The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
FORGIVENESS
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
FORGIVENESS
Lesson Plan:
1. Peter’s Problem and Christ’s Solution (vs 21, 22)
2. The Debt of Sin Against God (vs 23, 24)
3. The Debtor Compelled to Pay His Debt (v 25)
4. The Gospel of Divine Forgiveness (vs 26, 27)
5. The Conditions on Which Forgiveness Can Work Out Salvation from Sin (vs 28-35)
Lesson Setting:
Time: Autumn of A.D. 29. Not long after our last lesson
Place: Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee.
Place in the Life of Christ: Jesus nearly 33 years old; beyond the middle of the third year of His
ministry, toward the close of His great Galilean ministry.
Introduction: Some Problems of the Disciples – (a) The question as to who should be the greatest in the new kingdom may easily have led to some unpleasant words, as we know from a little later when the ten were moved with indignation against James and John for seeking the places nearest to Jesus in His kingdom (Matt. 20:20-24). This may have been one occasion of Peter’s question in verse 21. (b) Another occasion of the question doubtless was the teaching of Jesus in verses 15-17 concerning our treatment of those who have sinned against us. Note especially the wisdom and deep knowledge of human nature in the first counsel, to "shew him his fault between thee and him alone." As a rule the probability of a reconciliation is vastly greater if the two take up the matter alone. The audience always makes it hard for either to yield. A boy reproved in the presence of other boys will almost die before he will give in, while if alone he will listen to reason. (c) If all efforts at reconciliation fail, then "let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican" (v 17). He is not to be treated any more as a recognized Christian brother, for he has shown himself not to be one. This does not mean that we are to scorn him, or hate him, or neglect him. For we are to love Gentiles and publicans and do all we can to save and help them. We are to act lovingly, winningly, mercifully toward him. Go and Hide It: Serious faults need reproof; but it is not every one who can rebuke with long-suffering, or patience; and to talk with others about a brother’s fault is not of itself an indication of a real interest in a brother Christian, or in the welfare of the church. In Galatians 6:1 the true way is set forth. An old preacher was once approached by a busybody who, with an air of solemnity, wanted to tell him of the wrongdoing of a brother in the church. The wise minister turned to him and asked, "Does anybody else know this but you?" "No, Sir," was the answer. "Have you told it to anybody else?" Again the answer was "No." "Then," said the evangelist, "go home and hide it away at the feet of Jesus, and never speak of it again unless God leads you to speak to the man himself. If the Lord wants to bring a scandal upon His church, let Him do it; but don’t you be the instrument to cause it." (d) The Symphony of Prayer. The problems under discussion were very difficult to solve, and great grace was needed in their solution. Hence the promise to united prayer, verses 19, 20. "If two of you shall agree," literally ‘sound together,’ are a symphony, ‘a concord of sweet sounds,’ however different in nature, yet are in harmony on any subject, like different instruments of an orchestra tuned together.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:21, 22
1. Peter’s Problem and Christ’s Solution
(a) Peter came to Jesus with a question concerning forgiveness; not a theoretical but a practical question that he himself was struggling with. Peter was a high-strung, impetuous man, who could say with Mortimer, "I hold many men, known and unknown, within myself ... I think it is always so with men of my temper; but over that hundred I am centurion;" or rather, in Peter’s case he was trying to be centurion over them all; to be, in Browning’s phrase, monarch of his soul. A man like Peter was certain to have fault found with him, and to have need to forgive as well as to be forgiven. Remember, too, that Jesus at this time was suffering from a most bitter opposition, insults, misrepresentations, malignant slanders, and venomous abuse, even to their calling Him a devil. His disciples were fellow sufferers with Him, and must have felt a deep indignation such as a little later John expressed when he said, "Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire to come down from heaven and consume" the Samaritans who refused to receive Him (Lk. 9:52-55). (b) Peter’s question is a practical one for us all, young and old; for we live amid many evils and among imperfect people that try our temper and test our souls. Offenses and wrongs and misunderstandings, ‘mixed with cunning sparks of hell,’ are sure to come. There are others who say evil things about us carelessly, attribute wrong motives, pervert what we do and say. Often even friends can ‘speak daggers.’ And some it seems prefer remembrance of accidental errors to gratitude for splendid services. For we do not live in a ‘monochrome civilization,’ but amid great divergences of temperament and opinion; and it is a blessed thing that we do. But from this fact arises another fact, that it is in these little daily things that most of us need to cherish forgiving love. Nine-tenths of the serious controversies which arise in life result from misunderstanding, from the fact that men do not know the facts which to the other party seem to be important, or otherwise fail to appreciate his point of view. Recall the three Johns, and the three Thomases, when John and Thomas talked together, in O.W. Holmes’ ‘Autocrat of the Breakfast Table.’
