As You Were Forgiven

Matthew 18:23-35

“As You Were Forgiven”

How is debt a prison for both the one who lends and the one who owes? How does mercy clear us from this bind?

***

Scripture Notes is a production of Trinity United Methodist Church, Colusa.
Find us online: ColusaUMC.org. 

Do you like this content?
Help keep it going: DONATE!

Copyright is retained by original copyright holders; all other rights reserved.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:04

September 13th, 2026. Our primary gospel reading is Matt chapter 18, verses 23 through 35. The school where I studied theology has a policy that if you graduate from a program, you can come back and take classes for free and use the library for life. Now you're not going to get another degree for free, but you could sit in on a class that has extra room. I was so, so excited when I found out about the free classes and library access. My family lovingly said, What is wrong with you? Why do you want to go back to school when you're done? Have you met me? I am a giant nerd. I dare say you all have suffered a bit because of it. I cannot stay away from learning stuff. And I know many of you are the same way. Now, one of the things about being United Methodist clergy is that you have to do a certain amount of continuing education every year. Awesome. I love it. There are four main areas administration and organization, it's the church business stuff, discipleship and evangelism, that's the guts of day-to-day ministry, intercultural competency, mission, social holiness, loving your neighbor, and lifelong learning, the catch-all bucket for everything else. Within these broad categories, there is a lot of room for any legitimate training. It just has to be relevant to your job as a pastor, and you have to provide proof of completion. So, for example, I completed a short palliative care course online for chaplains at CSU San Marcos this spring. So last Thursday, about 8 a.m., I was on a Zoom training with a bunch of pastors. A Zoom training about practical theology. Theology asks, what do you believe about God? Practical theology asks, how do those beliefs shape the way you live? So to begin, the teacher had us go around the Zoom room, share our names, where we serve, and why we picked this course. And this guy, this other pastor, opens his introduction this way. Practical theology is a tautology. And I thought, oh no, this is a level of nerd beyond me. And I say, this is a level of nerd beyond me as someone who dragged you all through how Jesus is pulling from all five books of the Torah in his teaching on Matthew 18, 15 through 22 just last week. So I finished that on Sunday, and at 8 a.m. Monday, I started with practical theologies and tautology. I was hoisted by my own nerdy petard. For the last few weeks, we have been here in Matt 18, 15 through 35 as our primary gospel reading. The lectionary chops it up into two sections because there's so much. In our Bible study, we've broken it into three pieces. Really, I think it is helpful to consider that it in the whole, as well as the parts, right? The whole passage is about forgiveness. Last week in Matt 18, 15 through 22, we read how Jesus advises handling ordinary disagreements and hurts within our community. Please do remember his final step. If the weight of community fails to change the situation, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. That's Matt 18, 17. So Jesus' final advice there is to disengage from those who refuse to play nicely with others. Jesus authorizes us to set standards for acceptable behavior. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. That's Matt 18, 18 through 19. And that's within the context of dealing with situations where harm has been done. For deeper wounds in Matt 18, 21 through 22, Jesus suggests we adopt an orientation and practice of forgiveness. Forgive 77 times, Jesus tells us. As English speakers, when we read Jesus saying, forgive 77 times, we can think we are being told to look with compassion upon those responsible for inflicting great harm and continue to re-engage 77 times if necessary. Not so. The words of Jesus in Matthew's Greek don't ask for our compassion. They do not demand reconciliation. I mentioned before in a different Sunday, the Greek word Matthew uses for forgive, aphiomi, is a verb which means to send away, to leave alone, to permit, to divorce, to suffer. It is not a word that implies reconciliation or repair in the English sense of the word. Jesus' words tell us to acknowledge the debt we are owed, and harm does incur a debt, and to make a decision to stop expecting repayment. Let it go. Drop the rope. Put down the hot coal. A fehemi, says Jesus. 