The Danger of Pre-Emptive Forgiveness: A Theological Audit

• Pastoral Accountability and Reflection [00:12:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor reflects on a previous sermon where he used the word 'abomination' regarding the president, acknowledging it was ungracious and caused offense, and connects this to the need for introspection on speech.
• Media Consumption and Bias [00:13:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses how algorithms and media consumption can distort truth and poison perspectives, leading to anger, and emphasizes the need to examine what one consumes.
• Church Announcements and Memorials [00:15:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares news of recent deaths in the congregation (Walt Graban, John Hanks, Phil Lineberry) and health issues (Les Hall), highlighting the community's interconnectedness and grief.
• Global Conflict and Military Concerns [00:17:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the bombing of Iran and the anxiety it causes, specifically mentioning congregants with family members serving in the Middle East (Joe Mintz, Helena's relative).
• Congregational Prayer Requests [00:19:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor facilitates a time for the congregation to share specific prayer concerns, including health issues, travel, and missing persons.
• Forgiveness [00:38:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explores the theological depth of forgiving others as taught in the Lord's Prayer and the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, contrasting human limits with divine infinity.
• The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant [00:39:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > A detailed exegesis of Matthew 18, highlighting the absurdity of the debt amounts and the shocking reversal where the forgiven servant becomes the oppressor.
• Divine Mercy vs. Human Retribution [00:48:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the harsh ending of the parable with Jesus' actions on the cross, arguing that Jesus' forgiveness is preemptive and unconditional, serving as a mirror for human behavior.
• Preemptive Forgiveness [00:49:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that Jesus's forgiveness on the cross was 'preemptive,' occurring before humans knew or deserved it, setting the standard for divine grace.
• The Lord's Prayer and Reciprocity [00:50:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > Analysis of the Lord's Prayer ('Forgive us our sins as we forgive'), emphasizing that receiving God's forgiveness is tied to the believer's practice of forgiving others.
• Liturgical Confession and Assurance [00:53:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > Discussion on the purpose of the prayer of confession in the liturgy, addressing congregational resistance to it, and explaining how it leads to the assurance of forgiveness.
• The Theology of Retaining vs. Forgiving Sins [00:55:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > Exegesis of John 20:23, clarifying that retaining sins is descriptive of the world's perception of God, not a prescriptive power to withhold salvation.
• Practical Application of Forgiveness [00:58:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > Addressing the difficulty of forgiving those who have caused deep pain, distinguishing between forgiveness (letting go) and reconciliation (safety), and recommending therapy for deep wounds.

• Sermon Illustration [00:15:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a humorous anecdote about Walt Graban, a volunteer at the food pantry who was once put in charge of women's feminine products, causing people to walk away because it was 'creepy,' illustrating Walt's good sense of humor.
• Sermon Illustration [00:16:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a story about John Hanks, who, despite being on death's bed five days prior, was seen dancing at his rehab place, illustrating a moment of joy before his passing.
• Sermon Illustration [00:17:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a poignant story about Phil Lineberry, a friend of Don Snyder, who took his life in the parking lot of a Methodist church, highlighting the tragedy of depression and the smallness of the world.
• Sermon Illustration [00:41:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a childhood memory of playing tag and using chants like 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' to decide who was 'it,' noting that children often tried to avoid being chosen by shouting 'not it.' He uses this as an analogy for how listeners try to avoid identifying with the negative characters in Jesus' parables.
• Sermon Illustration [00:42:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > An anecdote about a group of pastors who forgot the rules of the game 'tag' and had to ask for a demonstration, illustrating the playfulness and occasional confusion of clergy.
• Sermon Illustration [00:42:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > A humorous observation that when asked to pray for a meal, people often quickly say 'not it' to avoid leading the prayer, similar to how people try to avoid being 'it' in the parable.
• Sermon Illustration [00:58:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares an anecdote about a congregant who admitted to only wanting to call an ambulance for a neighbor during a health crisis, illustrating the 'warming up' process of letting go of hard feelings.
• Sermon Illustration [00:59:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references a therapy book titled 'Forgiving the Unforgivable' to illustrate that some wounds require professional help and time, not just a quick prayer.

• Pastoral Charge [00:24:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > To engage in corporate prayer.
• Pastoral Charge [01:01:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor invites the congregation to join in a corporate prayer to commit to practicing grace and moving past pettiness.
• Pastoral Charge [01:02:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stand up

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:01:46] Good morning, y'all. Happy Sunday. We'd love it if you'd stand as you're able and sing some with us. Jennifer, you're doing a great job already. Thanks for being a real mom.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:06:05] Y'all take a moment to pass a piece of Christ. Y'all can grab a seat.

