February 10, 2008
"Father, Forgive Them"
Matthew 18: 21- 35; Isaiah 53: 12, Luke 23: 32- 38
As Christians we know that we must forgive those who have done us wrong. Just this morning we heard Jesus own words calling us to forgive. We know how not forgiving can cause bitterness and resentment to swell in our hearts. And we are well aware of where it can lead.
In our newspapers this past week we were reminded again of how dangerous such thoughts can be. I am referring to what happened in that suburb of St. Louis, Kirkwood, MO, where Charles Thorton burst into a zoning meeting and killed two policemen and wounded the Mayor and several council members before he was shot to death. According to news reports he had a history of conflicts with the city council and had even been barred from attending council meetings. Now, I certainly don't know who was right or wrong in these conflicts. Often, there is right and wrong on both sides. But, the point is that this man's anger and resentment so consumed him that he drove himself to murder. And now he has to explain what he did before the judge of heaven and earth. Oh, if this man, even if he had been wronged, would have known the healing power of forgiveness!
Thankfully our unresolved conflicts, our grievances with each other, and resentments do not usually end up this way. But we know that they are still very destructive. Think about families and churches that have split apart or neighbors and former friends who no longer speak to each other. We pay a dear price for keeping such grievances in our hearts.
But, saying all that doesn't make it any easier to forgive, does it? And the truth is that forgiveness is not easy. But where do you start? A good place to start was where Jesus did in his parable when he spoke of the king who had mercy on the servant who couldn't pay his debt.
The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
We see Jesus, our Lord and Master doing the very same thing on the cross when he cried out,
"Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."
Jesus wanted his heavenly to forgive the debt of those were crucifying and tormenting him.
Let's begin by considering the last words of his request: "They know not what they are doing." One strange thing about debts is that people who go into debt often don't realize the seriousness their debt. That's especially true in our credit card, installment plan culture. I remember speaking with a friend who told me he was getting a brand new four wheel drive pickup. Now my friend didn't have the highest paying job. And so I blurted out, "Wow, how can you afford that?" I know he probably should have said that it was none of my business. But, instead he said, "Oh, I figured out the monthly payments. I have just enough." And he did have just enough until he totaled the pick-up and the amount his insurance company paid didn't near cover what he owed. Similarly, many will not know the extent of their debt to God until the Day of Reckoning comes.
The religious leader didn't understand their debt. They thought they were upholding their beliefs (not to mention their positions of authority.) They thought they were keeping the peace. And one man's life was a small price to pay for all this. Many in the jeering crowd didn't know the debt they were incurring. In fact they may not have been thinking that much at all about what they were doing. They were simply got caught up in a mob mentality. The soldiers were following orders. All of these people's eyes were blinded to their horrendous act to God's Son and to the unspeakable debt that they incurred because of it. "Who can forget their words to Pilate, "His blood be on us and our children."
Yet, as Christian we know that these were not the only debtors there. This is the point Peter makes in his Pentecost sermon in Acts 2. The people who heard him came from all over in the Roman Empire: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Pontus. and many others. Yet, in his sermon Peter declares,
This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross
People said that these people were the ones who crucified Jesus. Surely most of them were not around on Good Friday. Yet, Peter says they crucified Jesus. Why? It was because of their sins that God with his foreknowledge had purposed to send his Son to die. Hence, they were among those who were ignorant of what they had done. They were among those for whom Jesus had prayed.
As we reflect on the purpose of God that put Jesus on the cross we must always remember the words of the Apostle Paul,
"Here is a trustworthy statement that deserves full acceptance Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-- of whom I am the worst." I Timothy 1: 15
We must all say to our Lord the words of the famous hymn, "I was the guilty, I brought this upon thee, and I crucified thee." When we think about those who crucified we must never forget ourselves. Jesus prayed this prayer for us.
How great is our debt to God? To get an understanding of it, we should look at what it cost our Lord to pay it. I am sure that you have read or heard descriptions of the physical suffering Jesus endured: The torture of the whip, the beatings, the nails, and the slow painful death on the cross. The physical pain was only a part of what he suffered. Even greater was the spiritual agony of hell, from whose depths he would scream, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!" That is price that each of us would have had to pay. So great was the cost of our debt.
