Text: Matthew 18:21-35
There was a time when people had to be patient, and save up for things. Now banks and other financial institutions eagerly thrust their credit cards and honeymoon loan rates on a willing public. Ad's on TV and billboards entice us to 'have now, pay later.' Sometimes we are told that we won't have to pay until the middle of next year. The bottom line, however, is that we still have to pay. If rates rise, jobs are lost, the breadwinner is injured, or unexpected expenses come along, a family can be overwhelmed by crushing debt. Debt can bring physical hardship, but embarrassment and social pressures can be even more crushing. How humiliating it is to have to admit that you aren't in control. How painful it is to see loved ones suffer because of financial collapse. It's even more painful when it is your mismanagement that is largely to blame.
Our Lord didn't explain how the man in his story ran up a debt of ten thousand talents. One talent equalled six thousand denari. A denarius was a silver coin, and was what a labourer might be paid for one day's work. So work out what it would cost to pay for 6000 workers for a day, then times that by ten thousand. A rather large sum. (60 million denari) The point is, of course, that it is such a huge debt, that this man has no way whatsoever, of paying. We don't know how he got into debt, but the fact is, he owed the money, and the king wanted it paid back.
When the king ordered him sold into slavery, along with his family, he fell to his knees, and pleaded with the king. What did he say? "Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything." He was desperate. His debt was like a mountain of rock, poised to collapse on him, and about to crush his family too. He asked for more time. At a denarius a day, he was looking at more than 500 years' work. Even on a better wage, there was no way he'd be able to clear the debt in his life time. He said this to try to avoid slavery, but a lifetime of working to pay a debt, without any realistic chance of actually paying it off, wouldn't be much more than slavery anyway.
There are many people who live lives of slavery. Many believe in the law of karma, which means that you have to use this life to pay for sins committed in previous lives, and then try to earn a better life next time round. Others believe that we've got to try to make the good deeds outweigh the bad deeds, to have any hope. But there's no hope with either of these ways of thinking. The good deeds God wants, are: pure thoughts, kind words, and loving actions, that come out of a thankful heart, motivated only by pure love for God and all people. No one can come up with even one of these good works.
David confesses in Psalm 51:5 "Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me." Romans 3:10 says, "There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God." Isaiah 64:6 says, "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags."
We start out life with a spiritual debt to God, and we have no ability, as well as no desire, to pay. When we try to pay, what we offer is pathetic. Our best actions are corrupted by self-interest. The dregs of our time and money - are these what we offer to the Lord? We can do things to impress others at work or Church, but forget our manners with members of our family. We can sponsor a child in Africa, but ignore the child in the street and his single mum. We can protest the intolerance of the Taliban, but keep our congregation shut to anyone who doesn't fit in. We can give God our lip-service, but keep our hearts wrapped up in what we think is our work , our money, and our time.
We owe the Lord deep gratitude for the gift of life itself, as well as for his many blessings. We owe him loving obedience, worship and praise, but are helpless even to begin to pay what we owe.
What hope is there? The man in Jesus' story had none. The time was up. He pleaded for an extension. He promised to pay, but he had nothing to pay with. His debt was about to crush him, and his family as well.
Then came a surprise, like a bolt of lightning!
"The servants' master took pity on him, cancelled the debt, and let him go."
In the year 2000, many people rallied throughout the world to try to get rich nations to cancel the debts of poor nations. There was some progress, but no wholesale cancellation of debt. But what if there had been? Poor farmers would be free to use their land to grow food for their families. Land might not have to be cleared at an unsustainable rate. Governments could channel revenue into schools and medical services, instead of handing it all over in interest payments.
Cancelling debt wouldn't automatically fix the world's problems. But it would lift a crushing load off many poor countries. Many families could be released from economic slavery. Lives would be transformed.
But it couldn't be as easy as all that, could it? I don't know what is possible in world economics, but the king in Jesus' story did it. He cancelled the debt, and let his servant go. The king suffered the loss himself, in an act of unbelievable generosity! Where did it come from? Did the servant somehow manipulate the king's heart, to get such a release? No, it came from the king's heart, a heart filled with compassion.
Do you understand what it means, to be forgiven? It means that God has released us from our debts. There is no need to make up for our sins. God has cancelled our debts and lets us go free. He decided to do this, because of his mercy and love, not because of anything we have done, or ever could do. His heart was filled with compassion for us. He suffered the loss himself, and has freely forgiven us. Titus 3: 4 and 5 "But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." Romans 8:1 says, "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
How relieved the man in Jesus' story must have felt! A debt of 10,000 talents, cancelled, just like that. He must have raced home bursting with joy and thankfulness, utterly amazed at the king, and filled with a burning desire to serve his gracious master with new vigour, and the same generous spirit that the king had shown him! ...Did he? No.
Another surprise, a second bolt of lightning, this time bringing death: He found a fellow-servant, and insisted that he pay. No compassion. No generosity. This man knew his rights, and insisted on them. The fellow-servant made the same appeal for patience, but he refused. He threw him into prison! Bad move. This hard-hearted act made a mockery of the king's kindness. Once grace has been spurned, what else can there be, but punishment that fits the crime. But it did not have to be this way!
Have we been relieved to hear of God's compassion for us? Have we raced home with the good news that we have been forgiven, and anyone who believes in Christ can also be forgiven?!
The compassion of God, releases us to show others the same compassion. God has forgiven us from the heart. This gives us the strength, and the desire to forgive others also, from the heart. Nothing less is a fitting response to the generosity and compassion of our gracious God. Amen.
May the peace of God, which is beyond our human understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.