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:10:28] Happy Sunday, everyone. I'm Jennifer, and I'm here to share some announcements with you.
[00:10:43] It's so good to see everybody today. If you're here visiting in person, we welcome you, and we're so glad that you've come to join us. We would really love to connect with you, so if you have a chance, there's a visitor card in the pew pocket right in front of you. We'd
[00:10:57] contact information. Also, if you don't get our weekly emails, you can add your email to that and we'll make sure you get added to the list. And we will also welcome all of you who have joined us
[00:11:07] via live stream today. We hope that this service is meaningful for you and we're happy. Oh, we got a wave. I love it. I call your attention to the appeal for school supplies in the bulletin. We
[00:11:20] will be partnering with Bolton Elementary School this year and you have about five weeks to help with this project. So plenty of time. Take a look over the supply list in your bulletin. You can
[00:11:30] bring these supplies and put them in the boxes at the entrances to the church. I feel like there's a box back there, right? Yeah. Okay. Yes. Awesome. We also, we didn't get the Sounds of Summer series
[00:11:43] in the bulletin this week, but we do want to let you know that the next concert will be next Sunday evening at 7 p.m. at Highland Presbyterian. So mark your calendars for that. I would now like
[00:11:54] to invite Pastor Kelly up to lead us in a time of prayer. I'm just going to cover these up and I'm

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:12:08] going to lower it too. Hi. I wanted to say a few words to you all. Last week, I used a word that I have never used before in a church context. Abomination, I think it was. It was aimed at
[00:12:29] our president, although I think maybe a few people took it towards our men in uniform and men and women in uniform, which I certainly did not mean.
[00:12:41] And I thought about that a lot, mostly because Sandy called me out, and I was gracious for that.
[00:12:48] I was really glad for that, Sandy.
[00:12:50] She was preemptively forgiving after the service and talked with me about it.
[00:12:54] Jeff and Sarah Patton and I talked about it.
[00:12:57] So I know that offended some people, and I got to, this is what I was thinking, okay, this whole week.
[00:13:03] I was thinking, God, I know better than that.
[00:13:07] And as somebody who has been called an abomination a number of times, you know, I don't really believe in anybody as an abomination.
[00:13:19] In fact, I was in the middle of reading a book by Richard Rohr that says, everything belongs.
[00:13:24] That's the whole thing.
[00:13:25] So everyone and everything.
[00:13:27] And so it was less than gracious.
[00:13:29] And anyway, I was really grateful.
[00:13:32] I started reaching out to a few folks that have let me know their displeasure about that and hope to engage on that.
[00:13:39] I just wanted to tell you that.
[00:13:40] The other thing I wanted to tell you is that it really made me think about what I had consumed the week of because I heard from people about what the military parade last Saturday had meant to them.
[00:13:54] and you know Sandy had shared something Jeff too and it made me think gosh you know I didn't hear those things and it made me realize that you know those algorithms show me certain things that I think are only not only distorted truth
[00:14:13] but maybe agree with me as opposed to things that don't and I was poisoned you You know, it's not an excuse.
[00:14:21] I'm just telling you I felt anger, and it kind of came out.
[00:14:26] And there's nothing wrong with anger, but I didn't need to say it, and that was the issue.
[00:14:33] So we have a lot of work to do, and part of what we're trying to do this summer with this series on prayer is to really look introspectively about the words that we say and why we say them
[00:14:46] and what the meaning and the depths of them are, and I think that that's an invitation.
[00:14:50] And so it's been a good lesson for me, and I just wanted to share that with you.
[00:14:54] I'm sure it will not be the last time that I offend you, but it may have been.
[00:15:00] What's that?

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:15:01] You'll have to notice.

