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Our Gospel lesson this morning contains a teaching from Jesus that is so clear, so direct, so unmistakable in its meaning and its power, that I almost feel silly preaching about it.

Jesus says, “Life in the Christian community should be like this: because God has forgiven you, you should forgive each other.”

That’s it. Plain and simple. End of story. It is so basic, so fundamental, so obvious a part of Christian discipleship that it is almost a no-brainer. We are called to be forgiving people. What more is there to say?

Ah, but saying and doing are not always the same thing. We can talk about forgiveness, but practicing forgiveness is sometimes a harder matter. And part of what gives this parable its power is its radical, down-to-the-root, depiction of what practicing forgiveness is like.

Jesus says, “There was a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.” That probably means the high officials in the king’s government, not just the household slaves or field-worker slaves; in the imperial governments of the ancient near east, government officials were often considered slaves of the emperor, in something like the way we still call government workers “public servants” today. So, the king is going over the budgets of his administrators, and he finds one who has overspent by ten thousand talents. Now, even with the currency conversions from the ancient world, ten thousand talents is a tremendous amount of money, more money than you and I are ever likely to see in our lifetimes. It is a huge debt, and the slave has no conceivable way to pay it back, no possible way to make good on what is lacking. But instead of punishing him, when the slave asks for mercy, the king simply forgives the debt, he cancels out the amount the slave owes him, he says, “Since you can’t do it, I will use my resources and my ability to make good on what is lacking, so that there will be no barrier of guilt and debt between us.” It’s that simple.

In fact, it’s so simple that I think we sometimes miss the point. Forgiveness, the way the parable describes it, means nothing more or less than giving up one’s right to get back what one is owed. Notice that the king doesn’t say, “I’ll reduce your debt to a manageable level, but you still have to pay back some.” The king doesn’t say, “You don’t have to pay the money, but I do expect you to work off your debt in some other way.” The king doesn’t even say, “I’ll arrange for someone else to pay the debt off on your behalf, but you just remember what we’ve done for you.” The king simply says, “You don’t have to pay.” The king simply says, “You can’t make it good, so I will.” Forgiveness, the way the parable depicts it, means giving up our right to get back what is ours; forgiveness means giving up some of our control to make a relationship over the way we’d like it to be; forgiveness means giving up some of our power to make someone behave the way we want them to behave. Forgiveness means setting someone free from the burden of guilt and obligation, with no strings attached; forgiveness means not letting what is lacking get in the way of having a faithful and compassionate relationship in Christ.

And that, Jesus says, is the way we ought to forgive each other, too. And that isn’t always easy for us. We tend to offer forgiveness, but with just a few strings attached. We tend to say things like, “I’ll forgive you, but only if you can convince me you’ll never do it again.” Or, “I’ll forgive, but I’m going to expect you to remember this, and you’re going to owe me one.” Or, “I’ll forgive you, but only if I know you feel really guilty first.” Oh, we don’t say those words exactly, not out loud; but those can be the messages we send when we think we’re saying “I forgive.” That’s why it can be a little hard for us to hear and receive Jesus’ words to us today.

But these are words we need to hear; and this is a kind of forgiveness we need to learn how to practice.

A few years ago, in one of my parishes in Tennessee, I got caught red-handed doing some political maneuvering with the Vestry. I didn’t think of it as “political maneuvering” at the time; there was a matter of some importance coming to a vote before the Vestry, and so before the meeting I talked to a couple of people about how we could introduce the motion and guide the process so the vote could come out in a favorable way. I didn’t think of it as “maneuvering,” I just thought of it as having foresight and being prudent. So, the Vestry meeting came, and the vote went the way I hoped, and we were about to go on to the next item of business—when one Vestry member, a rather formidable older woman who had many convictions and wasn’t shy about sharing them, stopped the meeting and said, “Wait a minute: you knew this was going to happen, didn’t you? You set this up, didn’t you?” It was sort of an awkward moment, and I hemmed and hawed a bit, but then the meeting went on and we got the rest of our business done.

It was after the meeting, as we were heading for our cars to go home, that this woman came up to me and said, “When you did that, when you set that up, I was so angry I nearly took my marbles and went home. The Vestry is the elected leadership of the parish, and the Vestry works on democratic principles, and what you did was an end run around the Vestry, and it undercut our authority, and it made me angry, and it was wrong.” She said, “I almost walked out on you, but I didn’t, because this is my church, this is my community, and you are a member of my community, and I don’t want something like this to get in the way of my relationship with my community.” Well, for a moment I was a little stunned by her anger, but I could see the truth in what she was saying, and I could see how it would look like that from her point of view, and I could see that I had been in the wrong, and I told her I was sorry. Then she got in her car and I got in mine, and we drove off, and that was the end of it.

But I have to admit that the next day, in church, I was a little afraid to look at her and see if she was still angry with me. And at the next Vestry meeting, I was a little afraid to look at her and see that she was watching me with an eagle eye, waiting to see if I’d do anything manipulative or maneuvery or out of line. But it didn’t take me very long to realize that she was doing nothing of the sort: she wasn’t holding my past failing against me, she wasn’t making me prove I’d learned my lesson before she’d trust me again, she wasn’t holding herself back from friendship until I’d paid the consequences of my mistake. It didn’t take me very long to realize that she had really forgiven me: she had told me what had bothered her, and then she’d let it go, with no strings attached, and she wasn’t going to let it get in the way of our having a compassionate and charitable Christian relationship. She had forgiven the way the king in the story had forgiven, and she was inviting me to do the same.

And that is the kind of forgiveness we are all invited to share with each other. Forgiveness is the hallmark of Christian community, not just because of the wrongs we do each other, but because forgiving each other from the heart, with no strings attached, is a sign of the generosity, a sign of the sheer giving grace, that is God’s gift to us and our gift to share. The good news of the Gospel today is that God opens our hearts so that we may give and forgive freely, so that we may share relationships of giving and receiving in Christ, so that we may build the Christian community that shows forth the generosity and grace of God for all the world to see.

Jesus says, “Life in the Christian community should be like this: because God has forgiven you, you should forgive each other.” And by the grace of God, by the gift of God, that is exactly what we can do.

 In the Name of God: the Holy One, the Holy Word, the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Readings For Sunday, Sunday, Sept. 15th, 2002

 The First Lesson                        Ecclesiasticus 27:30-28:7

Anger and wrath, these also are abominations, yet a sinner holds on to them. The vengeful will face the Lord’s vengeance, for he keeps a strict account of their sins. Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray. Does anyone harbor anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord? If one has no mercy toward another like himself, can he then seek pardon for his own sins? If a mere mortal harbors wrath, who will make an atoning sacrifice for his sins? Remember the end of your life, and set enmity aside; remember corruption and death, and be true to the commandments. Remember the commandments, and do not be angry with your neighbor; remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook faults

 The Second Lesson     Romans 14:5-12

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God. We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God." So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

The Holy Gospel        Matthew 18:21-35

Then Peter came and said to Jesus, "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."