Now some of us might wonder about that. After all, what have I done in my life to deserve to pay such a price? Our text from Isaiah is helpful here.
For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
That last word "transgressors" also means "rebels." The transgressors were those who rebelled against the king. We are reminded of that in verse 38,
38There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS
The jeers and torments of the crowd were acts of mutiny against the king. But, that's the way the Bible pictures all of our sins: as acts of rebellion against our Creator and Lord. His rule is just and right and he intended only good. But it is our acts of rebellion that have brought disaster on our world. The terrible tornados this past week that killed so many and devastated the lives of so many more were not so much acts of God as they were examples of what all our rebellion has done to God's beautiful world. And when you add to that the intentionally hurtful things that we do to each other, it becomes clearer that our debt is mind boggling.
But God's love is even more mind boggling. Another reason some of us find it hard to forgive is that we do not realize the depths of God's love and forgiveness.
In preparation for this message I read the old classic book on forgiveness, Forgive and Forget, by Lewis Smedes. If you are struggling with forgiving someone won forgiveness, Forgive and Forget, by Lewis Smedes. If you are struggling with forgiving someone who did you wrong or if you have bitterness in your heart toward one who hurt you, I would strongly recommend that you read this book. It is excellent, and it's a fairly easy read. One of Smedes' main themes is that we forgive others not just because it is helpful to them, but because it is helpful and healing for us to do so. He points out how hatred and bitterness are a poison that can destroy us and how forgiving one another allows us to rid our lives of that poison.
Yet, having said all that, we should realize that this cannot be reason why Jesus prayed,
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
How do we know that? We know it because Jesus harbored no such poison in his heart. There was no bitterness or resentment. Surely he received the same temptations to become bitter and resentful, but he never gave in to them. For, he was without sin. In Hebrew 4: 15 we read,
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin.
The truth is that Jesus gained nothing by praying that prayer. The only thing he gained was the suffering and death that made it possible for his Father to grant his request. St. Augustine put it this way,
"Men who traded entered into commercial [relationship] for the exchange of things. A man gave what he had and received what he had not. How simple it was that the larger quantity should make up for the cheaper sort! So then, another man gave barley to receive wheat; lastly, another gave lead to receive silver, only he gave much lead against a little silver, another gave wool to receive a ready made garment. And who can enumerate all these exchanges. But no one gave life to receive death."
Jesus did. And when you stop and consider whose life and whose death we are considering, it even makes the exchange more astonishing. So, what was Jesus motivation? It can only be one thing: Love-a love that was impossible for us to earn or even to imagine.
Remember Jesus words,
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
(John 15: 13)
Now that should tell us something. If you are struggling with doubts, worried how God could possibly love you or thinking that you must reach a certain point of saveablity before you can be certain that the promises of God are for you, stop worrying. Jesus died for you because he loves you. Or do you worry that you don't measure up as a Christian or as a person? People of God, we are not valuable because of what we've accomplished or because of how good we are. Our value comes from one truth alone: God our Father loves us and our Lord Jesus loves us with a love they freely given and none of us deserves.
Remember Jesus' parable of the pearl of great price.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Beloved of God, you and I are that pearl! Jesus gave everything he had for us. There is nothing we can add to make ourselves more valuable or more forgivable.
We began by considering Jesus' parable of the unmerciful servant. At the conclusion of parable Jesus says,
In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Dear brother or sister, if that is where you are this morning. If you are living with an unforgiving heart, this certainly can describe the prison that holds you and the tortures that you and those you love endure because you are there.
This morning Jesus calls you to get out of jail free. And he has paved the way for us to do so. Listen again to the beginning of Isaiah 53: 12
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death,
These are words that describe soldiers who have won the victory over their enemies in a war. In those days when soldiers defeated their enemies, they were often free to pillage them. Because of the price he paid, Jesus has already conquered our enemy. And he is pillaging jails where the evil one torments prisoners and is taking for himself the spoils of war-the precious prizes for which he gave his life's blood-you and me. This morning, he has thrown open our prison doors and as the old hymn writer puts it
"My chains fell off, your voice I knew."
And his voice is calling us to come out. It is calling us to know the joy of love and reconciliation and the freedom of forgiveness. How will you answer?
AMEN!