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:15:02] Yes, you will.
[00:15:04] God bless you.
[00:15:06] Listen, I have a few things I want to share with you about people in our church that I want you to be aware of.
[00:15:12] We've had two deaths in the last 48 hours.
[00:15:16] For those of you that know Walt Graban, Walt Graban died late Friday night.
[00:15:23] He's been volunteering at the food pantry for some time.
[00:15:27] First time I met him was at the first food pantry, and I said, so which area do you work at?
[00:15:32] And he goes, well, I'm not sure.
[00:15:34] The last time I was here, they put me in charge of the women's feminine products, and people just kept walking away from me because it was a little creepy.
[00:15:43] I had a really good sense of humor, But Walt died, and so we want to remember Linda and his daughters and family, and I'll be getting to see them later this afternoon.
[00:15:54] Also, John Hanks died.
[00:15:57] And for those of you that remember, this is Sarah Patton's cousin.
[00:16:00] And Johnny Hanks was really involved in this church and loves this church and was a big part of it.
[00:16:06] Last week after the service, Sarah showed me a video.
[00:16:10] I had gotten to visit him twice, but on Friday of last week ago, Friday, He went back to his rehab place where he was, and he danced.
[00:16:21] He started to dance, and it was the coolest thing because five days earlier, he looked like he was really on death's bed, and he wasn't out of the woods, obviously, and so he died last night about 7 p.m.
[00:16:34] I got a couple more to share with you.
[00:16:35] Les Hall is in the hospital and kind of waiting for some test results and is probably having some heart issues, and we want to pray for Les, and he's been having some other health issues,
[00:16:48] but that one's the one that is most immediate.
[00:16:51] And then finally, there was a death out in East Bend at the churches where I served, a man by the name of Phil Lineberry.
[00:17:01] Just to tell you how small of a world this is, I had met him one time, and he lived across the street from the parsonage.
[00:17:09] We didn't live in a parsonage, but I had met him one time.
[00:17:12] And it turns out he was one of the best friends of our very own Don Snyder.
[00:17:20] And he took his life last Monday.
[00:17:24] He did it on the parking lot of one of the two Methodist churches there.
[00:17:28] And it was really, really sad.
[00:17:31] And so Stuart and Laura Lee, who are the pastors at the Anchor Cooperative Parish now, I reached out to them.
[00:17:37] But I forgot the connection, and he came and told me that this morning.
[00:17:42] So, you know, for Don Snyder and for the family of Phil Lineberry, let's just pray for him.
[00:17:48] He was deeply depressed.
[00:17:51] He and Don would walk two or three times a week around the mall.
[00:17:56] You know, that was their little practice together.
[00:17:58] So last night, our country bombed Iran, and we're finding out more about what that means and what that looks like and great anxiety all around.
[00:18:11] The first person I thought of about that was Joe Mintz.
[00:18:15] And I don't know if anybody here knows the Mintz family, but they have four children that they're very active in the kids and family worship.
[00:18:24] Wolf, Ox, Teddy, and Birdie.
[00:18:26] Yep, those are their names.
[00:18:27] And Joe, he's with the National Guard, and I think he's stationed in, I think it's Kuwait, but he may be in Qatar, I'm not sure, one of those two countries.
[00:18:39] And, you know, this really puts our military that's in the Middle East very much in the line of fire in lots of ways.
[00:18:47] And so we just want to I just want to remember Joe.
[00:18:50] And it's been a hard time for him to have been called as a medic in the National Guard to serve, especially, you know, which seemed to be at the time a very safe place, but being away from his four children.
[00:19:03] And so let's keep them in prayer as we pray for our country and what we're facing in this conflict.
[00:19:11] And, yeah, those are there.
[00:19:15] I beat you to it.
[00:19:16] I put all the heavy stuff on the front.
[00:19:18] How about you all?
[00:19:19] Do we all have some prayer concerns that you'd like to share today?
[00:19:24] Yeah.
[00:19:40] Yeah, yes.
[00:19:41] David spent some time over in Cuba and saying that that country is really struggling with power and also the food supply.
[00:19:50] And so, well, yeah, let's please pray for people in Cuba.
[00:19:56] Others?

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:19:57] Yeah.

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:20:18] This is Jean, your brother-in-law's mother, right?
[00:20:22] And she's, tell me again what, one more thing.
[00:20:26] Broken wrist.
[00:20:27] Right.
[00:20:34] Broken wrist, a feisty individual now needing to maybe go to a care facility.
[00:20:39] And that should be an interesting battle.
[00:20:42] So, yeah, so we'll pray for Jean and your brother-in-law.
[00:20:47] Yes.
[00:20:49] Yeah, Matthew.
[00:21:18] Yeah.
[00:21:22] So, yeah, like the Mintz family, Helena's aunt's grandson is in Jordan and is a pilot.
[00:21:30] And so we want to keep him in our prayers as well.
[00:21:33] It's just all of those soldiers in the Middle East.
[00:21:36] Matthew's brother's brother-in-law, got that right, has a couple presentations to be doing this coming week, right?
[00:21:46] Yeah.
[00:21:48] Any others?
[00:21:49] Yeah.

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:21:50] Annie got to go back to England.

[00:21:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:21:52] All right.
[00:21:54] Wow.
[00:21:55] So this is Tom Connelly's sister and got to go back to England where she lives and her new husband is.
[00:22:03] So, yeah, great, great.
[00:22:05] Yeah, she was having problems with immigration issues.
[00:22:11] So, yeah.
[00:22:13] Others?
[00:22:15] Yeah.
[00:22:17] Okay.
[00:22:19] Oh, my.
[00:22:49] When you say congregant, are you meaning a member of this church?
[00:22:53] Okay, from your old churches.
[00:22:55] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:22:57] I've met so many people from his old churches.
[00:23:00] They've kind of come here to visit.
[00:23:01] So, you know, they must really like him.
[00:23:03] So, yeah, yeah.
[00:23:04] Oh, my goodness.
[00:23:05] So another congregant came, and it was their aunt.
[00:23:09] Is that right?
[00:23:19] Granddaughter disappeared, went outside and disappeared.
[00:23:21] And the tracking said that she was on two, what was it, some highway?
[00:23:26] Oh, my gosh.
[00:23:27] Yeah.

