2:8 Therefore I
urge you to reaffirm your love to him. 9 For to this end I
also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all
things. 10 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if
indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes
in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us;
for we are not ignorant of his devices.
Forgiveness. Easy to say. Then reality sets in. Yesterday I
told you we would look at what Jesus said about withholding forgiveness. He
told a story about a man who owed a tremendous amount of debt. It was an amount
large that he would never be able to repay it. He was called to account. He
pleaded for more time. He promised he would repay. It was an empty promise.
They both knew it. The penalty for not paying was to have himself, his family,
and all his possessions sold. The money still wouldn't pay the debt but it
would be the end of the matter. The king looked at the helpless man drowning in
an unpayable debt and his heart was moved with compassion. He decided to just
forgive the debt. He wiped the slate clean. He didn't have to but he did
because he could and he wanted to.
The man left free of his burden. The fear of failing his
family and potentially never seeing them again was lifted. The sleepless nights
were over. He was free, pardoned by the king.
On his way home he remembered a man who owed him the
equivalent of ten or fifteen dollars. Peanuts. He went looking for him.
Grabbing him by the throat he demanded payment or he was sending him to debtors
prison. The man pleaded because he just didn't have the money but there was no
compassion, no extra time, no mercy of any kind. Instead he shipped him to
debtors prison. His servants found out what he did and we're horrified by his
coldness. They reported the matter to the king. What do you think the king did?
Why did Jesus tell this story? He actually told it in
response to a question from Peter. Jewish custom was to forgive an offense
three times and then mercy was over. Peter had been watching Jesus. He knew
Jesus was more merciful than anyone he had ever met. He asked Jesus "How
many times should we forgive? Up to seven times?" Peter had doubled and
added one. Jesus responded "No not seven times, but seventy times
seven." Then he told the story about the man who was forgiven everything
but refused to forgive a man who owed him relatively nothing.
Do you remember when Jesus taught His disciples how to pray?
At the heart of the prayer were these words. "Father forgive our debts in
the same way we forgive others their debts."
Do you see a pattern? Jesus just forgives. He forgives before
we ever ask. He forgives before we even know we need to ask. His boundless
mercy is designed to awaken in us compassion. He modeled that holding onto
bitterness is not His way. All you have to do is look at history and you will
see that when forgiveness does not happen, war follows. It may be war between a
married couple, between a parent and child, between one half of a family and
another or even between nations.
The story of the man who refused to forgive does not end
well. It never does. It can't. Even if the king had left him alone his life
would have been cold and bitter and would have spoiled the lives of everyone he
touched.
Tomorrow we'll explore why the king did what he did and what
it says about God and why it makes forgiveness the only viable option for a
better future.
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