The Gospel of Matthew - Grace and Forgiveness [May 10, 2026]

So here we are in May. Does anybody else feel

like May just is chock full of a lot of things?

Like it's a very... Right. It was loud. We heard

it. We all heard it. Graduation's coming up.

Who has them? Who's experiencing them? Who's

going to the graduation parties? I didn't mean

to call you out specifically, Liam. We also have

Jada Britton. She had her last day of school,

right? You guys. We have Advancement Sunday coming

up for those that are getting ready to move from

SHED, or excuse me, from Treehouse into SHED.

We have graduations for those that are going

through high school to college. We have those

that have graduated college. Marisa's family

has somebody who has graduated from college as

well, so that's exciting. So lots of things are

happening. Teachers, who are the teachers in

here? Right? You're so close. Y 'all are so close.

You're nearly there. Along with your students.

Guys, you can make it. We believe it. Mother's

Day is here. We're thankful for that. We, as

a church, have a rest Sunday coming up on the

24th, so it's just like every week is like a

thing in today's baptism day. So lots and lots

of things happening, but May is kind of that

month where we transition from something into

something. It reminds us that there are new things

ahead of us, which feels really, really good,

right? So I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful

that May is a good reminder of new things ahead

of us, a freshness of things happening. We have

been in the book of Matthew for a number of weeks.

We will do this series through the summer. There's

a lot of really good things to talk about. We

have already covered Jesus calling his first

disciples. We have heard him preach to the crowds.

We have heard him bless those in society that

were not used to receiving blessings. We have

heard him tell people about the kingdom of heaven

and how to live here on earth in that way, in

that model of the kingdom, which looks a lot,

it looks nothing like what they are used to things,

what kingdoms look like here on earth. There

are so many scenes in the book of Matthew, so

many moments that give us a broad view of Jesus,

and we are grateful for the time the writer took

to record these things. But among the things

that Jesus was best known for, it was his stories.

The parables that he told, this tales with morals

and meanings and insights and encouragement,

stories that would bring clarity about Jesus

and his message. Jesus could tell a good story.

Among the gospels, there are a number of these

parables that feature in some gospels, but not

others. The parable of the sower, the mustard

seed, Those can all be found in Matthew, Mark,

and Luke. The parable of the lost sheep and the

talents can only be found in Matthew and Luke.

Luke's gospel alone has the parables of the Good

Samaritan, the lost coin, and the prodigal son,

while Matthew's gospel alone has the parables

of the hidden treasure, the two sons, and the

unmerciful servant. There were a lot of stories.

It's hard to make sure that everybody gets all

of them. Much like Jesus wanted to tell stories

that would direct us to truths about his father,

the gospel writers chose the stories that they

felt would best direct us to the truths about

Jesus that they wanted to share. As a reminder,

the author of Matthew was Jewish, writing to

a very specifically Jewish audience. This audience

would have been concerned with and knowledgeable

of Jewish traditions and rabbinical law. And

so when it comes to the parable of the unmerciful

servant, which is where we're landing today,

we and the listeners who had a distinct advantage

over us come face to face with a story that addresses

a key component to community life in the Jewish

community. How to handle forgiveness and adjust

their perspective on grace. So today we're gonna

be reading from Matthew 18, 21 through 35. Here

at the house we have a tradition of taking some

posture of attention. Often that takes the form

of standing if you are able and you would like

to, but we ask that you pull your full attention

to the listening and the hearing of the word.

So Matthew 18, 21 through 25. And I'm reading

out of the new revised standard version, updated

edition. Hmm 18 yep 18 verses 21 through 35.

Thanks for asking clarifying questions Then Peter

came and said to him Lord if my brothers or sisters

sins against me How often should I forgive as

many as seven times? And Jesus said to him not

seven times, but I tell you 77 times some translations

say seven times seven For this reason the kingdom

of heaven may be compared to a king who wished

to settle accounts with his slaves When he began

the reckoning one who owed him 10 ,000 talents

was brought to him and as he could not pay the

Lord ordered him to be sold together with his

wife and children and all his possessions and

payments to be made. So the slave fell on his

knees before him saying, have patience with me

and I will pay you everything. And out of pity

for him, the Lord of that slave released him

and forgave the debt. But that same slave as

he went out came upon one of his fellow slaves

who owed him a hundred denarii. And seizing him

by the throat said, pay what you owe. Then his

fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him.

have patience with me and I will pay you." But

he refused. And then he went and threw that man

into prison until he would pay the debt. When

his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they

were greatly distressed and they went and reported

to their lord all that had taken place. Then

the lord summoned him and said to him, you wicked

slave, I forgave you all that debt because you

pleaded with me. Should you not have mercy on

your fellow slave as I had mercy on you? And

in anger, his Lord handed him over to be tortured

until he would pay his entire debt. So my Heavenly

Father will also do to every one of you if you

do not forgive your brother or sister from your

hearts. Let's pray. God, I would ask that you

would open our hearts and our minds to the message

that you have for us. This is a very strong story.