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:23:28] Yeah. Wow. What is the granddaughter's name? Do you know? Riley. Okay. So prayers for Riley

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:23:42] and for that family. May they be reunited soon. Yeah. Is that the director of Camp Raven,

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:24:08] Camp Ravenob? A staff member. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then a health crisis there, one of the staff at Camp Ravenob. I can't even say that. Can you say that three times real fast?
[00:24:25] Raven Knob. Camp Raven Knob.
[00:24:31] It's a lot of P's and B's.
[00:24:32] Yeah, very good.
[00:24:36] Okay, thank you for sharing that.
[00:24:38] Lots of concerns.
[00:24:39] Let's go to God for a time of prayer.
[00:24:42] Casey, can you give us a little background?
[00:24:47] As we go to prayer, I just want to tell you, with the strikes that happened in Iran last night and knowing what a powder keg the Middle East has been and will continue to be,
[00:24:59] this is a time for us maybe to say the prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi and I found that comforting this morning and I'll share that with you as we begin our time in prayer. Lord God make
[00:25:47] us all instruments of your peace and whenever we see hatred help us to sow love and when we find someone who has been injured help us to practice pardon and forgiveness. God wherever there is
[00:26:08] doubt help us to practice peace despair to be hopeful where there is darkness light and sadness give us a sense of your joy God grant us not so much to seek to be consoled as to console others to be understood by someone as to
[00:26:31] understand them to be loved as to love for it is in giving that we receive and forgiving that we ourselves find forgiveness and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
[00:26:46] We pray, oh God, that this will be a time and a moment where we can reconnect with you, that we can pull back from all of the noise that is happening in our world and know and your presence is in our midst. And we give thanks for a place where we can come to
[00:27:09] bring all of our grief and our anxiety and our hurt to share with one another, but also to be bathed once again in your promise of forgiving love and grace. And we ask that you
[00:27:26] do your healing work inside of us today. God, we pray for those who are in the midst of grief, for the family of Johnny Hanks, for the family of Walt Graban. We pray for Les Hall and Cynthia as
[00:27:48] in georgia we pray for healing for him and also for the family of philip lineberry god we raise up to you others concerns for the staff at camp raven knob the member who's needing so
[00:28:12] so much care and for a health crisis for those who are stationed overseas for those who are may be in the line of fire for those who are traveling with great challenges and for those whose health is failing perhaps by age and therefore in need of some grace as they make a
[00:28:43] transition. We give thanks for those who have made safe travel especially in a time of uncertainty in our world and we pray oh God for the great conflicts that are happening in the world still
[00:28:59] going on still trying to find some way in our attention we pray for the people of russia and ukraine for the people of iran and israel or the people of gaza or the people of haiti who are in
[00:29:18] your need and for us in our country oh god give us courage to be about the work of peace that you call us always to. Today, oh God, we pray also that you will forgive us for the things that we
[00:29:36] have done and the things we have left undone. Make us mindful of our need of your grace once again and to practice the forgiveness that you call us to. We pray all of this in the name of Jesus
[00:29:55] Christ who taught disciples to pray together. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:30:04] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:30:09] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[00:30:18] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:30:23] For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
[00:30:28] Amen.

[00:31:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:31:14] Will I lift skin and kiss goodbye Lay down my hopes and my doubts Things on my fingers It's to my house With no help in When my body hurts That was awesome.

[00:36:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:36:54] Always a good day for the Abbott brothers.