Therefore we join in Peter’s question: "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" (v 21) The largest number he could conceive, a number for saints and angels to endure. Surely that was a wondrous display of grace, forgiving a wrong seven times repeated; and Peter no doubt expected the hearty endorsement of Jesus. Imagine his surprise therefore when the reply comes back ...
v 22 ... "I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but Until seventy times seven." That is to say, Why, Peter, the spirit of forgiveness knows no limit; it can never be exhausted. The very idea of counting the times involves a natural desire to hold one’s wrath until the offender passes the limits, and then to punish him. "Christ’s reply lifted the subject out of the legal sphere, where even Peter’s suggestion left it – seven times and no more, a hard rule – into the evangelistic, and means times without number" (Exp. Gk. Testament). When Jesus bids us forgive seventy times seven times, it means as many times as the sins against us. Our hearts are like reservoirs, and outward occasions draw out whatever is within, and only that. If they are full of love, forgiveness, kindness, the desire to help, then no matter how often, seven times or seventy times seven, some act of others calls forth the feelings of the heart, it will be met by love, forgiveness and help. If hate or revenge is there, then hate or revenge will flow forth against the evil-doer.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:23, 24
2. The Debt of Sin Against God
The Princely Debtor Before His King: "Therefore" (v 23), in order to illustrate the questions about forgiveness, and make them clear.
v 23 ... "Is the kingdom of heaven." The spiritual and moral realm, in the individual and in the world "likened unto," illustrated by, its principles made plain by, the story of "a certain king, which would take account of," more clearly in the R.V., ‘make a reckoning with’ "his servants," such as governors of provinces, officers who had charge of collecting the taxes, and other high officials. Perhaps there was some deficit in the revenue that awoke the attention of the king to the necessity of summoning these men to give an account of their administrations.
v 24 ... "And ... one was brought unto him," arrested, compelled to come, for he never would have come of his own accord; "which owed him ten thousand talents," gained by oppressing the people, and retained and wasted by cheating his king. The Amount of the Debt: The Hebrews probably first used coins in the Persian period (500-350 B.C.). However, minting began around 700 B.C. in other nations. Prior to this, precious metals were weighed, not counted as money. Some units appear as both measures of money and measures of weights. This comes from naming the coins after their weight. For example, the shekel was a weight long before it became the name of a coin. While it is helpful to relate biblical monies to current values, we cannot make exact equivalents. The fluctuating value of money’s purchasing power is difficult to determine in our own day. It is even harder to evaluate currencies used two to three thousand years ago. Therefore, it seems best to choose a value meaningful over time, such as a common laborer’s daily wage. One day’s wage corresponds to the ancient Jewish system (a silver shekel is four days’ wages) as well as to the Greek and Roman systems (the drachma and the denarius were each coins representing a day’s wage). Herein a current day’s wage is considered to be thirty-two dollars. Though there are differences of economies and standards of living, this measure will hopefully help apply meaningful value to the monetary units in this Biblical text. A denarius (the monetary unit of Rome, as a dollar is our monetary unit), translated in the New King James translation, ‘a denarii,’ worth $32 (one day’s wage). "Ten thousand talents" represents an incomprehensible amount of money. The talent was the largest denomination of currency, and "ten thousand" in common parlance signified an infinite number. Thus the debt this man owed to the king was infinitely greater than the debt of 100 denarii, for which this same man cast another into prison. This represents the greatness of man’s sin against God, as compared with his sin against man. (a) Every wrong against one of God’s children is a greater sin against God, his Father, as every wrong against man is a crime against the country in which he lives. It strikes a blow at its very life. (b) Further, every crime against man breaks the eternal laws of the moral universe. It is a blow against eternal laws, which only by obeying can the world be saved. (c) The fact of vital significance is that in their effect upon the development of character, in their relation to personal redemption, our offerings against others, i.e., God and our fellowmen, whether few or many, exert a vastly more potent influence for evil, than do the offerings of others against us. A mere breath of impurity in one’s own soul will drive him farther from the kingdom of heaven than a tempest of vileness from a brother can do. We need to study the contrasts as drawn by our Lord – 10,000 talents against 100 denarii, a beam in contrast with a mote. Are these exaggerations? Not at all! Seen through the Gospel object-glass, our sins loom up like mountains, while wrongs done us by others dwindle slowly away to nothingness.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:25
3. The Debtor Compelled to Pay His Debt
The Law-Method of Saving from Sin: "Commanded him to be sold ... and all that he had" (v 25). So in Syria now, when the debt grows till it equals in value the entire property of the debtors, the creditor seizes all they possess. Their houses and lands become his, and they, in their new relationship, work for him as his serfs and slaves. And such property he can sell, the men, their wives, and children passing practically as chattels." "I believe the people of Palestine dread the tax gatherer and the money lender more than they do the cholera or the conscription for war" (Hon. Selah Merrill). The ...
