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October 21, 2007
Scripture: Matthew 18: 21-35
Title: "Forgiveness of Sins"

There is a very human need for forgiveness. Forgiveness for things we have done. Forgiveness for things done against us. There is a need for forgiveness and it plays itself out in our everyday lives.

This week, I noticed that it seemed more than usual how the theme of forgiveness found its way into my every day activities. It came to me through the TV, through the internet, and through magazines that I read. I would see stories of people’s struggles of dealing with forgiveness in their lives. One story in particular caught my attention. It was an interview with a father who had lost family in the Okalahoma City bombings several years ago. This gentleman was sharing his story of his hurt, of his anger and of his chance for forgiveness. This gentleman took the readers back to the courtroom during the trial. He remembers sitting in the courtroom and hearing the bomber’s testimony about the killings. He remembers the rage. He remembers the hurt. Day after day as the trial continued, he would go to the courtroom and look at his family’s killer.

And soon it became time for the sentencing part of the trial, the part that this man had waited for all along. He wanted death. He wanted this man to suffer. He wanted justice.

He remembers other victim’s family members getting up and pleading for the death penalty. And he was right there, wanting the death penalty. He said that on the night before he was suppose to go on the stand, he was rehearsing what he would say in the courtroom. And as he was doing this, he found that he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t ask for this man’s death, no matter how much pain this man had caused him. And He couldn’t put it into words what he was feeling or explain why he felt this why.

And the next day, he took the stand and pleaded for life in prison for this killer. He asked that this man not be put to death. He asked that this man, this killer, spend out his days in jail.
It was only after the trial had ended and life got back to some sort of normalcy, that this man was able to put into words why he could not ask for the death penalty for his family’s killer. “I didn’t want the death penalty for this man for just one reason. No, it wasn’t that I thought that he did not need to suffer for all that he had done. No, I wasn’t that I thought this man shouldn’t be punished for his crimes. The reason that I asked for life for this man, this killer was so that when I am ready, if I am ever ready, I could let forgiveness happen. If he is dead, there will never be a chance for forgiveness. If the killer was dead, I would be left in prison, a prison of hate and hurt, sealed off from life, without any hope of ever being free. Only forgiveness would have freed me from that prison.

Only forgiveness will free from that prison of hate, hurt and hunger. Only forgiveness.

That is what Jesus is telling his disciples as he shares this story with them. Jesus has just finished telling the disciple about how to go about forgiving one another. He gives them specific instructions to make sure that the bonds of community are never to be purposely broken. Jesus wants them to try everything possible to reconcile with one another and Jesus also acknowledges that sometimes reconciliation is not possible but that is no excuse not to try.

So Peter enters the conversation. He has taken a few moments to think about what Jesus has said about reconciling with our brothers and sisters. He still has a few questions. Peter understands that Jesus wants the community to stay intact and Jesus says that there does come a point where reconciliation is not possible. So what is that point? Tradition says that we really only have to forgive this person three times and then we can be done with that person. Maybe Jesus meant we needed to give this person a few more chances.

“Jesus, okay, let’s say that this person has wronged me. And I have forgiven him but he still keeps doing it. So are you saying that I need to forgive him… say, seven times and that is enough?

And Jesus says no. “Peter, seven times is not enough. You should forgive him seventy seven times or even seven times seventy. Peter there is no perfect number to which you keep count in the number of times you forgive a person. Your forgiveness should be unlimited just as God’s forgiveness is unlimited towards you.”

“Let me tell you a story…and then Jesus proceeds to share a story about an unforgiving servant. There is this king and one day, he decided to get his books in order. He noticed that there was this one guy who owed him about a billion dollars, so he brought the servant to him and ordered him to repay the king, knowing that there was really no way that this guy could ever pay back the amount that he owed. And all of sudden, the servant falls down on his hands and knees, begging for more time, reassuring the king that he will pay him back, pleading, “Please don’t sell my family and me for my debt.”

And the king does something amazing. He turns to the servant and says, your debt is forgiven. Go now and be free. You no longer have to fear prison. Go and experience new life.

