Reverend Ray Osborne, Senior Minister
Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

(Mat 18:21-35 NRSV) Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?"

Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.

When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made.

So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'

And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, 'Pay what you owe.'

Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.'

But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place.

Then his lord summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?'

And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt.

So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart."

When God created humankind, I know that HE knew exactly what He was doing. The problem is NOT with God – but rather humankind. Often it appears that we have no idea what we are doing, and for good reason – we DON’T! Let me give you some examples of what I am talking about. Men do you really understand women? My little 6 year old son came into my office one day and said “Daddy could you help me catch _________?” In that blank you can put any girl’s name and it will fit. To which I replied, “Son it took me 34 years to finally catch your Mommy you best go ask someone who’s better at it than I am!” Most people who have read John Gray’s book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, hate it, but the fact remains that we read books like that because we do not understand each other. Human behavior is a very strange and complex subject that no one has ever mastered in understanding – except God.

The pages of the Bible are filled with words of wisdom, words of instruction regarding human behavior. Someone once described the Bible as a “book about God” and rightly so. While the Bible is a book about God, it is even better described as a book about relationships. For if we really take the time to sit down and read the Bible we will soon learn about God’s relationship to us, His relationship to Jesus, Our relationship to God and Jesus, and our relationship to each other. While we claim to be Bible literate people, we often show others just how little of God’s Word we actually know. Our ignorance is not one of words but of actions. It is through the way that we treat our fellow brothers and sisters in Jesus that we profoundly proclaim to the World “I read the Bible. I just don’t know what it says.”

I have often commented of my admiration for Peter. I think I am attracted to Peter because he seems to be God’s representative of humanity in the Bible. I often hear people comment “I can’t live like those people in the Bible! Those people were perfect!” We really need to get back to reading the Bible and seeing what’s really there. I think if we would ever discipline ourselves to reading the Bible we’d soon realize that God uses ordinary people to accomplish some pretty extra-ordinary things. Peter is extra-extra ordinary. He reminds me a lot of me! He is consistent about putting his foot in his mouth. He is consistently weak in his faith. His sin is of the nature that is visible to all. I mean when Peter messes up he doesn’t mess up halfway – he really does it very well, almost as if he had been practicing all his life. Yep! I can relate to Peter!

In our Gospel reading this morning we find Jesus relaxing with his disciples. He finds in the moment an excellent opportunity to teach them about relationships. First about paying taxes he says, “He said, "Yes, he does." And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it (paying taxes first) asking, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?” When Peter said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the children are free. However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.” (Mat. 17:25b-27 NRSV)

Then the disciples decided they wanted to know who was the most important disciple in the crowd. They asked Jesus: “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” I think Jesus surprised them a bit! If the truth were known they were fishing. We do the same thing don’t we? Rather than accepting the truth that we all stand equal before God, I sincerely believe there are some who think they stand a little bit closer than the rest of us. Easy to tell – just look for someone whose nose is stuck up in the air. Why some people have their nose so high it scares me when they walk under a ceiling fan! I kind of close my eyes thinking I might see a nose go flying across the room! A lot of people are going to be just as surprised as the disciples were that day.

He called a child and sat the child on His lap and said, “Whoever becomes as humble as a child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Unless you take upon yourself the humility of a child you will never even see the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Mat. 18:1-4 Osborne)

As if that wasn’t enough along comes Peter with an issue of his own. We aren’t told but I can imagine that somewhere along the way someone had done ticked Peter off that day and he wanted permission from Jesus to “clean his or her plow!” Can’t you see him? (Walking across the platform with hands in pockets)

“Lord I need to ask you something. Supposing a church member did me wrong. And this same church member just keeps on doing me wrong. How long ya reckon I gotta put up with dat?” “Well Simon,” (Notice Jesus calls him Simon here because he really isn’t acting much like a rock!) “You know you must forgive that person.”

