Ecclesiasticus 27:30-28:7

Psalm 103

Matthew 18:21-35

So far, in my time here at St. Matthew’s, I don’t think I’ve resorted to the quoting of Webster’s dictionary in a sermon. But this week, I was curious about the word “forgive.” Please indulge me this morning. To forgive is to “to grant free pardon for an offence, debt, etc. To give up all claim on account of a debt or obligation.” Forgiveness is a theme that obviously runs through this mornings readings. In the first reading from Ecclesiasticus, the sage shares his wisdom: “forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.” We hear of God’s forgiveness of humans, especially in Psalm 103: “the LORD is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness” Paul teaches the Christians in Rome not to pass judgement on each other. And in the Gospel reading, we hear that in response to God’s forgiveness, we must forgive our fellow human beings. Gods forgiveness towards us and our forgiveness of each other are very important themes of both the New Testament and the Old.

In the Old Testament we are told the story of God reaching out to Abraham and his descendants and establishing a covenant, a promise to care for the Hebrew people as their Lord. The Law is given to Moses in the Torah to provide the guidelines and rules for the people to fully live into the covenant. Many of the laws in the Torah instruct the people concerning rituals and sacrifice to restore the covenant. The annual “day of atonement” or Yom Kippur is such a ritual observance held still to this day and celebrated this year on ?. The story of the Old Testament is the story of God extending mercy and forgiveness, restoring the promise given in spite of the disregard and sin of humans.

The reading we heard just now from the book of Ecclesiasticus deals with forgiveness. Ecclesiasticus is a book written by Jesus the son of Sirach about two hundred years before Jesus the son of Joseph lived. This classic of Jewish wisdom teaches readers that God deals rather harshly with those who refuse to forgive their neighbors. The writer asks, “does anyone harbor anger against another, and expect healing from the LORD? If one has no mercy toward another like himself, can he then seek pardon for his own sins? The writing of Jesus son of Sirach clearly links our ability to forgive with our ability to receive forgiveness from the LORD and even to receive healing.

I recently read a newspaper article about Johannes Christian, who was the victim of a terrible crime. As he was driving home from a family gathering with one of his foster children, a sixteen year-old boy threw a large rock off an overpass, striking the windshield of his car and hitting him in the face. He survived, but he has undergone many painful surgeries in the past year to reconstruct his face. While he is undergoing this terrible physical ordeal of recovery, he is also going out of his way to extend forgiveness to the boy who threw the rock. “Tied up in this is my healing,” he said, “I feel better and the people around me feel better.” He also has compassion for the young man: “I want him to understand that his life is valuable, “he says. "He's just got a lot of growing. He's got to come to grips with loving himself. I believe that somewhere down the line he can help people.” I think this is the story of someone who understands the wisdom of forgiveness and how forgiveness is necessary for living a whole healthy life in the light of God’s forgiveness.

In this morning’s Gospel reading, Jesus our Lord tells Peter to forgive a person seventy-seven times if necessary. Jesus then tells the story of the unforgiving servant. The servant owes the king a humongous amount of money, millions of dollars. So the king decides to cut his losses and just sell him and his family as slaves. The servant begs the king to give him just a little more time, “and I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.” The king has pity on the servant and forgives him in the true Webster’s sense of the word forgive—free pardon of the debt owed—he just gives up any claim to what the servant owes him! No bargaining, no extended payment plan, just keep what you have and don’t worry! But Jesus continues the little story and tells us this same servant when he’s on his way home from the king runs into a friend who owes him a few dollars. Instead of showing the friend a little forgiveness, he demands repayment. The king in this story has really forgiven his servant, and cancelled his debt. The servant really hasn’t accepted the gift though, he hasn’t fully received the king’s forgiveness. Jesus is teaching us that to receive forgiveness from God is to be transformed by the gift. God’s forgiveness is an experience that makes us new people who live in a wonderful new way and are able to extend forgiveness to others.

We remember and celebrate God’s amazing forgiveness in our worship. When we pray in the words our Lord Jesus Christ taught us we ask God to forgive us as we forgive others. We forgive others as we accept the forgiveness that God offers us. We profess our faith when we say together the Nicene Creed, acknowledging one baptism for the remission of sins. Together we confess our sins against God and our neighbors, and we are assured of God’s forgiveness. And in Holy Communion, we receive the cup of salvation, given for the forgiveness of sins. Each Sunday when we gather as the people of God, we gather as a forgiven community, as a people determined to live in the light of God’s forgiveness.

And as humans, we struggle to forgive others as we are forgiven. We have our needs and this world isn’t perfectly just. When we forgive we give something away, be definition, and we aren’t infinite like God, we are limited. It’s nearly impossible for us to keep giving every time we are hurt or insulted, or robbed, we can only sacrifice so much before we have to stop and protect ourselves. Forgiveness doesn’t mean we can’t hope for justice. Many people in this world have forgiven more than their share. God doesn’t ask us to forgive more that we have to give. The king in the parable could spare the ten thousand talents, even though it was a huge sum. God only asks us to try to forgive when it is healthy and life-giving.

If you think about the Webster’s definition of forgiveness, God is the only one able to forgive. To fully forgive is to absolutely cancel an obligation or debt or offence. Only God is that generous. Only God loves us enough to wipe away our sins and to accept us as children who share life with the One who has created us to live together in the glory of the LORD.