77 times a fee me. We are called to repeatedly let go within ourselves. Let it go. Let it go, let it go. Again. We are the only people we can control. So when Jesus tells us to forgive and forgive and forgive, he is giving us something we can do ourselves that does not require the engagement with the one who has caused harm. Today's reading is Matt 18, 23 through 35. Jesus offers a parable that suggests our forgiveness of others should be a response to God's love for us. The Greek here says the servant owed 10,000 talents. Some contemporary English translations say bags of gold. 10,000 talents. No one person could owe that much money. There's no way to repay a debt that large. Selling the servant and family in slavery could not possibly touch that debt. So Jesus is indicating a massive and unbelievable debt because this is a teaching parable. It's a parable. If we read ourselves as a servant, then God is the king. This story sounds like we have been forgiven a debt we could not possibly repay. We've been forgiven this debt by our Lord, so we should forgive the relatively small sins others commit against us. Forgive us our trespasses, Lord, as we forgive those who trespass against us. God loves us without limit or regret. So any limited harm that we commit is far less than the massive love God has for each of us. Our life is such a generous gift, we can't help but come out ahead. Forgive. Forgive again. And then it is eight AM on a Zoom call, and someone opens the introductions with practical theology is a tautology. And I am not feeling very forgiving. Can we not do this level of nerd, please? The word tautology just means redundant. The guy used the nerdiest possible word to say a simple thing. A true thing. To say practical theology is redundant is true. That phrase practical theology, that phrase is redundant. To say practical theology is redundant is true. Because all theology is practical. All theology. What we believe about God, your theology, my theology, all of this is lived. Theology is not stuck inside our skulls. Theology is how we live in the world. We don't usually sit around in a chair and think deep thoughts about God. We live our faith, whether we mean to or not. We loan a neighbor a tool. We have friends over for dinner. What we believe about God impacts how we live. In Matt 7, 7 and Luke 11.9, Jesus says, seek and you will find. If we believe God is forgiving and merciful, we will seek God's forgiveness. And we will tend to live offering and seeking forgiveness ourselves. We'll be merciful in our sharing of tools and skills and time. If we believe God is fair and just, we will seek God's justice. And we will tend to live treating others fairly. We're going to reciprocate with the dinner invites. No one person should always be hosting. All theology is practical. All theology is lived. The world we find and have a hand in shaping by sharing tools and sharing meals reflects our core beliefs. Jesus says, seek and you will find. Surprise, surprise. And look at how this plays out in today's scripture. We have a king, a king of great love and forgiveness. And that same king is then a king of unquenchable anger and a thirst for retribution. Why? What is Jesus getting at here? Backtrack a few sentences to Matt 18, verses 18 and 19. This is from last week's reading. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. These verses are talking about what to do when someone has harmed you. Applying verses 18-19 to the parable of verses 23 to 35 shifts the meaning of the parable. And this is where it's helpful to read both these weeks' scriptures as one big hole. If we read forward from that verse about the binding and unbinding, if we read forward through Matt 18, 18 through 19, it isn't the king that is applying the standard. The king is following the standard set by the servant himself. The servant asks for forgiveness. The king forgives the debt entirely. The servant is vicious in demanding repayment. The king is vicious in his retribution. Truly I tell you, if two of you, collector and debtor, king and servant, parent and child, agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. In light of that sentence, just a few lines before today's parable of the king and servant, we might think of this parable as Jesus explaining that God is like a parent teaching compassion with applied consequences. God is like a parent teaching compassion with applied consequences. Seek and you will find. What you seek on earth, heaven will provide. And what you seek on earth, heaven will provide on earth as it is in heaven. All theology is practical. Theology is not in your head, it is how you live. Today's scripture from Matthew suggests that the king is following the standard set by the servant himself. The servant is shaping the kind of world he lives inside. We are shaping the kind of world we live inside. Where we are punitive, we find ourselves penalized. Where we are forgiving, we find ourselves forgiven. Where we are nerdy, we find ourselves subjected to nerds. Today's scripture is an invitation to practical theology. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Forgive as you want to be forgiven. Amen.