You were not going, you're not somebody who minced

words. And so I pray that we would hear it with

our hearts and see with different eyes today

as you would lead us. Help us hear from you.

We ask all these things in your name. Amen. You

may be seated. When I read Jesus's parables,

there are times when they can be very clear cut

and irrefutable and. And then you try to live

them out, and they're really hard. The message

of this parable is not hard, as far as parables

go. Some leave the disciples scratching their

heads and giving each other quizzical looks.

But this one is pretty straightforward. As we

said, the writer was writing to a Jewish audience

who had become followers of Jesus and were learning

to adjust to new life in the kingdom of God.

They were learning how to have a new life in

Christ. And so there are some things that these

readers would have understood that maybe aren't

clear to us. Ancient Jewish law mandated that

forgiveness is a required non -optional process

initiated by the wrongdoer through sincere repentance.

It is the responsibility of the wrongdoer to

start the process. However, forgiveness is not

automatic. So they can pursue forgiveness, cancellation

of something owed, but it's not a given that

they will receive it. The person who committed

the wrong must sincerely apologize and make amends,

often specified as up to three times, which reminds

me of... how, in various cultures, depending

on what it is, we do it in America, too, where

there's the thing where if somebody offers you

something, you refuse it first. Do you want this

thing? No. No, that's okay. You sure? No, really,

I'm okay. No, really. Okay, yeah, okay. It takes

multi, you know, that shows up in multiple forms

all around the world, but like, it's reminding

me of that. But if a sincere apology is offered,

Jewish tradition mandates that the aggrieved

should not be cruel and should accept it. However,

they are not required to forgive those who do

not show genuine remorse, though they are forbidden

from holding grudges. So if an offender does

not repent, one is not forced to offer forgiveness.

That is the structure. Everybody knows it. So

just before the start of the passage we just

read, Peter, the disciple Peter, is listening

to Jesus tell other parables. And most notably,

the one directly preceding this is about reproving

another who sins and what to do. And so in Matthew

18, 15 through 17, a few questions come up. If

your brother or sister sins against you, Go and

point out the fault when the two of you are alone.

If you are listened to, you have regained that

one. But if you're not listened to, take one

or two others along with you so that every word

may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three

witnesses. And if that person refuses to listen

to them, tell it to the church and the community.

And if the offender refuses to listen even to

the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile

or a tax collector. in society that was not a

desired position among the Jews. So harsh words.

And they're listening to Jesus talk about basically

someone who does not show remorse. So all the

structure that I just talked about in the Jewish

community that was understood is based on somebody

who shows remorse. But this is somebody who doesn't.

And so... That is the key piece to moving forward

and forgiveness being offered and accepted at

this time. So, Peter coming up to Jesus with

the clarifying questions like, Lord, if my brother

or sister sins against me, how often should I

forgive? As many as seven times? And Peter thinks

he's being pious and generous here. And Jesus

returns with, Not even. Not seven times. I tell

you, 77 times, or seven times seven, or like

there's a few different versions of that number.

But it's a lot. You're to keep forgiving. And

this, this wasn't the structure. This isn't how

we do things. Jesus, you're a Jew. You know how

we do things. And so this is why Jesus had to

keep going. with the parable until just one more.

Forgiveness is a key issue to the Jews. There

are bunches of rabbinical code written around

how and when and why and what as it relates to

forgiveness. There are handfuls of words dedicated

to the concepts of repentance and remorse and

restitution and making things that were broken

whole again. There is forgiveness from God. And

there's forgiveness between others. And there

are different rules and understandings for those

things. There are community and national holidays

dedicated to atonement and repentance and forgiveness.

And so here Peter's being cute, offering that

he would go, he would go as big as seven times.

Remember how I said up to three? Well, he's like,

Jesus, should I? forgives seven times, and I

think he's like, look at how generous I am. The

story Jesus tells, though, in response to this

would have been a shock to the system that they

knew, a scandalous story that directly challenged

their social and even their economic and theological

understandings of honor, debt, and divine mercy.

At verse 22. And we are reminded, it says, for

this reason, the kingdom of heaven may be compared

to a king who wished to settle accounts with

his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one

who owed him 10 ,000 talents was brought to him.

And immediately, the listeners would have been

leveled. It would have been a number that was

purposely incomprehensible. 10 ,000 talents.

So perspective. One talent, a single talent,

was roughly 6 ,000 denarii, which is a day's

wage. And 10 ,000 was actually the highest Greek

number. And you could build systems on that 10

,000, but they didn't go to 10 ,001. It wasn't

a structure that they had. 10 ,000 was known

as a myriad. That's where that word comes from.