[00:36:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:36:58] That song, I was telling Jerry, some of y'all know my sister died in a house fire five years ago.
[00:37:09] Can't even believe it's five years ago.
[00:37:11] and her kids wanted that song sung and it's so beautiful especially just to hear this no hard feelings we didn't sing it because the guy who was doing the music didn't think he could pull it off very well
[00:37:28] but also I got to talking with him I said I don't know do you think Kim has any hard feelings and they go yeah that didn't quite fit for her she was very free spirit
[00:37:41] but may we all be free spirits at that point in our life, you know, at the end.
[00:37:51] Our gospel lesson is a little crazy one.
[00:37:54] So it's in Matthew's Gospel, the 18th chapter.
[00:37:58] So we're talking about forgiveness and not having any hard feelings and trying to find out our call to this.
[00:38:06] Now, let me, before I read this to you, Remember, we are now in a series between now and August 31st, and you'll know all of the themes because you just got done praying them in the Lord's Prayer.
[00:38:20] And so we're pulling some of the words out of the Lord's Prayer and going deep into them.
[00:38:25] And, you know, when we memorize a prayer, sometimes it's very easy to just rip it through and be able to say the prayer without really thinking about it.
[00:38:32] But even when we're doing a prayer, we don't stop and dig down so deep in all of this, right?
[00:38:40] We don't go into depth of the kind of meaning underneath it.
[00:38:45] But this is our time to do so.
[00:38:47] And in the Lord's Prayer, this is some heavy, good theology.
[00:38:50] And Jesus is teaching us a little bit about the language that we take to God and that we pray in.
[00:38:58] So today we're looking at this idea of forgiving our sins, asking God for forgiveness as we forgive those who sin against us.
[00:39:10] So in Matthew chapter 18, we hear this story and encounter with Jesus.
[00:39:16] Then Peter came and said to Jesus, Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive?
[00:39:25] as many as seven times?
[00:39:28] And Jesus said to him, Not seven times, but I tell you, 77 times.
[00:39:36] For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle his accounts with his slaves.
[00:39:43] And when he began reckoning, one who owed him 10,000 talents was brought to him, and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold together with his wife and his children and all his possessions
[00:39:56] and payment to be made.
[00:39:58] And the slave fell on his knees before him saying, have patience with me and I will pay you everything.
[00:40:03] And out of pity, out of pity for him, the Lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.
[00:40:12] But that same slave, now free, went out and came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 denarii.
[00:40:21] And seizing him by the throat, he said, pay what you owe.
[00:40:24] And then this fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, Have patience with me and I will pay you.
[00:40:30] But the first slave refused.
[00:40:33] And then he went and threw the man into prison until he should pay the debt.
[00:40:38] And when the fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed.
[00:40:42] They went and reported to their Lord all that had taken place.
[00:40:46] And then his Lord summoned him and said, You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
[00:40:53] You should not have had, should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave as I had mercy on you?
[00:41:00] And in anger, his Lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt.
[00:41:09] And so my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.
[00:41:17] Now I'm going to say this as a question.
[00:41:20] The word of the Lord for the people of the Lord.
[00:41:24] Thanks be to God.
[00:41:26] Would you pray with me?
[00:41:31] God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of the hearts of all of us be acceptable in thy sight.
[00:41:37] O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
[00:41:40] Amen.
[00:41:43] I don't know what they do nowadays, but, you know, back in the day, we had recess and we went out onto the playground.
[00:41:50] We had to decide who was going to be who as we played the game tag, right?
[00:41:58] And one of the ways that you get organized, unless there's a teacher out there to organize it and it's self-organizing, is that people might use the old ritual of eeny, meeny, miny, moe, or one of these little circle chants that you go through to eliminate people until you get down to the person,
[00:42:15] the person who would be it, it, you know, what it does.
[00:42:20] And does anybody want to demonstrate for us how that game works, you know?
[00:42:24] There was a group of pastors once that were invited, and they forgot the rules of the game.
[00:42:29] I mean, you know, telling you something about the playfulness of pastors.
[00:42:33] Yeah, who wanted to be it?
[00:42:35] Sometimes in organizing the game, though, people would expedite the choosing process of getting down to it.
[00:42:41] And they would, instead of foregoing any kind of ritual of the chant, they would immediately say, not it.
[00:42:48] You ever done that?
[00:42:49] you know sometimes people do that when they're asked to prayer for uh a meal they go not it um yeah there you go see all right yeah not it he had to be quick uh about that if you were
[00:43:04] actually a slow runner because otherwise you might be it for the entire period of recess right sometimes jesus's parable feels like that kind of a game we find ourselves uh shouting not it trying to guess who we are in the parable and who God is.
