The Burden of the Grudge

Exodus 20:1-20; Romans 14:5-12; Matthew 18:21-35

God knows that there is power in forgiveness. Our own society may not agree with the philosophy of forgiveness, and certainly it is true that everyone must pay their debt or face the consequences, but, for the Christian, forgiveness should be one of the prime virtues of the Christian faith.

There is a story which comes out of the Korean war. A South Korean Christian, a civilian, was arrested by the communists and ordered shot. But when the leader of the communists in that area, a young officer, learned that the prisoner was in charge of an orphanage, caring for small children, he decided to spare him and have the man's nineteen-year old son shot, instead. So, they shot the nineteen-year old boy in the presence of his father.

Later the fortunes of war changed, and the young communist leader was captured by the United Nations forces, tried, and condemned to death. But before the sentence could be carried out, the Christian whose boy had been killed pleaded for the life of the killer. He declared that he was young, that he really did not know what he was doing. "Give him to me," begged the father, "and I'll train him."

The United Nations forces granted the request, and the father took the murderer of his boy into his own home and cared for him. Today that young communist is a Christian pastor.

This is a powerful story only because it tells of how a life was changed, not because of a punishment dealt out to a person who deserved it, but because of forgiveness and the kind of love which only comes from God. It is this kind of power than can change a life for the better and make a difference for many more for many years to come.

Certainly, ours is a world where "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" is an ideal. And, lately, there has been more of a hue and cry for stiffer sentences against criminals convicted of crimes, even the death penalty for drug dealers, and the like. And, perhaps things like this are necessary in the absence of anything better and more effective. But, our scripture lesson for today tells us that there is something better. There is a better way. And that way is the life-changing power of Jesus Christ. But for that way to work, we have got to be the ones who really believe in that way strongly enough so that we may share that way with those who need to hear.

Forgiveness sounds fine on Sunday morning. Hearing platitudes about God's love and his willingness to forgive and how we need to forgive seems acceptable enough for us during this one hour per week. But, the question is: "Can we be serious enough about it the rest of the week to make it work? Or does the way of the world somehow work its way into our thinking, so much so that it even seems to be Christian?

In our gospel lesson for today Peter came up to Jesus and asked, "How many times should I forgive someone who has sinned against me?" It may be fruitful to know that in Jesus' day there was a Rabbinic teaching that a man must forgive his brother three times. A great rabbi of that time said, "He who begs forgiveness from his neighbor must not do so more than three times" Another rabbi taught: "If a man commits an offence once, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a second time, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a third time, they forgive him; the fourth time they do not forgive." The Biblical proof that this was correct was taken from the book of Amos. In the opening chapters of Amos there is a series of condemnations on the various nations for three transgressions and for four. From this it was deduced that God's forgiveness extends to three offenses, and that He visits the sinner with punishment at the fourth. It was not to be thought that a man could be more gracious than God, so forgiveness was limited to three times. Peter thought that he was going very far, for he took the Rabbinic three times, multiplied it by two, and for good measure added one; and suggested, with eager self- satisfaction, that it would be enough if he forgave seven times. Peter expected to be warmly commended; but Jesus' answer is that the Christian must forgive seventy time seven; that, in fact, there is no recognizable limit to forgiveness.

It was at this point that Jesus told the story of the servant who had, himself, been forgiven a great debt; and who went out and dealt mercilessly with a fellow-servant who owed him a debt that was an infinitesimal fraction of what he himself had owed; and who for his mercilessness was utterly condemned. This parable teaches certain lessons which Jesus never tired of teaching.

First, it teaches a lesson which runs through all the New Testament--a man must forgive in order to be forgiven. He who will not forgive his fellow cannot hope that God will forgive him. "Blessed are the merciful," said Jesus, "for they will obtain mercy." No sooner had Jesus taught His men His own prayer, than He went on to expand and explain one petition in it: "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses." In other words, as far as Jesus was concerned, divine forgiveness and human forgiveness must go hand in hand.

And we need to think heavily upon this. Are there those of us who have been holding a grudge for some time? Are there those of us here today who are unable to forgive someone for doing something against us, perhaps many months, even years ago? As we sit in conversation with someone, have we ever mentioned how "so and so" hurt us so long ago? If this is the case, then we should remember the kind of mercy God has had for us when we were in need of forgiveness and remember that this is the kind of mercy God expects from us, as well.

Secondly, we might wonder why divine and human forgiveness should be linked, as they are in the teachings of Jesus. One of the great points in Jesus' parable about the unforgiving servant is the contrast between the two debts. The first servant owed his master 10,000 talents, or about 5 million dollars. It was an incredible debt. Yet, this was the debt which the servant was forgiven. The debt which a fellow-servant owed him was a trifling thing; it was 100 denarii, about $10.00, or 500/1000ths of his own debt. The 100 denarii could have been carried in one pocket. The ten thousand talent debt would have taken a whole army of about 8,600 carriers, each carrying a sack of sixpences half dollars 60 lbs. in weight; and they would have formed, at a distance of a yard apart, a line five miles long! The contrast between the debts in staggering. And the point is that nothing that people can do to us can in any way compare with what we have done to God; and if God has forgiven us the debt we owe to Him, we must forgive our fellow human beings the debts they owe to us. Nothing that we have to forgive can be faintly or remotely compare with that which we have been forgiven.

We have been forgiven a debt which is beyond all paying --

for the sin of man brought about the death of God's own Son -- and, if that is so, we must forgive others as God has forgiven us, or we can hope to find no mercy. And what a terrible burden our unwillingness to forgive would be, indeed! Amen.