October 23, 2011: Micah 6:6-8, Psalm 130, Philippians 1:1-11, Matthew 18:21-35
“Therefore the Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.” Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
There are two things that we learn about this king from the parable Jesus tells us this morning. That on the one hand, he is a very compassionate and loving ruler in that he forgave this outrageous debt the servant owed him. For to owe a single talent would require one to forfeit 20 years of wages-10,000 talents would be an unimaginable and unmanageable balance to repay. Thus this servant was the beneficiary of the most benevolent sovereign ever beheld in this world.
However, we also find this king justly and rightly condemning and punishing the pure evil of this servant, as he accused and abused his fellow worker over a debt which could have been repaid within the year. That the king correctly saw that his own graciousness was simply the cause for the man’s own sinfulness at seeking his gain even after he had been mercilessly redeemed. And so, his sending him to the jailor, where he finally would have no way in order to pay off his debt, was an act of supreme justice.
Thus this king in today’s parable is the image of absolute righteousness-he gives grace to those he desires and executes equity to those who prove to be wicked. He had no right to first forgive the tremendous debt of the servant-his was an act of utter charity, for he sought to restore the man to a place of favor back in the household. At the same time, he also had no obligation not to punish the man for his greater offense-his judgment was blameless as the servant proved his unworthiness to have received mercy in the first place. His two reactions prove that his righteousness was that of perfection-he understood what goodness, love and mercy actually are and so did them to the final outcome.
And so, as Jesus tells us that this parable is compared to the kingdom of heaven, it is clear that our Heavenly Father is none other than this absolute righteous king; the One who holds the power of forgiveness and condemnation in His hands. It is He who holds all honor and power in the Kingdom and to whom all glory and worship is due to His Name. However, and as that is true, then that picture of this despicable servant-the one who could not understand the depths of the king’s mercy to forgive his own debts in the way in which he sought to collect what was owed to him-is none other than you and me-a picture in which, then, we fall under His righteous grace and judgment.
For is not the sin which we hold and have and do in our own lives perfectly reflected in the 10,000 talents the servant owed? Because there is no way in which we can repay the depths of our own transgressions to the Father-in fact, before Him, the Psalmist tells us today, those with iniquities cannot stand. That because of our bondage to our sin, we are forever and eternally separated from our God, born already dead in our trespasses and so having not simply the means to repay, but having the inability to finally unable to atone for our sin, because in our birth we are in captivity to sin, death and the power of the devil and in jail like the wicked servant of the parable.
Yet, like this servant, we have been, not simply forgiven, but finally redeemed from our eternal death and damnation purely out of the grace and mercy of our Father the King. It is He that gave unto this world the Son, Jesus Christ, so to be rejected, wasted and destroyed under our wickedness and rebellion to Him. That the fact that the Son of God was crucified, died and was buried, was for no other reason than to take the wrath of the Father upon Himself, so that the curse of our sin might no longer lay on us, but on Him alone. And as He was raised from the grave by the love of the Father on the third day, so He announces that all who believe in Him alone for truth and life, receive the Holy Spirit and are forgiven by the grace and mercy of the Father.
Thus now, you have been freed, not to indulge your own flesh and desires, but to go and do likewise to those who have sinned against you, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer. That as no longer does the Father hold your own sin against you, so you are to hold not the wrong your neighbor has done unto you. For that is what the prophet Micah was proclaiming today-that your forgiveness by Christ, built upon not your works nor your pennies, but solely on your faith in His death and resurrection, has now set you free to walk humbly with the Father in forgiving and showing mercy to those you come in contact around you.
And what does the end of the parable say to us then? For because we do not earn the Father’s grace through even our good works, so if we don’t show mercy as we have been shown mercy, it declares that we really haven’t believed in Christ Jesus at all. Because what else is faith than to no longer look and listen and live for yourself in order to then place all your hope and love upon another? That faith in Christ means that you no longer trust your own deeds and desires, but now cling to every word that falls from the lips of the One who bore the thorns, nails and spear for your very sake. It means that you no longer seek your own will and way in this world because you know of another Kingdom in which you have been given forgiveness, life and salvation. And it means that now, you forgive those who have done you wrong, all because your Father has forgiven you of all the wrong you have done unto Him-and the forgiveness of your debt is as different as 10,000 talents is to 100 denarius.
And so, the Kingdom of heaven, Jesus tells you, can be compared to a King who wished to settle His accounts-and as you have so been forgiven of the greatness of your sin by the love and mercy of the Son, so now you have been set free to take that forgiveness out these doors so to give to the world around you. For, as Jesus told Peter today, the grace of God is such that forgiveness knows no bound or numeric accounting, but that it goes forth not in sevens, but in seventy times seven. That now, the good work, Paul tells us, that Christ began in you, will grow out in the way you proclaim the depths of the love of your God to a world that needs to know of something more than what the world, their flesh and the devil seeks to convince them of. Amen.