[00:43:22] I mean, we follow along in the story until the good characters turn out to be bad, and then we say not it, and we run away before we get tagged.
[00:43:30] And this gospel lesson is a difficult one, is a difficult one.
[00:43:36] It begins with, you know, Peter asking about the limit of how many times we should forgive someone.
[00:43:43] Seven times? Evidently, Peter was really getting annoyed with James and John, tired of forgiving them and you know wanted to know what's the limit when can i hit them right and uh and jesus said nope 77 times or in another translation 70 times seven which is even
[00:44:01] more which is a way of really saying when you're talking about the number seven which is symbolic it's not a complete cycle it is like the symbol of eternity and so in other words jesus is saying
[00:44:14] don't keep count. Then Jesus tells this frightening parable of a master and slaves, a slave that owed 10,000 talents. Now, one talent was the equivalent to a year's wages, 10,000 talents. By the way, in Jesus's day, many of the people that found themselves in slavery
[00:44:45] were debt slaves, and the way that sometimes wealthy landowners would keep them in slavery is by giving them just enough money, but not enough to pay off their debts. I don't know how this person racked up 10,000 years salaries in debt, but he wasn't going anywhere, and
[00:45:09] And the servant comes, begs for forgiveness, begs to, you know, and he is then given this, the whole thing is forgiven.
[00:45:23] And he's free.
[00:45:24] His entire world is free.
[00:45:28] It's interesting that it said that his wife and family would also still be in slavery.
[00:45:33] But now they are free.
[00:45:35] So he had so much to celebrate.
[00:45:37] And what does he do as soon as he goes down the street?
[00:45:39] He sees another one of the slaves that he had owed money, or he had given money to, and the guy had 100 denarii.
[00:45:46] Anybody know what a denarii is?
[00:45:49] One day's wage, so about three months' worth of pay.
[00:45:54] The guy gets forgiven for probably generations of debt, and he's not willing to give the three months' debt.
[00:46:04] And so he puts the man in jail, and of course, you know, slaves did what they probably should be.
[00:46:10] They narked on him.
[00:46:11] They told the boss. They told the master. And the master then grabs the first slave, puts him in jail to be tortured. Now, this is a horrific story. It's just a horrible story. It's shocking. It's
[00:46:31] told in such a way, and this is one of the great artistic things about Jesus and the way he tells parables, is that it gets you going in a direction, and you think you know what's going on, and all
[00:46:42] of a sudden it flips on you. So the hero of the story, the one who is forgiven, suddenly is unforgiving, right? We can't help when we hear the story mentally, we imagine ourselves to be that
[00:47:00] one who is forgiven. And then that same character is unforgiving, thrown in prison and tortured.
[00:47:07] It's so horrific in the story that you can just feel yourself shouting, not it, not me. And you go looking for a place to hide and you know by the time you're done with the parable you're kind
[00:47:17] of wondering well gosh i don't think jesus is even in that parable you know because this doesn't sound like jesus why does jesus tell such a story well i don't know maybe he heard in peter's
[00:47:31] question like how many times do i have to forgive maybe he heard the seeds of a problem that he was witnessing. Maybe he was seeing that he was holding on to a grudge. Maybe he saw that the
[00:47:45] seeds of retaliation were being sown in the tone of his voice and that he might want to have a little payback. And Jesus knew that that is about leading to a cycle of violence, leads to the evil
[00:47:59] of torture. So no, Jesus says, if you want this love, if you want this love that we say we want from God, this forgiveness. You have to be this love. You have to practice it. So he tells this
[00:48:14] story. Why? To hold up a mirror. This is what the world looks like when it does not know forgiveness.
[00:48:22] And it is ugly, as a whole lot of things in our world are. Chaos and violence. When you think you know Jesus, he tells you a story, pulls the rug right out from underneath you and
[00:48:34] holds up a mirror to what happens when we fail to practice forgiveness.
[00:48:41] You know, it contrasted with this story, which sounds, by the way, did you see how the story ended?
[00:48:46] And if you don't forgive, God's not going to forgive you.
[00:48:50] Now, does that sound like Jesus?
[00:48:54] I'll tell you, it doesn't.
[00:48:55] Because, you know, just remember, there was this time, you know, and Jesus was stretched out on the cross against his own will.
[00:49:03] And it was there, the first words that he spoke, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
[00:49:14] And he ended a story like that.
[00:49:17] Again, holding up a mirror to what it would be like without forgiveness.
[00:49:21] When Jesus gave that forgiveness from the cross, it was without condition.
[00:49:27] There's no bitterness, no hard feelings, we might say.
[00:49:31] Jesus sees the very heart of us from the perspective of eternity, that we don't really know how wide God's love reaches, that it reaches beyond all conditions.
[00:49:43] And Jesus says, they know not.
[00:49:46] This forgiveness of Jesus is preemptive.
[00:49:49] It comes before, before we even knew.
[00:49:53] Why? Because we didn't know.
[00:49:55] Jesus prays for our forgiveness from the cross to set us free, even though we don't deserve it, even before we even know it.
[00:50:05] And this is the Jesus that we know.
[00:50:08] And so the story grates hard against that.