“Yeah Jesus I know that and I already forgave them. In fact I’ve already forgiven them seven times!! But they never change Master and to tell you the truth I’m getting a little fed up with it and I just wanna . . .”

“Seventy times Seven Simon.”

“Huh?”

“Seventy times seven.”

(Starting to count fingers) “Let’s see now that’s . . .”

“Perpetuity.”

“That’s what?”

“Infinity. Simon if we are going to please God, it matters not how many times someone offends us. We must forgive them each and every time.”

Beloved, like it or not that’s the way it is. If we refuse to forgive someone over and over, regardless of the lack of change, we are not living within the will of God.

Do you find it funny how Jesus then tells the disciples a story about a slave at this point? Why does He do that? The answer goes back to something I addressed in the beginning of this message – human behavior. Let’s define the word “forgive” before we go any further. Dictionary.com says:

“To refrain from imposing punishment on an offender or demanding satisfaction for an offense.”

If you and I truly exhibit behavior consistent with forgiveness to someone who has wronged us, we essentially treat that person as if the act or incident had never occurred. If we have truly forgiven someone then we will treat that person absolutely no different than we treated him or her before the fact.

One of the reasons we treat people differently after we feel they have wronged us is mostly because as humans we are power hungry people. For example, if you do something to me then in order for me to feel superior to you I’m going to make you squirm like a worm! In my refusing to treat you the same way I treated you before I have decided to take you as my prisoner, even my slave. By my continual refusal to forgive you and my refusal to treat you like I did prior to the incident, I place myself higher on the scale of humanity than I believe you are, and that makes me feel like I have a power over you, and that sure makes me feel a whole lot better!

The only problem in all of that is while I hold you prisoner, my heart is a prisoner to sin and if I refuse to forgive you, I mean TRULY forgive you, God will refuse to forgive me.

Beloved I implore you to listen to this verse of Scripture and I encourage you to write it down somewhere and commit it to memory. “But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:15 NRSV)

And from today's text:

"And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart." I don’t know about you but that verse sounds mighty serious to me. See I have to believe that a God who gave His only Son to die that you and I might receive forgiveness for our sin takes the issue of forgiveness seriously. And as theologically moderate as I may be I profoundly believe God’s Word to be true. When He says that if I don’t forgive someone that He won’t forgive me – I think I best straighten up in my seat and listen.

Wayne Messmer is no stranger to Chicago sports fans. For two decades the 49-year-old Messmer has been a public address announcer and national anthem singer for sports teams in the Windy City. After singing the “Star Spangled Banner” at a Chicago Blackhawks game in 1994, though, Messmer was shot at point-blank range by two teenage boys. Because the bullet passed through the singer's throat, the doctors were unsure if he'd ever sing again. Amazingly, six months later (still bearing evidence of his ten hour surgery) Messmer returned to the microphone.

Physical healing was one thing. Emotional release of the hatred and resentment he felt was another. Because of his personal faith in Jesus Christ, Messmer was convinced that his emotional healing was linked to his ability to forgive his young assailants.

In his book The Voice of Victory, Messmer writes: "In spite of my frustration I believed I had reached a point where I could honestly say I had forgiven these young men. In doing so, over a period of contemplative and reflective prayer and meditation, I was confident I had set myself free from the chains that had connected me to the incident."

Although one of the boys had been released on a plea bargain, the other, James Hampton, remained incarcerated. To prove to himself that he truly had forgiven his would-be killers, Messmer drove 225 miles to Galesburg Correctional Center and asked to see Hampton. Although several years had passed, and Hampton had grown from a teenager into a young adult, Messmer found the strength and grace to say, "James, I'm here to see how you are doing." After a two hour, emotional visit, Messmer turned to leave. Reaching out and touching Hampton's forearm, he offered a benediction that revealed the freedom of his heart. "James, I bid you peace."

I want my heart to be free from the bondage of sin and I want my life to stand forgiven in the presence of God. How about you?

Amen.

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