v 25 ... "wife and children" of those who commit crimes always suffer with them. Note: This represents the method of Law and Justice to save people from sin, by means of the consequences of sin. The laws of nature and the laws of the spiritual life are all perfect laws of a loving God. They are absolutely necessary for the saving of individuals and the world. They are fences by the roadside, to guide and warn, keeping men from turning into dangerous areas. We can obey them and escape the consequences, but we cannot continue to disobey them and escape, for they are eternal. In ‘Mask of Pandora’ Longfellow wrote: Never by lapse of time The soul defaced by crime Into its former self returns again, For every guilty deed Holds in itself the seed Of retribution and undying pain.
No government, human or divine, over an imperfect people, can succeed without such laws. These are laws of Perfect Love, in Old Testament, and in the Gospels, in each of which there is the divine voice, sounding over land and sea: "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, wherefore turn yourselves and live." For the purpose of law is to save individuals, the nation and the world. It is to be the means of bringing us to God, and His forgiveness.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:26, 27
4. The Gospel of Divine Forgiveness
v 26 ... "The servant therefore fell down" on his knees and then bowed his head to the ground in the oriental method of worship.
v 26 ... "And worshipped him" by this prostration, and by the words he spoke "saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." But the promise was beyond his power to fulfill. Much more is it impossible for any of us to pay the debt of sin against God and man. We have no power to blot out the wrong, to remove it from our memory and conscience, to destroy the consequences and make them as if they were not. The Cain-mark of many a crime is still seen down the centuries. Charles IX of France, yielding to the pressure of temptation, gave the order for the massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day. Bitter was his remorse when in his agony he sweat blood. ‘How many murders!’ ‘What rivers of blood!’ But not one Huguenot did his remorse restore to life; and no bloody sweat removed the evils which the shedding of her best citizens brought upon France. There was only one way of deliverance: "Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him" (V 27) from the bonds in which he had been brought before the king "and forgave him the debt." Thus three blessings were conferred: (a) Freedom from chains and imprisonment. (b) The canceling of his debt implied in what follows. (c) Continuance in office. This Scene Teaches Us the Gospel Method of Deliverance from Sin – By Forgiving It. The Law will not be changed, nor destroyed. It always moves on in its course unchanged and unchanging. But a new personal power comes in to rescue the sinner into another sphere, just as the compassion and skill of man can rescue a person from the rapids of Niagara, but cannot for one instant cause its perpetual downward flow to cease. The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings to bear on the redemption of man the most marvelous aggregation, a galaxy of powers and influences, and motives, beyond an angel’s imagination to conceive. The more we see of it and study it, the more we wonder and adore. God’s sending His only Son, full of grace and truth, to live God’s love before us, to express it in the highest terms conceivable, on the cross – this is the fountain of Love opened for sin and uncleanness. Forth from this fountain of love flow compassion, forgiveness, hope, new life, desires to be good, inspiration to better living, joy, brotherly love, eternal life, perfect example, and every motive which can lift the soul toward God, and produce right character in us.
