Matthew 18:21-35

Pay What You Owe

            There’s a certain level of common sense that says you shouldn’t buy things that you don’t have money for. Taking on debt is a risky endeavor because you’re counting on future potential earnings that don’t exist right now. Now, we all know at the same time that you can’t always buy the things you need without taking on debt. A house, an education, a car, and so on. There are definitely good reasons to take on debt so long as you know you’ll be capable of paying it off. And that’s the key. You have to be able to pay it off. You have to actually work and make the money that you’ve already promised in the form of debt. But what happens if you have more debt that you can pay? Or what happens if you don’t make as much as you planned or hoped? This is where people get into trouble. Foreclosures, bankruptcy, or even seizure of other assets may be necessary to pay off a debt. But today is the day that we talk about debts beyond just money. For all of us have a debt that is far greater than we can manage. And all of us are equally incapable of working hard enough, making enough, or even doing anything to pay it back. Of course, it’s our sin. As sinners, we are morally and spiritually bankrupt. We own nothing but also owe everything. For the payment for such a debt is blood. Your blood. Your life. The wages of sin is death. So, who can possibly hope to pay such a debt?

            This is what brings us to our Gospel reading today. Following Jesus’ teaching from last week, Peter asks a follow-up question. It’s this question that gets us to the very heart of the Christian life, the ebb and flow of faith, repentance and forgiveness. And just as Jesus has proven to do, he has one more surprising answer for us. For let us learn today: 

WHEN THE PRICE IS TOO MUCH, REMEMBER HOW MUCH JESUS PAID FOR YOU!

I.

            This is our pesky human nature on full display. We live with so many double-standards that it’s hard for us to recognize how off-kilter our life is. Why would it be any different with our sins? For in the same stroke, we can ask God for forgiveness for ourselves but curse off a brother who has sinned against us. But let’s take seriously the question which Peter asks today, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Matthew 18:21. We all know the issue which Peter has in mind, for it’s the same one we ask ourselves. When someone keeps hurting you in the same way, do you have to keep taking it? How many times are we going to tolerate someone lying to us before we say enough is enough? We all know that there are people that just want to see if you’ll let them walk all over you. And we worry that being too forgiving is allowing them to do just that. So, what’s the answer? How do we balance a call to forgive with some common sense that says we need to stand up for ourselves? 

            For I’ll tell you what we usually do. We keep score. We might say that we forgive, but in reality, we’re tallying up the debt and keeping it until it proves useful to us. Just like the unforgiving servant, “Pay what you owe,” Matthew 18:28. It’s those fights between husbands and wives where we dig up every minor infraction over the last ten years. It’s the fights between siblings that take a lifetime of disagreements as justification to harm them in return. It’s our transactional lifestyle that says the only debt that matters is the debt that’s owed to me. We treat forgiveness as some temporary thing. We overlook sin in the moment but reserve the right to bring it back up when it’s most valuable to us. For to all of us who hold grudges and keep score, we have a master who is displeased with the way we’ve treated our fellow servants. For as he said, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” Matthew 18:32-33. For if we think forgiveness comes from us, we’ll always mistreat it as a way to advance our own interests.

II.

            For let us understand what forgiveness truly means, by first understanding what it’s not. Forgiveness isn’t acting like sin never happened. That is, forgiveness is not equated to “forgetting” an offense against us. Forgiveness isn’t a mulligan either. We don’t just “rewind” and start over as if we can do better the next time. Nor is forgiveness an act of balancing the scales, eye for an eye. We don’t take revenge or get a “freebee” because someone sinned against us. Forgiveness is rather a change of our disposition. When we forgive someone, what we say is that our love and care for the individual is greater than any debt owed to us. For this is what we’re called to do as Christians. We can’t eliminate all sin. We’re sinners ourselves. Rather, forgiveness is our declaration that we’re in this together. For forgiveness choses not to keep score of wrongs, but rather looks towards reconciliation and growth in faith and love.

            And why and how do we forgive? Because God has forgiven us! This is where forgiveness comes from. For how many times have we sinned against God, even the same sin, and he has forgiven us? Yes, we come before God as morally bankrupt. “And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt,” Matthew 18:27. God had pity on us. He saw our inability to pay the massive debt we owed. But instead of turning us over to Satan, God loved us more than any payment he deserved. Thus, God sent his own Son to pay the debt in our stead. He forgave us, offering to walk with us through our sin and even death so that he may save our relationship with him. Yes, God counted you of greater value than any debt we’ve accumulated. Such is the sign of the cross. Our sins demanded payment which God couldn’t ignore. Thus, he paid it for us by giving Jesus to pour out his blood. This is what forgiveness means. It’s God’s love for us sinners that he offers his own Son as payment for our debt. For when we forgive one another, it’s out of this love, this forgiveness given us by God that we come to pass along to our neighbors.

            Just as God forgives us for the sake of Christ, so too are we to forgive one another. Not just a couple times, seven times, but seventy times seven, that is, all the time. For when the debt piled up against us seems great, we need only look back to God and see just how much he has forgiven us. Thus, we live in this ebb and flow of forgiving and being forgiven so that we can walk together towards eternal life in Christ! In Jesus’ name! Amen!