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April 29 Lesson
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Forgiveness needs to be more than just lip service
___Matthew 18:15-35
___15"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
___18"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
___19"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
___21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
___22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
___23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
___26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
___28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
___29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
___30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
___32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
___35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
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___By Carolyn Ratcliffe
___One of the most vulnerable questions a person can ask of another is the one concerning forgiveness. To ask for forgiveness opens one up to the possibility of rejection. Yet the acceptance and granting of forgiveness is wonderfully liberating. This week's lesson concerns the teaching of Jesus on forgiveness.___
___The transfiguration
___Chapter 18 of the gospel of Matthew, the chapter in which the discussion on forgiveness occurs, is the beginning of the fourth great discourse of Jesus. Just prior to this discourse, Jesus experienced the transfiguration. Jesus, together with his inner circle of disciples--Peter, James and John--ascended Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the event. What occurs on Mount Tabor is another confirmation of the messiahship of Jesus.
___Matthew relates the experience to that of Moses on Mount Sinai in a number of ways. As three witness go with Moses (Aaron, Nadab and Abihu; Exodus 24:1), three go with Jesus. God spoke from a cloud in both cases. Moses' face shone, reflecting the glory of God, while Jesus' face shone from being transfigured with a glory authentically his own. Appearing with Jesus are Moses and Elijah, representing the full scope of God's salvation history of ancient Israel, the Law and the Prophets. Moses had gone into the presence of God to receive the Law to become the first great lawgiver, and Elijah was the first great prophet. But here was the one who was greater than Moses and Elijah as was promised now standing in their midst.
___Peter, representative of a humanity that cannot comprehend the divine mysteries of God, in his usual impetuous nature, suggested three tabernacles--one each representing Jesus, Moses and Elijah--be built on the spot where the transfiguration occurred. Peter did the only thing he knew to do. He wanted to erect the tabernacles as a remembrance of the event, just as Joshua set up stones after crossing the Jordan (Joshua 4).
___But he was silenced by the very voice of God. The three disciples fall upon their faces in fear. God declared, as he did at Jesus' baptism, that Jesus is his beloved Son and he is pleased with him. Then God admonished the disciples to hear Jesus, to listen to him, something he had not done at Jesus' baptism. What Jesus has to say in his ethical teachings, his pronouncements about the kingdom of God and his need to suffer, must be heard and understood.___
___Compassionate healing
___Following the transfiguration, Jesus again explains that an Elijah figure had indeed come in the person of John the Baptist preparing the way for the Messiah, but this Elijah was rejected. Following his statements about John, Jesus referred to his own coming suffering (as he did again in verses 22-23), then he and the disciples came upon a multitude.
___Jesus was approached by a father begging him to heal his epileptic son. It seemed the disciples were unable to heal him. Some suggest the reply of Jesus was rather harsh, but it rings of sadness. The disciples and those in the crowd just did not understand who he was and what he was to do. His time was growing so short. Healing was not his ultimate purpose; however, Jesus, in his loving compassion, healed the boy.
___When asked by the disciples why they were unable to heal the boy, Jesus taught them about the need for faith. Following the discourse on faith, Jesus mentioned once again his Passion and more importantly his resurrection, adding here the element of his betrayal. From this time forward, Jesus addressed the issues of conflict between this world and the kingdom of God. Because of the reference to his Passion, Jesus' teaching on forgiveness was more poignant.
___It is no accident that Matthew placed the teaching of Jesus' parable on forgiveness within the context of calling attention to the Passion of Jesus, for it is on the cross that Jesus uttered the ultimate statement of forgiveness: "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). It was on the cross that Jesus forgave the thief that hung by his side (Luke 23:43). It was on the cross that Jesus died for the forgiveness of the sins of humankind (John 1:29).___
___Listen to Jesus
___In chapter 18 of Matthew, Jesus hammered away at his audience, teaching one truth after another. In the context of the transfiguration account, the reader cannot help but remember God's command to listen to Jesus. Jesus addressed life within the fellowship of believers. The follower of Jesus must practice the humility of a child submitting completely to the values and teachings of God (Matthew 18:1-5).
