https://app.dropwave.io/episode/3196fc0c-d4d9-4525-8e48-063bab2f2c58/trinity-22-ad-2025.mp3

++ JESU JUVA ++

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

You have a great debt to God. He alone forgives. He freely pays your great debt and releases you. Forgiven by God, He authorizes you to forgive according to your office. The servant fails to forgive as he was authorized and ought to have done. Therefore the Master judges him. So it will be for you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

Parable, part 1. The Debt. The king wants to settle accounts. First guy has a big debt. Strangely large. Ten thousand talents. Two hundred thousand years’ wages. Personal owes the debt of a small country. How did he get such a big debt? A strangely generous master.

He doesn’t see the gravity of the situation. He doesn’t think the king really minds, or that the king is really going to collect. He thinks the King is going to wink and nod and let him go on racking up debt. In the end, he’s going to get away with the whole thing. He believes there will be no judgment. There are no torturers. Jail isn’t real. And even if it isn’t real, he’ll never go there. If there’s no judgment, he requires no mercy.

But justice demands collection. Liquidate all his stuff. Sell him, his wife, his kids. Go to debtors’ prison. Work off the debt. We’ll be generous. Fifty years of work in a lifetime. You can work it of in… four thousand lifetimes. Now he pleads for mercy. Not when the Master announces the debt. Then he thinks he can pay. He doesn’t fear the debt. He fears collection of the debt. He fears the punishment his debt has brought. He’s proud and arrogant. He cannot imagine the King is merciful. He asks for the most generous thing he can imagine. Have patience! Give me time! I’ll pay it back! I’ll pay everything.

But the King is good. Some even say the best King. That brings us to Parable, part 2: The Forgiveness. More time will not help undo the debt. Instead the Master will remove it. He will not demand repayment. Full of compassion. He makes payment himself. He forgives the debt.

The servant is released. No debt. No debtors’ prison. No slaving away for thousands of lifetimes. Not a discount. Not a longer repayment term. Not even a payment plan. Complete cancellation. Goods, fame, child, and wife all restored. The King’s lavish grace, bestowed. Debtor is free. Absolutely. Entirely. Full and complete mercy.

Parable, part 3: The Response. His joy of forgiveness is short-lived. There’s a fellow servant. Second servant owes the first. It’s not an insignificant amount. A hundred denarii. About four months’ wages. The man given mercy beyond comprehension has no mercy to give. Seizing him, he chokes him. “Pay what you owe!” The first servant hears familiar words: “Have patience. I will repay.” The receiver of mercy had no mercy to give. No! You must pay! Go to prison. I’m happy to have my forgiveness. To hell with everyone else!

Parable, part 4: The Aftermath. Other servants report to the King. The first servant is summoned. Wicked servant! I filled you with mercy, but you had none to give. You are sentenced to torment until you pay the debt. “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

A massive debt. Extravagant mercy. Mercy despised. Terrifying judgment. What do we make of it? It’s not a cheery picture. And it’s even less cheery because it’s not about some twenty-billion-dollar debt. Debt is one of the Bible words for sin. Your sin. You haven’t given God the love you owe Him. Your love for others has failed.

Forgiveness means release from debt. But this parable concludes with no forgiveness. An insurmountable debt. Working it off for eternity. Paying off that debt by your own agony will never be finished. Hell is eternal. The servant bore a grudge. He could not pray as Jesus taught. Could not say, ‘forgive us our debts as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ He shall be eternally condemned.

The parable shows sin, forgiveness, and judgment. We are accountable to God for our sin. By the death of His Son, He takes your debt. You are forgiven. In Christ, you owe God nothing. But God will judge unforgiveness, unbelief, and impenitence.

Both forgiveness and judgment belong to God. Forgiveness is the authorization and expectation to forgive. Condemnation belongs to all who refuse the life of forgiveness. You do not live by bread alone. You live by the Word that comes from God’s mouth. That word is forgiveness. If you do not live by forgiveness, you will die by it.

That’s why the church exists. Luther writes in the Large Catechism: The Christian Church [is] nothing but the continuous, uninterrupted forgiveness of sin. It’s the primary mission of the church. So anyone who opposes forgiveness opposes the church’s mission. It means being anti-mission. Anti-evangelism. Anti-Gospel. So we look to Christ as our example. Upon the cross, He prayed for those who sinned against Him. We see in Him the life He has won for us and gives to us. The forgiveness life.

We need to be careful in our application of this text, though. We need to speak about this very, very carefully. Even though Christ died for all sin and desires the forgiveness of all sins, not every sin is to be forgiven. And there are dire consequences when we get this wrong.

There’s three reasons to talk about this. 1. This seems to be a matter of confusion for us today. We are told to universally apply blanket forgiveness to every case. The Master, who represents God, stands as judge. He alone grants forgiveness or condemnation.  2. God is just and merciful. The debt must be paid. He pays it Himself — by the blood of His own Son. But the first servant refused to live in forgiveness. 3. God is just: if the servant refuses the life of forgiveness, he will not live in it. He sentences the man to work off the debt of his sin for eternity.

This parable is about dispensing forgiveness according to your office: as one who is forgiven, you also are to forgive others. According to your office as an individual Christian, you are to forgive everyone who sins against you. But if God gave you an office that puts you in His place, there are times when you may need to withhold forgiveness. This is so that the impenitent one under your charge may be brought to repentance. So we consider those who have the duty to forgive or not forgive according to their God-given office.

The State does not have the duty to forgive. The state rightly does its job when it administers justice. Because this is God’s order, punishing crimes is good and loving. It’s loving toward the victim of the crime. Justice must be served. Punishing sin is loving toward those who witnessed the crime. It helps prevent them from becoming scandalized. It teaches them about the nature of sin. Punishing sin is loving toward the perpetrator of the crime. It teaches them the gravity of their sin. It warns them of God’s impending justice. And punishing sin is loving toward other would-be perpetrators. It warns them against committing evil. And it serves as a barrier against sin.