September 11 Forever?
September 8, 2005 – 11:13 pm | by Duncan Macleod
An Official Who Refused To Forgive
Peter came up to the Lord and asked, “How many times should I forgive someone who does something wrong to me? Is seven times enough?”
Jesus answered: Not just seven times, but seventy-seven times! This story will show you what the kingdom of heaven is like: One day a king decided to call in his officials and ask them to give an account of what they owed him. As he was doing this, one official was brought in who owed him fifty million silver coins. But he didn’t have any money to pay what he owed. The king ordered him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all he owned, in order to pay the debt. The official got down on his knees and began begging, “Have pity on me, and I will pay you every cent I owe!” The king felt sorry for him and let him go free. He even told the official that he did not have to pay back the money.
As the official was leaving, he happened to meet another official, who owed him a hundred silver coins. So he grabbed the man by the throat. He started choking him and said, “Pay me what you owe!” The man got down on his knees and began begging, “Have pity on me, and I will pay you back.” But the first official refused to have pity. Instead, he went and had the other official put in jail until he could pay what he owed.
When some other officials found out what had happened, they felt sorry for the man who had been put in jail. Then they told the king what had happened. The king called the first official back in and said, “You’re an evil man! When you begged for mercy, I said you did not have to pay back a cent. Don’t you think you should show pity to someone else, as I did to you?” The king was so angry that he ordered the official to be tortured until he could pay back everything he owed. That is how my Father in heaven will treat you, if you don’t forgive each of my followers with all your heart.
Matthew 18:21-35 Contemporary English Version
I sat down with a parent at school this morning to talk about issues on her mind. One of those concerns was the long term impact of racism on aboriginal people in Australia. Aboriginal people we meet today are bearing the brunt of two hundred years of unfortunate if not abusive treatment by British settlers in Australia. And yet we meet people who live lives of grace and freedom. We have been forgiven much.
This Sunday is the fourth anniversary of another series of abusive acts - expressed in terrorism. Here in Australia we’re coming up to the fourth anniversary of the Bali bombing.
So what’s the good news from Jesus for these situations? I think Jesus is challenging us to start looking at our grievances in perspective. As we see the big picture through the lens of time we get to realise that we are forgiven much. And as we discover this forgiveness and continually apply it to our heritage and history, we find the grace to apply the same forgiveness to our present and future.