___Furthermore, those in the fellowship must not cause another to stumble (Matthew 18:6-9) remembering that God the great Shepherd rejoices over the finding of one lost sheep (Matthew 18:10-14). In the kingdom of God, all are equal, Jew and Gentile, slave or free, male or female (Galatians 3:28). We must view others as God sees them. God does not want anyone excluded from his kingdom to lostness (Matthew 18:14).
___In the kingdom, forgiveness is the ethical imperative. Jesus has already taught to love one's enemies (Matthew 5:43-48) and to love one's neighbor as one's self (Matthew 22:39), further defining "neighbor" in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Now, in answer to Peter's probing question concerning one's responsibility toward forgiveness, Jesus, perhaps thinking back to Lamech's declaration of revenge (Genesis 4:24), stated a person must forgive 70 times seven. In the kingdom, the rabbinic prescription to forgive three times is no longer acceptable. The ethics of the kingdom demand unrestricted forgiveness. Jesus illustrates his teaching with an intriguing parable.
___The parable of forgiveness
___The parable on forgiveness begins with the words "the kingdom of heaven is like," setting it in the context of divine grace. Three scenes occur in the parable on forgiveness. First, a king, wanting to settle the account of his servant, demands payment. The amount of debt is enormous, probably close to $12 million in contemporary terms, illustrating the impossibility of payment. As a result of non-payment, the man's wife and children were to be sold as payment of the debt causing the servant to beg for mercy. The servant was reduced to complete dependance on the decision of the king.
___The king, filled with compassion, forgave all of the debt of the servant, bringing the reader to the second scene in the parable. In turn, the forgiven servant demands payment of a small debt owed to him by a fellow servant. When the debtor begged for mercy, ironically using exactly the same words the forgiven servant had used before the king, mercy was not forthcoming. The forgiven servant threw his debtor in prison.
___The third scene brings the reader back to the king who harshly admonishes his servant for the lack of compassion shown to the man's fellow servant. The king delivered the unforgiving servant to prison until his impossible debt was paid, an eternal sentence in light of the sum owed. Jesus closed the parable with a warning concerning God's actions if forgiveness from the heart is not given, echoing his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:14-15). For Jesus, forgiveness was a mandate of those who are in the kingdom of God.___
___Forgiveness from the heart
___Jesus taught forgiveness cannot be just a verbal statement, it must come from the heart. Forgiveness stems from love, placing a person's worth above the deed. Forgiveness is liberating, not only for the person forgiven, but also for the person who forgives.
___Many years ago, I knew a woman who was wronged by a member of her family. Year after year went by, but she would not forgive even though the guilty person asked for reconciliation. Time passed. The woman was so consumed with her inability to forgive, that it literally destroyed her health. She eventually died a relatively young woman though the doctors could find no apparent cause for her death. Her inability to forgive had destroyed her ability to live. A lack of forgiveness is a terrible thing, particularly when it occurs within the context of a family.
___Even though Jesus did not particularly single out the family here as the context for forgiveness, it is appropriate to suggest that for Jesus, family forgiveness is vital. In the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), a familiar story of forgiveness, the setting is a family. It is a son who wronged a father by asking for his inheritance and leaves the family circle. It is the father who, exercising pure, undeserved love, forgave the son and rejoices at his return. It is the elder son who refused to forgive, illustrating the pain of strife within the family unit, as he stands alone outside the celebration for his younger brother. Surely there is no other place in which forgiveness must abound, as in the family, especially within the family of God (Galatians 6:10).
For thought and discussion
___ Has anyone ever really wronged you? Have you forgiven them? How did you forgive them?
___ Is there a member of your family who needs to be forgiven by you? Do you think it is important to forgive one another within the family?
___ How would you facilitate forgiveness for another?
___ In your own words, what do you think Jesus was teaching in the parable on forgiveness?
___ Can forgiveness and forgetting be separated?
___ How would you apply the well-known phrase, "hate the sin, not the sinner" to forgiveness?
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