How Many Times? – Sermon 14 September, 2014

How Many Times?
Matthew 18:21-35
I am sure you have asked this question many times for things that has happened to you.
“How many times do I have to tell you what you should do?”
“How many times do I have to explain to you the situation I am in?”
“How many times do I have to ask you to do something for me?”
“How many times do I have to beg you not to go?”
“How many times do I have to tell you not to bother me?”
The interesting thing we should notice in these questions and similar questions is the “I” and the “You”. It is always “me” the good and “you” the bad.
In this passage, Jesus speaks to Peter about forgiveness. Peter asks a question: “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Seven times?”
I believe that this was a sincere question from a sincere man. Peter was genuine with his question, but it seems that he was not expecting rebuke, but rather praise. He was expecting Jesus to say to him: “Excellent Peter, you do well forgiving your brother seven times”. Because according to the Jewish Law, Peter had the right to think that he has done something good. Even something more than what it was expected. The Jewish Law clearly stated: “If a man transgresses one time, forgive him. If a man transgresses two times, forgive him. If a man transgresses three times, forgive him. If a man transgresses four times, do not forgive him”. But Peter was taking the Law further by asking “Seven times?” meaning he was extending this law of limited forgiveness. By doing that he was hoping to sit back with a smile on his face ready to receive praise from his Master.
But he was shocked to hear the words of Jesus who said: “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven”. He was stunned to hear those words from the Master.
To better understand the reason for this question we must look back for a moment to the beginning of the chapter 18.
Jesus was teaching in Capernaum and the disciples came to him with an important question that had been on their minds for a while. “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” Jesus dealt with that question from that point on. He clearly explained and told them that unless they change and become a child they will never enter into the Kingdom of the Heaven. And whoever humbles himself as a child will be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And then He went on saying: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault….” In another words He was saying: “Settle your differences and live in harmony. How can you live with me if you can’t live with your brother?”
Peter heard these words and he immediately popped this question: “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Seven times?” To a man as determined and as realistic as Peter, seven times seemed to be a lot, to show forgiveness for the wrongs done to him.He might be willing to forgive seven times, but not more than that. He had already gone from three to seven. This is a conditional forgiveness.
Peter did not understand what Jesus was saying. He didn’t grasp the spiritual implications. Jesus said, “Not seven times, but seventy times seven.” Jesus was not using this as an actual number; this was a number to represent an infinite number. As was so often the case, Jesus taught Peter and the others by means of a parable.
Jesus proceeded to tell the Parable of the unmerciful servant.Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began he called a man who owed him 10,000 talents ($10 million), but couldn’t pay. The king commanded that he and his family be sold to pay the debt. The man begged for compassion and the king forgave the debt. Notice, the king did not say: “give him more time” or “let him work out payment plan”, he forgave the debt!! This same man went out and found a fellow servant who owed him 10 denarii ($20) and demanded payment. This man begged also, but the man would not forgive the debt and cast him into prison. The king heard about this and cast him into prison as well!
The king was merciful, compassionate and ready to forgive unconditionally.
This clearly pictures God, our Heavenly Father, who has called us to give account. In the story the man was called to pay $10 million dollars, a debt so great that the man could never pay it.
Our sin debt to God is a debt that we could never pay. We will never have the resources to balance the account. The king forgave the debt… God forgave us this terrible debt. Christ would pay this tremendous debt for us on the cross. But, after being forgiven, we go out and like the servant, refuse to forgive our brothers and sisters who sin against us. We have been forgiven a greater debt than we could ever hope to repay and yet we refuse to forgive our brother or sister. The king cast this servant into prison… if we cannot forgive those who sin against us; we are living our lives in a bitterness that poisons our souls. We become slaves to this hatred, this bitterness.
We have dared to express our hope with a spirit received from the gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ who died for our sins.” Unconditional forgiveness!!
Each of us today can think back upon some incident, some wrong that has hurt us. Are we still bitter, still hurting? If we haven’t forgiven that person, then we are bound just as this servant.
We might say, “I can’t forget what happened to me, how can I forgive?” Jesus said forgiveness is the first step.
It is almost impossible, for a matter of fact, to expect any Armenian to forgive the Turks for what they did almost 100 years ago, when 1.5 million innocent children, men and women were tortured, massacred and killed through deportation to the deserts and starvation. In human terms, it does not seem reasonable to forgive unconditionally.
But that’s what Jesus is trying to teach Peter, the disciples and all His followers.
A story is told of two friends who were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand, “Today my best friend slapped me in the face”.
They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he recovered from nearly drowning, he wrote on a stone, “Today my best friend saved my life”.
His friend asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?” The other friend replied “When someone hurt us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”
Forgiveness keeps the sins of others and our hurts in the past. Yet Jesus understands the difficulty of such forgiveness. To keep on forgiving is a God-like characteristic. It is contrary to human nature.
Forgiving is not easy. God forgave us all our many sins. By the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our account has been marked and paid in full! But, that is just the beginning. Jesus wanted his disciples to understand something: how could they live with him if they could not live with their brother? Peter asked, how often should I forgive, Lord? Jesus said, “As often as necessary, Peter.” How can we livewith the Father if we can’t live with each other? Psalm 32:1-2 says: “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.”
We are blessed when our sins are forgiven. How much greater is the blessing when we can forgive those who sin against us.
When the books of a certain Scottish doctor were examined after his death, it was found that a number of accounts were crossed through with a note: “Forgiven – too poor to pay.” But the physician’s wife later decided that these accounts must be paid in full and she proceeded to sue for money. When the case came to court the judge asked but one question. Is this your husband’s handwriting? When she replied that it was, he responded: “There is no court in the land that can obtain a debt once the word forgiven has been written.”
And that is the good news that the Gospel offers us this morning.

Krikor Youmshajekian