What Forgiveness Accomplishes for Making Men Better: (a) Forgiveness breaks down the barrier between us and God. It is the welcome of the prodigal to his father’s house; the reception of the one who has sinned back into the family heart and home. God does not need to be reconciled to us, but we to be Him. The sinner is treated as if he had not sinned, the sin shall be remembered no more. (b) Forgiveness removes the love of sin. Love kindles love. It is the fountain in which sin is washed away. It awakens gratitude. "Here, Lord, I give myself away, ‘tis all that I can do." It makes sin hateful and hated in contrast with forgiving love. (c) Forgiveness takes away the burden of sin, what Paul terms "the body of this death." Love covers up the hateful past. Have you ever seen the sun shine on a jet black coal so that you could no longer see the blackness because of the radiance reflected from it? It is no longer a spot of blackness, but a star of glory in the sky of the loving kindness of God. We forget the wounds of the battle in the joy of victory. (d) Forgiveness takes away the punishment of sin, but it does not, at least immediately, remove all the consequences of sin. Can you conceive of a pardon that does not remit punishment or a governor’s pardon that leaves the criminal in prison, or the prodigal among the swine? At the same time there are consequences that forgiveness does not at once remove either from the wrong doer or from those he has wronged. Some of the consequences will remain with us till repentance and forgiveness have done their purifying, cleansing work; and they ought to remain till then, for they are part of the process of forgiveness. So, gradually, as in Dante’s vision of the Purgatorio, the P’s cut by the angel into the forehead, to represent the seven deadly sins, fade away. Forgiveness puts us into entirely different relations to the consequences. It is quite possible that God may transform even the consequences to others into blessings. God Can Transform Blemishes: "This is a very great treasure," said a chemist, taking from his collection of minerals a tiny stone. The gem was brilliant and a beautiful deep blue in color. "It is a sapphire," said he, "and, though very small, I consider it a wonderful choice specimen." Glimmering in its center could be seen a star with slender, thread-like rays. "Long ago," said the scientist, "when the stone was forming from the yet liquid material, a particle of foreign substance dropped into the clear matter. The intruder could not be removed, and the sapphire essence crystallized about it in perfect form, making of the threatened blemish its choicest beauty.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:28-35
5. The Conditions on Which Forgiveness Can Work Out Salvation from Sin
v 28 ... "But the same servant went out," from the king’s presence "and found one of his fellowservants," even while the compassion of the king should have been warming his heart.
v 28 ... "which owed him an hundred pence" (NKJ, ‘denarii’). The king had forgiven the servant an infinite amount, yet this same servant would not forgive a very small amount of one of his fellow servants.
v 28 ... "Took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest." "Seizing, he choked, throttled him, after the brutal manner allowed by ancient custom, and even by Roman law" (Exp. Greek Testament). Roman writers repeatedly speak of a man’s twisting the neck of his debtor till the blood flowed from mouth and nostril."
v 29 ... "Fell down at his feet ... I will pay thee all." The very act and words he himself had so recently employed to his creditor.
v 30 ... "And he would not: but went and cast him into prison." "When the threshing season comes round, the usurious creditor secures the services of a band of bashi-bazouks. These ride into the defaulting village, stable their horses in the people’s houses, lie in their beds, eat their fowl and fatted sheep, insult their wives and daughters, till the usurer is satisfied. Should the debtors be unwilling or unable to pay, they are handcuffed and driven like cattle to prison, whence they shall not depart till they have paid the uttermost farthing" (Dr. William Wright). Is such conduct incredible? "In parabolic narrative the improbable has sometimes to be resorted to illustrate the unnatural behavior of men in the spiritual sphere. But the action of the pardoned debtor is not as improbable as it seems. He acts on the instinct of a base nature, and also doubtless in accordance with long habits of harsh, tyrannical behavior towards men in his power. Every way a bad man; greedy, grasping in acquisition of wealth, prodigal in spending it, unscrupulous in using what is not his own. Ungenerous himself, he was incapable of conceiving and therefore of appreciating such generosity as the king’s" (Exp. Greek Testament).
v 31 ... "His fellowservants." The scene changes again. The other servants felt great pity for the unfortunate man "and told unto their lord," who they were sure would listen, since he had been so compassionate toward the first debtor. They were not revengeful, but grieved and disappointed at the oppression of the weak, and the monstrous ingratitude of the officer.
v 32 ... "O thou wicked servant." Hard-hearted, hypocritical, ungrateful, selfish.
v 34 ... "and his lord was wroth." Angry, indignant, and justly so, at such misconduct "Delivered him to the tormentors." Not simply ‘jailers,’ but those who (among the ancient Romans) sought by legal tortures to find out whether the debtor had any concealed hoard.