There are two things that we learn about this king from the parable Jesus tells us this morning. That on the one hand, he is a very compassionate and loving ruler in that he forgave this outrageous debt the servant owed him. For to owe a single talent would require one to forfeit 20 years of wages-10,000 talents would be an unimaginable and unmanageable balance to repay. Thus this servant was the beneficiary of the most benevolent sovereign ever beheld in this world.
However, we also find this king justly and rightly condemning and punishing the pure evil of this servant, as he accused and abused his fellow worker over a debt which could have been repaid within the year. That the king correctly saw that his own graciousness was simply the cause for the man’s own sinfulness at seeking his gain even after he had been mercilessly redeemed. And so, his sending him to the jailor, where he finally would have no way in order to pay off his debt, was an act of supreme justice.
Thus this king in today’s parable is the image of absolute righteousness-he gives grace to those he desires and executes equity to those who prove to be wicked. He had no right to first forgive the tremendous debt of the servant-his was an act of utter charity, for he sought to restore the man to a place of favor back in the household. At the same time, he also had no obligation not to punish the man for his greater offense-his judgment was blameless as the servant proved his unworthiness to have received mercy in the first place. His two reactions prove that his righteousness was that of perfection-he understood what goodness, love and mercy actually are and so did them to the final outcome.
And so, as Jesus tells us that this parable is compared to the kingdom of heaven, it is clear that our Heavenly Father is none other than this absolute righteous king; the One who holds the power of forgiveness and condemnation in His hands. It is He who holds all honor and power in the Kingdom and to whom all glory and worship is due to His Name. However, and as that is true, then that picture of this despicable servant-the one who could not understand the depths of the king’s mercy to forgive his own debts in the way in which he sought to collect what was owed to him-is none other than you and me-a picture in which, then, we fall under His righteous grace and judgment.
For is not the sin which we hold and have and do in our own lives perfectly reflected in the 10,000 talents the servant owed? Because there is no way in which we can repay the depths of our own transgressions to the Father-in fact, before Him, the Psalmist tells us today, those with iniquities cannot stand. That because of our bondage to our sin, we are forever and eternally separated from our God, born already dead in our trespasses and so having not simply the means to repay, but having the inability to finally unable to atone for our sin, because in our birth we are in captivity to sin, death and the power of the devil and in jail like the wicked servant of the parable.
Yet, like this servant, we have been, not simply forgiven, but finally redeemed from our eternal death and damnation purely out of the grace and mercy of our Father the King. It is He that gave unto this world the Son, Jesus Christ, so to be rejected, wasted and destroyed under our wickedness and rebellion to Him. That the fact that the Son of God was crucified, died and was buried, was for no other reason than to take the wrath of the Father upon Himself, so that the curse of our sin might no longer lay on us, but on Him alone. And as He was raised from the grave by the love of the Father on the third day, so He announces that all who believe in Him alone for truth and life, receive the Holy Spirit and are forgiven by the grace and mercy of the Father.
Thus now, you have been freed, not to indulge your own flesh and desires, but to go and do likewise to those who have sinned against you, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer. That as no longer does the Father hold your own sin against you, so you are to hold not the wrong your neighbor has done unto you. For that is what the prophet Micah was proclaiming today-that your forgiveness by Christ, built upon not your works nor your pennies, but solely on your faith in His death and resurrection, has now set you free to walk humbly with the Father in forgiving and showing mercy to those you come in contact around you.
And what does the end of the parable say to us then? For because we do not earn the Father’s grace through even our good works, so if we don’t show mercy as we have been shown mercy, it declares that we really haven’t believed in Christ Jesus at all. Because what else is faith than to no longer look and listen and live for yourself in order to then place all your hope and love upon another? That faith in Christ means that you no longer trust your own deeds and desires, but now cling to every word that falls from the lips of the One who bore the thorns, nails and spear for your very sake. It means that you no longer seek your own will and way in this world because you know of another Kingdom in which you have been given forgiveness, life and salvation. And it means that now, you forgive those who have done you wrong, all because your Father has forgiven you of all the wrong you have done unto Him-and the forgiveness of your debt is as different as 10,000 talents is to 100 denarius.
And so, the Kingdom of heaven, Jesus tells you, can be compared to a King who wished to settle His accounts-and as you have so been forgiven of the greatness of your sin by the love and mercy of the Son, so now you have been set free to take that forgiveness out these doors so to give to the world around you. For, as Jesus told Peter today, the grace of God is such that forgiveness knows no bound or numeric accounting, but that it goes forth not in sevens, but in seventy times seven. That now, the good work, Paul tells us, that Christ began in you, will grow out in the way you proclaim the depths of the love of your God to a world that needs to know of something more than what the world, their flesh and the devil seeks to convince them of. Amen.
posted by Weekly sermons at 11:29 AM
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