“[Christ] forgave us all our sins…”

                 Want an easy way to find out what kind of God we have?  You’ll need a hardcopy concordance, one of those books that has every word in the Bible in alphabetical order.  (At the time of this writing, I don’t know if online concordances can do this or not.)  Now, simply flip through the pages and look for some of the “biggie” Bible words like faith, glory, grace, mercy, kindness and forgive/ness.  Notice how many times God speaks of these topics and how frequently he uses these words in Scripture.  You’ll quickly see that our God is much different than any other god(s).

Colossians 2:13 says that Christ “forgave us all our sins”.  Where would we be without forgiveness?  I mean, the world is already so out of whack with God’s forgiven people living here.  How much worse would it be without him forgiving any of us, not to mention the forever consequences of God’s unsatisfied righteous wrath at our sins?  Whether eternal or temporary, it is inarguable that forgiveness is an all encompassing and necessary ingredient for life if it’s going to be lived according to God’s way.

Without a doubt the clearest biblical example highlighting forgiveness is the unmerciful servant found in Matthew 18.  And I think it highlights a particularly American trait (as an American I can say such things).  We like to single things out, live compartmentally and think without context.  We’re so bottom-line oriented that oftentimes we don’t really see what’s going on.  We bring this deficit to our efforts at understanding Scripture.  Another trait among American Christians is that we like to say, “It’s not about us,” meaning that life is not to be done on our terms, but God’s.  But have you ever noticed how easy it is to say but difficult to do?  That was the servant’s problem in Matthew.  Let’s look at it.

In verse 21 Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother.  He offers seven times, which was far above the typical three times that rabbis taught, citing the prophet Amos (1:3,6,9,11 and 13).  Jesus said that wasn’t nearly enough, but that seventy times seven would be more like it.  This undoubtedly shocked his audience.  Then he went on to tell the parable to illustrate the point.

A master wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  One particular servant owed 10,000 talents, an amount too large to pay back.  The master said he and his family would be sold into slavery to repay the debt, but after begging on his knees, the master changed his mind, canceled the debt and let him go.  Not long afterward, this same servant found another servant that owed him one hundred denarii, a very small, almost inconsequential sum.  The ‘forgiven’ servant grabbed the other by the throat and demanded payment as he choked him.  The latter asked for time to pay him back, but it was no use.  The ‘forgiven’ servant threw him into prison until the debt was paid.  All this was reported back to the master, who then called in this servant — he still was his servant!  “You wicked servant.  I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.  Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” (vs. 32-33).  So the master threw him into prison where the torturers kept him until his debt was paid.

Notice what the master called his servant: “wicked”, not forgiven.  You see, there’s something more at work here than mere forgiveness.  This is what most Americans miss.  When they read this, they want to know, “Well, was he forgiven or not?  First the master ‘forgives’ him, then tosses him into prison.  The master went back on his word.  If that had happened to me, I’d see him in court with my attorney!”  Believers like this can say it’s not about them, but not live like it.  It is precisely this kind of attitude that permeates fallen man, not just Americans.  It is because of this self-centered, pride-motivated behavior that Jesus had to come in the first place so that God could pay the debt and have a basis on which to forgive us.  But it isn’t supposed to stop there.  The servant was to become like the master and spread the blessing: “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”  This can only happen when forgiveness is granted and received.  This servant didn’t get the goal of forgiveness; he acted like many Americans: splitting legal hairs and technical terms and missing the point completely.

It’s true: it really isn’t about us, but when we who claim to be forgiven don’t pass it on, it’s still about us.  How much do you pass it on — to your spouse, your roommate, your friends and colleagues?