What is the most difficult thing in life? Is it finding a job? Doubtful. Is it completing a marathon? Although difficult to do, probably not. Is it getting a degree? Although it requires perseverance, not the most difficult. Growing up, the hardest thing at the time was soon trumped by something harder: getting through high school, finding the right college, “arranging” a wedding (hey, I had some say), finishing college, being a daddy… the list goes on. Each stage in my life is trumped by something more difficult.
I am surely confident in many earthly things – maybe overly confident at times – but confident nonetheless in being able to navigate through life. But what I find is my biggest hurdle isn’t something that can be measured. It is forgiving someone who has hurt or wronged me. It actually is easy for me to forgive others when they don’t mean to hurt me, as long as I can sense that immediately; however, if I cannot sense that, it is not just difficult but very difficult for me to offer forgiveness.
Matthew 18, commonly known for holding the standard or procedure for peacefully addressing the wrong you have with your brother/sister, shows Peter asking Jesus how many times he should forgive them. He continues, “Up to seven times?” (v. 21) Jesus answers him, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (v. 22).
But rather than leaving it at that, Jesus, like he usually does, tells the disciples a story to help it sink in. He talks about how a man, who has a debt of ten thousand bags of gold, was brought before his master (debtee). The master orders that man, along with his wife and children, to sell everything to repay the debt. Upon hearing this, the man falls to his knees and begs for patience and that with time he will repay the debt. Stopping the story here, it would be easy to assume two likely outcomes: One, the master would show kindness and offer a payment plan in order that he would get repaid for the outstanding debt, or two, the master would stand firm by his first initial decision and have the man and his family sell everything to repay the debt. Neither happen.
Amazingly, the master eliminated the debt and let him go.
Read that again. Rather than doing what we would naturally expect, a way for the master to get his money back either through grace or force, he does neither. He purges the debt.
This is how we are to forgive and I will be the first to say that if I was the master in this story, I am confident I wouldn’t have made that decision. How sad that is; it is the most difficult thing for man to do. To forgive is to forget, to obliterate the past and the guilt.
The story doesn’t end here, though, because after the man had received an impossible clemency, he found his own debtor who owed him a mere fraction of the amount he originally owed his master. When demanding that man repay him, choking him, and the man pleaded for grace, he had none and had him thrown into prison. Wow, isn’t this how we Christians can be? We ask for grace from God, who gave us the ultimate price, purged an impossible debt, and yet we can’t forgive our brother.
At the end of the story, the man who had received grace from the master was thrown into prison and, furthermore, his debt remained. This is when Christ’s sacrifice and grace convicts me to the core. If I have plead and begged for his forgiveness, and knowingly received it, how can I expect to continue with his grace upon me when I offer none to my brother or sister, even for the littlest offense? That is because I can’t. If I can’t forgive me brothers sins, yes seventy-seven times within the same day, then my Father can’t forgive mine (Mark 11:25).
Lord, remind me of how great your grace and forgiveness is so that I too might acquire your character and do the same for my brother and sister.
21 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?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 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.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
Matthew 18:21-27
7 days!
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