[00:50:13] You know, when Jesus taught in the, you know, we call it the Lord's Prayer, but it's really the disciples' prayer because he taught it to the disciples.
[00:50:20] Jesus makes it clear that we, too, are called to forgive.
[00:50:24] This is not a one-way street.
[00:50:26] Forgive us our sins.
[00:50:28] Wait, sentence is not over.
[00:50:30] As we forgive those who sin against us.
[00:50:34] Forgive us our sins as we forgive.
[00:50:39] Our forgiveness we want from God, yes, but God wants us to practice forgiving.
[00:50:46] and they are tied together.
[00:50:49] They are tied together.
[00:50:51] And so if we, like that first slave, receive absolution, we are required to practice that for others.
[00:51:04] Now, let me address a side note.
[00:51:06] I know some of you are thinking about this, especially when you're thinking about the Lord's Prayer.
[00:51:10] For what are we supposed to ask forgiveness?
[00:51:13] For what are we asking forgiveness?
[00:51:15] Is it debt, is it trespasses, or is it sins, right?
[00:51:20] This is not a crowd that many of you have been Presbyterian.
[00:51:22] But if you were, you probably prayed that prayer with debts, right?
[00:51:25] Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who debt.
[00:51:30] And just to say, you know, debt is probably a better translation of the Greek.
[00:51:36] Trespass has always been a stupid word, I think, because, I mean, the word sounds a little trite, like I wandered over onto your lawn by accident, you know what I mean?
[00:51:46] In the parable, Jesus puts the matter in the economic terms.
[00:51:50] This is about debts, right?
[00:51:51] And some serious, serious debt.
[00:51:56] And, you know, Peter has really been asking.
[00:51:59] He wants to know the credit line.
[00:52:00] I mean, how many times do I have to forgive?
[00:52:03] You know, what's the cutoff, right?
[00:52:05] When can I cash in on this?
[00:52:08] And, you know, maybe Jesus knows that the way to get to somebody's heart is often to go through their wallet, right?
[00:52:18] You know, you can sin against somebody.
[00:52:22] You can really sin against them a whole lot easier than you can borrow money, I'm telling you.
[00:52:28] Sin is certainly a more encompassing word.
[00:52:31] So debt, trespass, sin, this is what we mean.
[00:52:35] And I like the word sin in this, if I were changing the prayer.
[00:52:41] But it's loaded, and we all know that.
[00:52:43] We may have come from traditions where we were knocked over the head all of the time.
[00:52:48] But when we pray this prayer, when we pray to this moment, forgive us our sins, we have to realize that we are doing so with confidence.
[00:52:58] In the 10 o'clock service, we have written prayers written out.
[00:53:02] And one of the things I did when I came here is I put in the prayer of confession.
[00:53:07] And many people at the 10 o'clock service were kind enough to tell me that they did not like that.
[00:53:15] some didn't like it because they didn't think that they were as bad as the prayer wrote it out, which I thought was interesting. And then other people thought, you know, what's the purpose of us hitting us over the head on this each time? And, you know, I just
[00:53:31] had to say to them, you know, it's important with the prayer of confession. It is really important for us to recognize that, you know, we're not perfect. We're broken. And in fact, the need for it in the worship service is
[00:53:45] important because it reminds us why we're here. We are in need. We're not perfect people. We need healing. We need to recognize our brokenness.
[00:53:56] And so this moment in the Lord's Prayer, why we don't take that moment during this reciting of it, it's an opportunity for us to do some introspection. To say, what have we left undone?
[00:54:08] What have we done that we should not have? Where have we caused harm and that harm is not just to god it is also to one another and we are have to be accountable for it and so that's why we do the prayer of confession in the liturgy in the service
[00:54:26] you know when you do the prayer of confession it is always followed by words of insurance assurance which are saying you know there's more uh more grace in god than sin in us that's the thing
[00:54:38] That's the assurance that we have.
[00:54:40] Somebody once suggested, well, you know, maybe I don't like sharing my sins in front of everybody, so I don't like to do the prayer confession.
[00:54:48] Well, would it help if we moved the words of assurance ahead of time?
[00:54:53] Then you would be free to really look at it, at all the sins that are already forgiven.
[00:55:00] We don't say your sins might be forgiven if you do the right thing.
[00:55:03] No, you say they're forgiven, past tense.
[00:55:05] It's been preemptively done.
[00:55:09] This is hard.
[00:55:10] This is a hard teaching for us to learn.
[00:55:14] Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
[00:55:17] Did you know that Jesus thought this was so important that he resurrected from the dead to come back to the disciples to make sure that they got that lesson?
[00:55:26] He did.
[00:55:27] It was one of the things.
[00:55:28] He says, peace be with you, and they're all amazed and like, oh my God, I can't believe this dead man is walking around in our midst.
[00:55:34] And immediately he says, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.
[00:55:40] And if you retain the sins, in other words, you don't forgive, they are retained.
[00:55:48] It's a heavy verse.
[00:55:50] Let me say it again.
[00:55:51] If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.
[00:55:54] And if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
[00:55:57] Now, I don't think Jesus is being prescriptive.
[00:55:59] He's not trying to say, hey, you know, you retain those sins.
