells us that a servant who owes the king ten thousand talents is brought forth. How much is that? In Greek “ten thousand” and “talent” 他連得are the biggest number and unit for currency, respectively. In computer terminology we have mega, giga and now tetra. By international standard tetra is 10 to the 12th power, that is 1 followed by 12 zeros. The biggest unit that has a name man can come up with so far is called “yotta,” that is 1 followed by 24 zeros! Someone estimated that one talent is about what a person could earn in a lifetime in Jesus’ time. Therefore, ten thousand talents is an astronomically huge number in any sense. Of course, there is no way a person could have owed another person that much money in Biblical times. That is an exaggeration effect of the parable. Facing such a big debtor the king’s reaction in v. 25 is to sell whatever the servant has, such that at least he can get something back out of nothing. It is like nowadays when someone file for bankruptcy his creditors have the right to liquidate and repossess all the property the debtor has. But even if the king sells the whole family of the servant into slavery and all his possession it would not be enough to cover a tiny portion of the debt. The king does everything within his right. Look at how the servant responds in v. 26. He begs the king for mercy and patience. How on earth would he ever have the ability to pay back all he owes? The king reacts by doing above and beyond what his servant asks for. He releases the servant and cancels his debt. That is true forgiveness. From this we can derive the first two “givings” when we think of forgiveness.
I. Forgiveness is: Giving yourself
the right not to reclaim
饒恕是: 給予自己放棄追究的權利
First, forgiveness is giving yourself the right not to reclaim. When you truly forgive a person you cannot come back to him months or years later and bring up the issue again, saying, “Hey, remember what you have done to me at that time?” True forgiveness is more complete than a pencil eraser, detergent or the delete key on a computer.
When someone offends us our natural reaction is to pay back what he deserves. Those litigation attorneys’ TV commercials may encourage us to exercise our right to get back what we deserve. Now I do not have anything against lawyers because every civil society needs them to stand up for the innocents. And we do have people in our congregation studying or practicing law. But without exception when a settlement is rendered these lawyers enjoy their right and snatch a big chunk of the monetary reward into their own pocket. I once wondered if I were a lawyer I would apply for a toll free number 1-800-sue-them for my practice.
Once there was a brother named Joe from the church I attended who gave me a lot of trouble. He had a conflict with another brother. Whether who was right only God would know. But gradually Joe turned against anybody who sided with the second brother. That was how my wife and I got dragged into the whole mess. We tried to play mediator but Joe would not listen. We argued face to face and we argued through email. Eventually he just shut himself out of the church. We became his enemies. Soon after that we began to receive harassment phone calls in the middle of the night. We suspected that it was from Joe but we had no proof of it. Finally we could bear it no more. We asked the phone company to install caller ID at our home. Lo and behold those phone calls kept coming back. We traced the phone number and found out that it was from one of the emergency phone booths in the school apartment area. Then one night our phone rang again and it was from the same number. When we hung up we called a brother who lived minutes from the phone booth. Without surprise there was Joe. I asked the brother to jot down the license plate of the car and the time. I was so pleased in my heart because I got both a witness and the evidence to indict Joe. When I was pondering what to do next something happened the following night. There was a storm and our electrical power was down momentarily. But that was enough to wipe out the record in the caller ID machine. My wife and I knew very clearly that it was a sign from God that we should forgive Joe. And we did. We asked God to forgive Joe for what he did and also to forgive us for our evil thoughts.
See when someone offended you there are two choices you can go. You can continue to bear grudge 記恨against this person. You may think of hundreds of ways to make even. You lose appetite and cannot sleep well. Your heart turns from sour to bitter. But this person may not feel a thing. He may continue to eat well and sleep well. It is like those kiddy sentiment: la, la, la, la, la, la, you can’t catch me. But this parable tells us that you have a second and better choice. You can choose to forgive. That sets you free from the bondage of resentment怨恨的束縛. But forgiveness does not only give yourself freedom.
II. Forgiveness is: Giving others the freedom
to be released
饒恕是: 給予對方如釋重負的自由
Forgiveness is also giving others the freedom to be released. In our parable the servant expects the worst would come to reality. The selling of his possession and his whole family to slavery is what he deserves. But never in a dream did he expect to receive what he does not deserve. The king cancel his debt altogether! How great is the freedom he enjoys. True forgiveness is unconditional. You do not say to another person: I forgive you only if you do such and such. When we say we forgive another person we let go of all the obligations he owes you. The ultimate goal of forgiveness is reconciliation, not compensation. Whether or not the other party does anything to make up for the damage being done is not within your control. Someone puts it this way: forgiveness is initiated by one party, but reconciliation involves both sides.
