Title Forgiveness / Matthew 18:21-35
Today's text contains Peter's question about forgiveness and Jesus' answer and explanation. First Peter asked Jesus: "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother if he sins against me?" And immediately he offered a model answer: "Are you going to do it up to seven times?" But Jesus said, "Not only seven times, but seven times up to seventy times (forgiveness)." Seventy times seventy times is four hundred and ninety times. Some translators translate it as "seventy-seven times" instead of "seventy-seven times". However, it seems practically impossible to forgive a person for the same mistake four hundred ninety times or seventy-seven times over and over again. It must be seen that Jesus was trying to say that there is no limit to forgiveness.
Jesus then told a parable. It is the story of a servant who owes his master ten thousand talents and, after being forgiven, does not forgive a fellow who owes him a hundred denarii and puts him in prison. It is necessary to keep in mind that in the words of this parable, the king or master refers to God, and the servants refer to humans or us who are referred to as God's people.
The servant in the parable owed his master ten thousand talents. The talent was the highest known monetary unit within the Roman Empire. And the number ten thousand was the largest unit of number that had its name in Greek. So, ten thousand talents, which is the largest monetary unit as much as the largest number unit, refers to the maximum amount imaginable by humans at that time, and must have been a word to express an almost infinite amount of money.
However, in Jesus' parable, the fact that the servant owes his master ten thousand talents means that man is a great sinner who cannot atone for God by any means by his own strength. And the fact that the master forgave the servant of the debt of ten thousand talents means that God has freely forgiven all the sins of his people. The master listened to his servant's plea and forgave without hesitation under any conditions. Verse 27 says, “The master of the servant had compassion on him, and let him go, and forgave the debt. This speaks of God's unconditional and pure grace of forgiveness. It is an expression of God's infinite mercy and love toward us who are sinners beyond words.
On the other hand, the servant lent a hundred denarii to one of his companions. A denarius was a Roman silver coin, equivalent to the daily wage of an average worker. As for the ratio between talents and denarii, there is a huge difference of opinion. One talent is considered to be equivalent to a minimum of sixty denarii and a maximum of ten thousand denarii. Therefore, the ratio of ten thousand talents to one hundred denarii in the text ranges from a minimum of six thousand times to a maximum of one million times. That is, the evil servant in the parable of the text is the one who, speaking of the minimum ratio, imprisoned a person who owed only one million won to him even though he was forgiven six billion won. And, to put it in the best possible way, he is the one who put a colleague in prison, who owed him only one million won even after he was forgiven one trillion won.
What was Jesus trying to teach through the parable of the evil servant? First, what we forgive among our people is incomparably small compared to what God has forgiven us. The second is that, despite this, we cannot be called God's people if we do not forgive even one small thing. What did Jesus say in verses 32-35? "Then the master called him and said, "Evil servant, I forgave all your debts because of you, so shouldn't you have pity on your fellow man as I have compassion on you?" I delivered him to the prisoners to pay him back. My heavenly Father will do the same to you unless you forgive your brother from the heart of each one.
Peter asked Jesus only questions about the quantitative limits of forgiveness, but Jesus taught Peter the deep meaning and rationale of forgiveness. What does today's text teach us? The first is the infinite grace of God. God's grace is so great that we cannot repay it with anything else. Teaching the limit of forgiveness by telling us to forgive seventy times seven times is to make us realize that our sins are so great before God and that God's grace to forgive us is infinite. The second is the justification of forgiveness for those who have received grace. If we are those who have received such great grace from God, we should also be able to forgive our brothers and sisters who do us wrong. The third is the terrible judgment that those who cannot forgive like that will receive. That judgment is nothing but exclusion from eternal life with God.
Forgiveness is the Christian way of life, you could even say that it is the Christian life itself. This is because Christians must hold onto the grace of the cross of Jesus Christ for the rest of their lives. Because the cross of Jesus Christ is a sign of God's infinite forgiveness. This is because we, who live by the grace of God's infinite forgiveness, have no choice but to repay the debt of forgiveness toward God throughout our lives. So our life is bound to be a life of constant forgiveness. The way to solve all problems in our community life and human relationships should always start with forgiveness.
Forgiveness is more valuable when done first, even without the other person's prior actions. Forgiveness is more beautiful when done without conditions. Forgiveness is true when it is done from the heart and to the end. Even on the cross, Jesus set the example of perfect forgiveness by asking God, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Those of us who have received such amazing forgiveness, love and grace should live a life of forgiveness. We must take seriously the words of Jesus, "So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless you forgive each of you his brother from the heart" (35).
If there is someone who repents, apologizes, and asks for forgiveness on the one hand and someone who forgives on the other hand, that community will be a truly beautiful and hopeful community. Confession, apology, and begging for forgiveness are not only sincere, but best done before the other person asks you to do so. But the Lord has taught us that we must forgive even if we do not. Jesus also gave himself to the cross and forgave us before we repented. First, he forgives us and awaits our repentance. Forgiveness is the way we build a beautiful and hopeful community. I sincerely hope that, through forgiveness, the countries of Northeast Asia will not only create a beautiful and hopeful community, but together become a leading player in transforming the whole world into a beautiful and hopeful community.