[00:56:02] You keep them on them.
[00:56:04] That'll make them change.
[00:56:05] No, it's not what Jesus is saying.
[00:56:07] He's being not prescriptive about what you ought to do.
[00:56:10] He's being descriptive about the way that the world is.
[00:56:13] If people don't know that they are forgiven by you, they're not going to know that they're forgiven by God.
[00:56:21] We, it's connected.
[00:56:24] You want people to know about God's forgiveness of them?
[00:56:27] Well, you're going to have to be really good at forgiving them.
[00:56:32] If we are unforgiving, then the world will know God to be unforgiving.
[00:56:37] We say they will know we are Christians by our love.
[00:56:42] yeah, they'll also know it by how well we hate and how well we stand in judgment of them.
[00:56:48] Sadly, that's often been the case right now.
[00:56:51] People don't want to come back because they don't want to be judged.
[00:56:56] Forgiveness is so central to the Christian faith that we ought to be good at it, you know?
[00:57:02] We ought to be good at being able to look at our own weaknesses and know that that doesn't stop us from being part of what God wants us to be.
[00:57:11] But we're not very good at it.
[00:57:13] we failed really at that very central mission about who we are.
[00:57:21] Jesus puts it in the prayer for us, puts it right in the prayer.
[00:57:26] And so maybe this is an invitation for us to really, really center down and to recognize that, yeah, God doesn't want perfect people, but God does want honest people.
[00:57:40] Prayer of confession, you guys, is a time for us to get honest, right?
[00:57:43] And, you know, there's levels of honesty, you know, maybe you don't want to be too honest in front of the whole community of faith.
[00:57:52] I get that. But are you honest enough with yourself to recognize that, you know, carrying something?
[00:58:02] I'm not I'm not aiming this at anybody. I'm really not.
[00:58:06] It was interesting, though. I had three people come up to me and one said, I'm thinking about my neighbor.
[00:58:12] this person said uh and you know i think if maybe they had a health crisis i might send an email for an ambulance i said you're warming up i think it needs to go a little faster
[00:58:30] though you know yeah that's right exactly right you know so it's it's hard we carry that There were hard feelings, and how do we let that go?
[00:58:41] I want to say this, too.
[00:58:43] There are people I know, some in this church that have spoken with me, about they have suffered the pain of being sinned against in whatever way that has been so painful in their life that being able to say
[00:59:03] that that other person is forgiven is difficult.
[00:59:06] and situations where trying to do so actually to say that is it could endanger them and those kinds of situations and relationships i honor the difficulty of all of that i have a book that i read from time to time it's um forgiving the unforgivable it's a therapy book
[00:59:30] because you know it's going to take therapy not just a quick prayer on a sunday morning for us to get past some of the things that have been done to us.
[00:59:39] And I am not saying put ourselves back in danger or even back into a relationship with someone.
[00:59:45] But I am saying that forgiveness really is about letting go that which holds us back.
[00:59:52] And sometimes when we are carrying those wounds with us, we're not really free because we are carrying the forgiveness.
[00:59:59] Part of this is learning for ourselves to be honest enough to let that go.
[01:00:05] And so, you know, if you don't like the word forgiveness, maybe the term letting go, saying I'm not going to let that relationship destroy my own quality of life to carry it around with me.
[01:00:18] And so I'm going to let that go and let it into God's hands.
[01:00:24] This is the verse.
[01:00:27] It's a heavy verse, and it's heavy work, you all.
[01:00:29] It really is heavy work.
[01:00:31] It is not easy.
[01:00:31] I'm not saying something that is easy.
[01:00:34] we because of god's preemptive forgiveness we often think it becomes like a slot machine if we just say that prayer then we get our forgiven and we know it's not that easy especially when we start thinking about the people that we have in our life that we need to forgive
[01:00:53] i i've often said this too you know i don't know how many times you have ever had the experience of really being forgiven, and it's humbling.
[01:01:07] And I don't know how many times you've ever had the experience of really asking for forgiveness.
[01:01:14] But it is all too rare for people who are Christian, because we ought to be really good at it, and we're not.
[01:01:23] So that's our challenge.
[01:01:25] It's in the midst of the prayer that we pray, and let it be part of the discipline, so that we're not just consumers of God's grace, we're practitioners of it in the world.
[01:01:37] Would you pray with me?
[01:01:45] God, you challenge us.
[01:01:48] You call us to pray in a way that we can be responsible as your people of faith, that we can be your disciples.
[01:01:59] You call us past the pettiness and call us to practice the same kind of grace that you are dealing out.
[01:02:07] and it is difficult and often painful and we may need your help for there are wounds within us that sometimes we cannot do by ourselves.
[01:02:20] But we know, oh God, that when Jesus stretched his arms out onto the cross and prayed for us, that it is our turn to pray for one another.
[01:02:31] So help us and build us up so that we may be released and free and let go of that which holds us fast.
[01:02:39] We pray this in your holy name.
[01:02:41] Amen.

[01:02:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:02:45] Please stand and join us.