Just imagine how this servant would celebrate the forgiveness he just received. Here comes the climax of the story. Just as he walks out of the king’s mansion he sees a friend of his who owes him a hundred denarii 達利拉. How much would that be? That is about 100 days’ wage for an average worker. Compared to what he owes the king that is just six hundred-thousandth of it. Naturally for someone whose gigantic debt has just been forgiven we would expect him to extend the same forgiveness to his fellow brother. That reminds me of the TV commercial of a bank. I cannot remember the details but it goes somewhat like this: a delivery guy drops a package from his dolly, but just before it hits the ground a lady comes by and grabs it. Then this same delivery guy is caught on a traffic jam but he gladly gives way to another driver who is leaving a shopping center parking lot. This delivery guy may be a mean person. But since he receives kindness from a stranger he is willing to treat another person with kindness too. But this is what we see in this servant. Verse 28 says he grabs his brother and chokes him. In the next verse we are told that this brother falls on his knees to beg the servant. Notice the parallel between v. 29 and v. 26. So the dramatic effect is that when people hear this story they would have expected the same ending as before, which is to say the servant would be willing to forgive his fellow brother just as he received forgiveness from the king. But he just wouldn’t. Instead he throws his brother into jail and waits till he pays back the debt, most likely through a ransom from his family members and friends. The news quickly spread to the king. From the king’s response in v. 32 to 33 it confirms what an average reader would have expected for the servant. He ends up receiving the same treatment the way he treated his fellow brother.
Paul in Ephesians 4:31-32 tells
us to: Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along
with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving
each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. A person who receives true
forgiveness is one who willingly forgives others. When we forgive others who
offended us we are giving ourselves the right not to reclaim, we are giving
others the freedom to be released and we are also giving God the glory He
should receive. And that is the third “giving” in forgiveness.
III. Forgiveness is: Giving God the glory He should
receive
饒恕是: 給予上帝本該得到的榮耀
When the servant received forgiveness from the king his family and friends would be anxious to know where on earth a person can find such gracious master. They would be eager to know him. In the same way, as Christians, our forgiveness is a powerful witness of the grace and mercy of God. God’s forgiveness is so unconditional and complete that it is unheard of in this world. When we forgive others unconditionally ultimately God gets the glory.
Jesus
concludes in v. 35
with the moral of the parable. How should we interpret this verse? Does Jesus
mean that whenever we withhold our forgiveness toward others our Heavenly
Father would dig up all our old sins and bring charge against us? If we believe
that when we received Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord He has forgiven all
of our past, present and future sins then even God Himself cannot condemn us
again. Let me suggest two ways how the commentators look at this verse. From
the negative side those who withhold their forgiveness show that they have not
really received forgiveness from God. In another word they are not Christians.
From the positive side only those who display forgiveness by a life of
forgiving others show that they have accepted God’s forgiveness. If you go back
to v. 27 you would
see the phrase “canceled the debt.” Does it sound familiar to you? Yes, that is
part of the Lord’s Prayer. Matt.
Forgiveness is contrary to our human nature. As I said before as human we always want to make even. We always want to protect our right. As such forgiveness is not only irrational it is beyond human rationality. That is because God’s love is beyond our comprehension. Before the universe was created God knew our sinful human nature. Long before even we were born God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to come to the earth to die on the cross for our sins. He died for us when we were rebellious and even hated Him. But He is ready to grant forgiveness to those who would be willing to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Hebrews 13:2-3 says Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Indeed if we rely on our strength and focus on those who offended us and the pain we endured forgiveness would be impossible. The author of Hebrews encourages us to consider Jesus. He suffered in the hands of those who hated Him. But those were the very people He died for. At the cross He prayed to the Father in Luke 23:34: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Jesus died for the person who offended you but He also died for your sin of unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is a sin because you refuse to treat other people with the love God treats you.
Let me
close with a true story which a pastor I heard from the Christian radio quoted
from a book. There is a CEO who runs a company from the top floor of a
commercial building in