So this servant leaves the king and begins his walk home. And he runs into person who owes him money, say about $100, a feasible sum of money that could actually be paid back. And he demands his money now. The other guy falls down and begs for more time. He promises that he will pay back the money, pleading he just needs more time.

And then the servant does something amazing. He turns to the other guy and says no. If you can’t pay me, you are going to jail until you can pay. And if you still can’t pay, guess what your family is going to be sold.
And so off to prison, the one man goes, and the one servant goes home.

Well, soon word gets around. “Did you hear what he did? The king forgave his debt but he didn’t even think about forgiving this other guy’s debt. Can you believe that?

Well, word gets back to the king and the servant is brought before the king again. And the king questions this servant: “How could you have done that? You know what it was like to have your debt forgiven and you owed more money. I gave your forgiveness. I didn’t throw you into prison. I gave you a chance for new life.”

Well, you blew it. You are going to prison to be tortured until you can repay all that you owe. You are going to be in that prison for life, feeling the pain, feeling the hurt. You are going to be trapped. You are never going to be free.”

You are going to be trapped forever in that prison without any hope of new life.

By sharing this story, Jesus wants the disciples to see that there is no limit to the forgiveness that they should extend to those who wrong them because there is no limit to the forgiveness that God will extend them in their lives. There is no magic number. God will not say, “I’m sorry. I have forgiven you seven times. I will not forgive you anymore. I’m sorry but you are going to have to stay in the prison and be tortured forever.” God does not work that way and Jesus wants us to know that we should not work that way either.

Jesus does not want us to withhold forgiveness from those who ask it of us because forgiveness was not withheld from us when we asked it of God.

Jesus also wants us to remember that forgiving is not condoning and forgiving is not forgetting. Forgiveness is the opportunity to remember the past, to change our behavior. Forgiveness is not a word spoken to do away with the guilt. It is a word to transform the relationship. It does not undo the past. It aims to provide a healing of the brokenness of the past so that a new and renewed community is able to move into the future.

Forgiveness is a by-product of our healing process as we search for answers. “As we stay focused on our own forgiveness, we realize that we no longer need our grudges, our self-pity, our hatred, or our resentments as a way to define ourselves. As we heal, we come to define ourselves by grace. It is grace that makes us whole and that grace comes from God.

We are not called to let bygones be bygones or to even to forgive and to forget. Because by doing these things, we cheapen the grace that was first shown to us.

Forgiveness and reconciliation does not mean that we don’t acknowledge the hurt, that we don’t acknowledge our anger, and that we don’t acknowledge that there must be some consequences for the wrong that happened. And forgiveness and reconciliation does not mean the return of status quo of the relationship and it does not mean that there will be repair of that relationship.

And we must remember that if though we may extend forgiveness, that does not mean that everything will go away quickly. The process of forgiveness may be a long process. And that is okay.

What forgiveness means is that we are no longer handed over to our torturers of hate, of hurt, of anger. What forgiveness means is that we are no longer trapped by self-pity. What forgiveness means is that we will no longer let these things torture us. That we will no longer waste our energy in this prison of the unforgiving. Forgiveness means an opportunity for all of us for new life, for renewed life, for entering into a new commitment to exhibit a lifestyle that embodies the Kingdom of God.

Forgiveness is the key that will release us from our prisons of anger, of hurt, of hate. Forgiveness is the key that will release us into new life and give us the chance to hope again.

We are called to experience and to remember that we have been forgiven by a gracious God who knows us as we are. God knows our faults as well as our strengths. God knows us.

God first showed us grace. God first showed us forgiveness. And it did not come cheap. And it did not come without sacrifice. And it did not come without a change in our relationship with God. Each and every time we look at the cross, we remember the sacrifice and we remember the grace and forgiveness that was shown to us as God’s loved children.

Through forgiveness, we are able to break the chains that hold us in our prisons of hurt and anger. Through forgiveness, we are able to experience grace. Through forgiveness, we are able to experience new life.

May we always remember the promises of hope and new life that come along with the promise of forgiveness. Amen.

Rev. Heather McColl
Midway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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