Seeds for 11/15/2023 - Matthew 18:21-35
Scripture: Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Observation: There’s a connection between this parable and Jesus’ instruction about forgiveness found paired with the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, in the Sermon on the Mount. Both passages link reception of forgiveness to our capacity to offer forgiveness.
Several observations stand out.
First, Peter assumes a great deal of forgiveness, but Jesus’ vision is much larger still. Peter asks and posits a significant number, both in quantity and symbolism—seven. Jesus ups the number by a little over a factor of ten to seventy-seven times. Even at our best, our vision is much smaller than God’s vision.
Second, our experience of forgiveness is not only redemptive, but also instructive, and ultimately transformative.
The point of the parable is found in the final line. Just as the king forgave the servant of such a great debt, the servant should have forgiven his fellow servant the lesser debt that he was owed. The king’s forgiveness had redeemed. But sadly, it had not instructed or transformed him. His attitude was the same. He took the king’s forgiveness for granted. It was a wonderful and unexpected turn of events, but that was more or less the extent of it. The servant’s redemption was incomplete.
“Unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” The first step is to forgive. The ultimate goal is to gain a heart like Jesus. This is challenging. Far simpler to enjoy the gifts of God. Much harder to become like the Giver. Harder, that is, so long as we hold onto the heart we currently have. Surrender is the hard part. After all, bringing forth new life is not difficult for God. All we must do is want God’s heart more than we want His benefits.
Application:
Who or what has been hard for you to forgive in the past?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, do your full work of transformation in me. Forgive and redeem me but don’t stop there. Cleanse me, renew me, and make my heart like yours. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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Yes, Lord, make it so in me.