Title Matthew 18:21-35
Today's topic is forgiveness. In verse 21, the first verse of the text, Peter's question about forgiveness appears, and Jesus' answers are contained in verses 22-35. Looking back at Jesus' answer, verse 22 is the primary answer to Peter's question in verse 21, verses 23-34 are parables to explain the meaning of that answer, and the last verse 35 is the full text of today's text. It can be said to be a concluding teaching that summarizes the content.
Peter first 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?" The number seven doesn't seem to come out of nowhere. At that time, it was the rabbis' view that it was necessary to forgive a wrong up to three times. Peter, who had learned the importance of forgiveness earlier, thought twice as much as the rabbis thought, and added a little more to the perfect number, seven times. Seems to.
But Jesus' answer shows a huge gap from Peter's expectations. Jesus said, "Not only seven times, but seven times up to seventy times (forgiveness)." Seventy times seven is 490 times. Some translators translate it not as "seven times seventy times" but as seventy-seven times. It seems virtually impossible to forgive one person over and over again for the same wrong, 490 or seventy-seven times. Jesus answered that way, not to set the limit on the exact number of times, but to say that there is no limit to forgiveness. In other words, he was trying to teach us to forgive to the end.
Knowing that his answer to Peter's question would far exceed Peter's expectations as well as baffle him and the rest of the disciples, Jesus spoke a parable to help them understand what he meant. you did To summarize the parable, it is that a man who owed his master ten thousand talents and was forgiven did not forgive his fellow man who owed him a hundred denarii and put him in prison.
To understand the words of this parable, it is first necessary to keep in mind that in this parable of Jesus, the king or master refers to God, and the servants refer to us humans or those who are referred to as God's people. And you should know about the monetary units of talents and denarii.
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, the largest monetary unit as much as the largest number, is a huge amount of money that cannot be accurately converted to today's monetary value. Perhaps a thousand talents refers to the maximum amount imaginable by man at the time, and represents an almost infinite amount.
In this parable of Jesus, ten thousand talents mean two things. The fact that a servant owes his master ten thousand talents means that man is such a great sinner before God that he cannot repay it by any means in his own strength. The fact that the master forgave the servant of the debt of ten thousand talents means that God freely forgave 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 slave’s master had compassion on him, and he let him go and forgave him 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.
A denarius, on the other hand, was a Roman silver coin, equivalent to the daily wage of an average worker. Regarding the ratio between talents and denarii, the exact conversion standard is not known, and there is a huge difference of opinion. One talent is considered to be equivalent to a minimum of 60 denarii and a maximum of ten thousand denarii. Therefore, the ratio of 10,000 talents to 100 denarii in the text is from a minimum of 6,000 times to a maximum of 1 million times. So, speaking of the minimum ratio, the evil servant in the parable of the text is the person who has the person who owes him only 10,000 won even after he has forgiven 60 million won to be imprisoned. And to put it in the best possible way, he is the one who put a colleague in prison who owed him only ten thousand won even after he was forgiven 10 billion 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 you all your debts because of your prayer. Shouldn't you have pity on your companions as I have compassion on you?" So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless you forgive your brother from the heart of each one of you.”
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 for 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, but if we cannot forgive each other because we are ungrateful, we are evil servants and we are not children of God. The third is the terrible judgment that those who cannot forgive like that will receive. That judgment is none other than that of being excluded from eternal life with God.
Forgiveness is the Christian way of life, you could even say that it is life itself. This is because Christians must live their whole lives holding on to the grace of the cross of Jesus Christ. 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, which we cannot repay, to people throughout our lives. That is why our life is bound to be a life of constant forgiveness. All our problem-solving methods must always start with forgiveness.
Unforgiveness is a serious problem in our faith, but it also causes a huge problem in our daily life. What counselors often find is the unwillingness to forgive that underlies all kinds of personal problems. In other words, all kinds of problems arise for those who have an unforgiving heart. According to recent American medical opinion, unforgiveness is the worst health. So it is said that every famous hospital has "forgiveness" centers in it. According to a recent issue of the well-known American weekly "Time", a professor compared and studied two types of people for 25 years. It has been concluded that people who think that , live an average of seven and a half years longer. Forgiveness is also very good for our health.
Of course, there are those who abuse forgiveness or claim it at their own convenience. They do not try to do their jobs right or do their own thing right, with forgiveness in front of them, but constantly disturbing the community. After all, the community just can't let it go, so whatever action they take, they cry out that they won't forgive. Forgiveness is for others to say, not for those who commit evil deeds to shout. There are times when it is necessary to sanction certain errors without unconditionally covering them in order to maintain the health and order of the community. Nevertheless, there are not a few people who argue that it is convenient for them to mix the legal action necessary for the security of the national community or the issue of discipline necessary for the good of the church with the issue of personal forgiveness. We must not become a foolish crowd who is deceived and swayed by such words.
Forgiveness is more valuable when it is 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 begging God, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Those of us who have received such wonderful forgiveness, love, and grace and have been called to be disciples of Jesus Christ should live a life of forgiveness. The words of Jesus, “Unless you forgive each of you from your heart your brother, so will my heavenly Father do to you” (35). I hope to split it up. If we have lived an unforgivable life until now, I hope that we will be contrite for that fact. And let's forgive The life of forgiveness is the Christian life.