The Application: "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts" (v 35), not merely in form and in words, but from sincere love, with true forgiveness "forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." Why? How Does This Harmonize With the Duty to Forgive? (a) God’s anger is not passion, but a terrible indignation against sin and wrong. Our hearts grow hot over the wrongs, oppressions, and cruelties in the world, but God’s indignation is hotter than ours. The better a being is, the greater must be his hatred of all sin and wrong. A God who was careless about sin, that was not offended by impurity, that did not resent cruelty and injustice, that did not loathe and abhor filthiness and lying; a God that was undisturbed and untroubled by the extent of the evil in His world; could you fear (reverence) such a God? No, you would despise Him. (b) God’s indignation (and the necessary punishments) is always with the desire and purpose of saving men, and the world. He overcame evil with good, but it is not good to let men go on growing worse themselves, and injuring others, without putting every possible obstacle in their way, to make the way of transgressors so hard that they will repent and turn from their evil ways; at the same time using every influence that love and wisdom can apply, a perpetual outshining of the readiness to forgive. The same principles hold with society and human government. The object of law, justice, prisons, fines and other punishments is to save the individual and the country from ruin. As God does, so do the best human governments use every influence of religion, education, social betterment, training, rewards, i.e., to lessen as far as possible the necessity of punishment. (c) The one condition of receiving the offered forgiveness is a new heart and a new life. The business of forgiveness is to save us from our sins, and it is successful only when this end is reached. The king’s forgiveness of his officer only injured the man, confirmed him in sin, left him proud and selfish. Thus he put himself under the discipline of punishment again. "Such a spirit not only blights all hope of moral and spiritual progress, but it gnaws at the soul as a canker, or burns as a flame" (Hubbard). A gentleman had a talk with a wicked man: "You do not look as if you had prospered by your wickedness," said the gentleman. "I haven’t prospered at it," cried the man feelingly. "It is business that doesn’t pay. If I had given half the time and energy to some honest calling which I have spent in trying to get a living without work, I might be now a man of property and character instead of the homeless wretch I am." He then told his history, and ended by saying, "I have been twice in State prison, and I have made acquaintance with all sorts of miseries in my life, but I tell you my worst punishment is in being what I am." It was to save the man from this worst punishment as well as from doing injury to others that he was delivered to the tormentors. (d) The test and proof of having the new heart and life is our willingness to forgive those who have trespassed against us. The forgiving spirit seeks to do all the good possible to the one who has wronged us. It yearns to help him and to save him from his sin. It proves this feeling of forgiveness and love by doing good, as God sends the rain and the sunshine on the evil and on the good; as Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and did everything possible to save the city from its fate, even when it was about to crucify Him. So twice repeated is the command, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him," etc. (Prov. 25:21, 22; Rom. 12:20, 21). (e) We must distinguish between private wrongs, and injuries against society and the state. We are to harbor no feelings of revenge. We can and ought to forgive those who have injured us, and render good for evil. But it is not in our power to forgive those who sin against others. Only those can forgive against whom the wrong has been done. The question of the punishment of criminals is not involved in our duty of forgiving enemies. A general amnesty to all criminals, without regard to their character, would be what God never does, and would injure the criminals as really as the whole nation.
Illustration: The day before the battle of Trafalgar, one of the most critical days in the history of England, Nelson sent for his admiral, Collingwood, to come on board his vessel. On his arrival Nelson said, "Where is your captain?" The admiral replied, "We are not on good terms." "Terms?" said Nelson. "Good terms with each other." He sent at once a boat for the captain, and when he came on board Nelson brought the two men together, joined their hands, pointed to the enemy’s fleet before them and said, "Yonder are the enemy; shake hands like Englishmen." We ought to "shake hands like Christians" that we may best serve God and man.
