Matthew 18:21 Then Kefa came up and said to him, “Rabbi, how often can my brother sin against me and I have to forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” answered Yeshua, “but seventy times seven! 23 Because of this, the Kingdom of Heaven may be compared with a king who decided to settle accounts with his deputies. 24 Right away they brought forward a man who owed him many millions; 25 and since he couldn’t pay, his master ordered that he, his wife, his children and all his possessions be sold to pay the debt. 26 But the servant fell down before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 So out of pity for him, the master let him go and forgave the debt.
28 “But as that servant was leaving, he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him some tiny sum. He grabbed him and began to choke him, crying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ 29 His fellow servant fell before him and begged, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 But he refused; instead, he had him thrown in jail until he should repay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were extremely distressed; and they went and told their master everything that had taken place. 32 Then the master summoned his servant and said, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt just because you begged me to do it. 33 Shouldn’t you have had pity on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And in anger his master turned him over to the jailers for punishment until he paid back everything he owed. 35 This is how my heavenly Father will treat you, unless you each forgive your brother from your hearts.”
What comes to mind when you hear of an evil person?
Think about how you’ve lived your life. What true evil have you done? You haven’t really hurt other people, right?
Now, for the pivot, what evil has been committed against you?
You probably have a laundry list here. All the things that just flashed through your mind likely serve as a nice warm blanket for you in this cold, rainy, and dark world.
But…
No matter what someone has done to you, it is pennies compared to what we have done to Him.
Think about this. Think about all the stuff that has happened to you throughout your life. The things people said, the ways they have violated you, and perhaps the hatred towards your very existence.
Why are we so addicted to having people repent for their trespasses against us? And how is it we minimize or justify our sins against Abba?
We see here in this parable that sins against Him are infinitely greater than anything anyone has done to us. How genuinely crazy are we?
What is that perverted motivation that twists reality in our minds and hearts?
Selfishness.
We think so highly of ourselves and our intentions that our vision is completely clouded when it comes to real life. Right now, you are likely thinking something along the lines of, “Well, I’m not really all that evil. Sure, selfishness exists because that’s the right answer but my intentions are pure. I would never knowingly hurt someone.”
Oh, how wicked is your heart! So deceitful. And so powerful. It actually has you believing you are ok.
But what’s going to happen the moment someone hurts you again? What’s going to happen when you get a little juicy gossip from a friend? If you’re a “good” Christian, you’ll mine out as much information as you can so you can accurately pray for them, right?
But you’ll make sure your own flesh is full of the drama because that gives you this strange comfort deep within. You know what I’m talking about. It’s that warm tingly feeling that seems to settle your spirit. And you can’t fight it. More accurately, you won’t fight it.
Don’t believe me? When someone starts to spread information, try stopping them where they are and telling them you’re not interested in gossip. Tell them how that information does not actually help the situation and in fact it breeds anger and discontentment. Tell them it’s wrong and you both need to keep that person’s character intact. Tell them how that person has value regardless of decisions and circumstances. Tell them you aren’t interested in trying to destroy that person. Tell them you prefer to spread life and not death.
We don’t even have the courage to do that. We’ll listen to them speak and know we shouldn't be listening. But of course keep listening. And to justify ourselves we may try to drop a little wisdom or refined context to show that we are above the fray when it comes to the dirt. But you stood there and listened to it all. You aren’t above anything. You are guilty.
The question we need to face right now is a very uncomfortable one:
Who is the victim here? Who has been sinned against?
Yeah, it’s the person being discussed. But the real target here is God. He said not to gossip and yet here you are doing it. Even if you’re silent.
The cost for settling that debt? Many millions it says. It’s something you can’t afford. It’s your life.
“Wait a minute,” you say, “I’m not speaking out against God. I’m just trying to mind my own business and not be rude. Is it really my job to correct everyone? Wouldn't that destroy relationship and hence violate another command? Ha! Got you!”
Fair enough. But it isn’t just the fact that you remained silent. It’s that feeling we mentioned above that’s the trouble. It’s that tingle inside that makes you guilty. That warm swirly feeling is the evidence of your guilt. And only you know it.
Now here is the good news: Repent and you can be forgiven. In full.
This is great but now it’s going to get really not great.
What if you found out it was you that others were gossiping about?
Tell me about that feeling that is sitting in your stomach right now. Tell me how your heart responded upon hearing that. Quite a bit different posture, huh?
This…this is what’s being discussed here by the Messiah.
You have sinned against God by letting your flesh enjoy the destruction of someone else. And for that you owe a debt you can never repay. For that you deserve to die.
But as soon as you are the target of destruction, you want to collect that debt immediately. You want them to pay. Not pay because they have hurt Abba, but because they have hurt you.
Do you see what has happened here?
In this instant, you have inflated yourself above God. Your first concern is you and not Him. The debt they owe us is so much greater than the debt we owed Him. If we were defending Him it would be a righteous anger. Instead, it is a selfish anger.
And for that the Master turned the servant over to the jailers until the debt is repaid.
The punchline here is that, sure, you have been sinned against. As such there is a debt to be paid. But it is the debt owed to the Master that really matters. And if He’s willing to forgive such a horrendous violation, we should be completely content with doing the same for the lowly crimes committed against us.