Thank you. Thank you for that one. I love a good,

I love a good fact. Good fact and a historical

moment. So Amiri, Amiri had the largest basic

number with a single word in ancient Greek. So

in common parlance, it often represented something

innumerable or something like a maximum quantity,

something giant. Certainly something out of our

reach. So 10 ,000 talents. It was 10 ,000 days

of wages. Immediately, the listening crowd, including

the disciples, would know that this number was

impossible for the slave to pay off. The king's

initial reaction would have come as no surprise

to the audience, and in fact, would have been

expected. The king's initial reaction was, I'm

going to get my dad. Debt slavery was a familiar

idea. The king's initial command to sell the

family and possessions was a standard, harsh

practice in society in order to regain his honor

and his assets. They were his. Everybody understood,

you're owed that. You have to do what you need

to do. Jesus is also using the idea of a king,

power, slave. no power in that society to emphasize

everybody's understanding. In that society, the

slave was nothing, the king was everything. There

is no other way here. So the king's unexpected

total forgiveness of the 10 ,000 talents was

a dramatic act, releasing the servant from a

burden that brought shame to his household. And

though the servant had indeed shown remorse at

not fulfilling the debt, the cost is too great.

This is one of those situations where you may

be sorry, but there is no other option. The debt

is the debt, and it is giant. There is no alternative.

There is simply no way for the servant to remedy

the issue. And so, the king does. The clear image

of the King as God and the debtor as them and

as us, the understanding would have been clear.

The debt we owe God is one that we can never

pay. We can never fix it and our King knows that

and so the King does. And that would be enough

for the story to land heavy and make its point.

But Jesus is not finished. And so the story replays

itself on a micro level. The servant goes out

and sees a guy that owes him 100 denarii, which

is roughly one and a half percent of the 6 ,000

denarii, a day's wage. Friends, that is equivalent

to about $1 .50 for us, if you base that on $100

a day. So y 'all, I mean, at one point or another,

we have experienced what it means to be financially

low, where that last dollar is committed to five

different bills. Do you know that Johnny Taylor

song, My Last Two Dollars? My last two dollars

is going around for a while. Thank you. Who said

that? There you go. It's such a catchy song.

I love it. But that servant had missed something

here. If you have a lifetime of debt canceled

or covered for you, one might hope that would

go deep down in the debtor's bones, that their

life might be altered at a cellular level, that

they might understand what forgiveness actually

feels like, what mercy feels like, what the lifting

of that anxiety can do to a person who now has

a fully clean slate. But he didn't seem to be

aware. Because shortly thereafter, we see him

choking his fellow servant, even while the peer

uses the exact same language the servant previously

used. This would have been viewed as a deeply

shameful... and wicked violation of honor. And

a Jewish audience would likely have expressed

deep moral outrage at this. Perhaps even being

embarrassed for that man, the man not having

the wherewithal to understand the cultural impact

of his bad choice. And so the audience would

have likely easily identified with the fellow

servants who were greatly distressed and brought

this matter back to the king. the unmerciful

servant's actions are viewed as a mockery of

the mercy he just received. And so the parable

suggests that in the kingdom of God, the old

ways of transactional debt collecting and honor

seeking are abolished, replaced by a new radical

ethic of unlimited, unsealing forgiveness. So

know Peter, not just seven times. As God has

forgiven your debt in its entirety, it is put

to you to forgive others without a ceiling. And

Peter of course doesn't know it yet, but he will

very specifically be on the receiving end of

Jesus' grace and forgiveness. after seeing exactly

how much it costs Jesus to provide it for him.

And I wonder if Peter standing on the beach with

Jesus remembered this conversation and this parable

here when they stood there looking at each other

after he had denied Jesus three times and Jesus

had restored him. And Jesus offers us a new way,

a new way of being free, untethered by the old

understandings and the old rules. We don't live

in a culture of forgiveness, but we do live in

a culture that expects grace. A grace we have

decided we deserve. And that is, of course, not

how grace works. Grace is a gift given to us.

Even in the case where in common behavior, we

might beat ourselves up for our shortcomings

and we are reminded to be gracious to ourselves.

And even so, often what that actually really

means is, you'll be reminded no one else is telling

you that you're terrible. Your condemnation is

coming from within. Release it. There is grace

that exists for you. That is really, I think,

how that goes. But when we behave like the forgiveness

and grace that was offered to you was an expected

and foregone conclusion, because isn't that what

Christianity is supposed to be? You're supposed

to do that. Well then we've cheapened it. Dietrich

Bonhoeffer's seminal work, The Cost of Discipleship,

you know I love a book, has a powerful chapter

and it's the first one called Costly Grace. And

I encourage you to get your hands on this book,

if not for anything else but the first chapter.

So he says, when the Bible speaks of following

Jesus, it's proclaiming a discipleship which

will liberate mankind from all man -made dogmas,

from every burden and oppression, from every

anxiety and torture which affects the conscience.

Well Peter was caught up in the precision of

how many times Jesus Because there's a limit

to his good graces Jesus simply lifted the roof

off the question making it mood You know what

Peter? Why don't we just say? Why don't we just

say that forgiveness does not have a limit? That's

that's going to free you up from having to keep

track That's gonna free you up from having to

count from having to keep adding or subtracting,

I'm just going to free you up from that and let

you know it's been covered. I ask that in return,

please don't bind others up in the chains that

I just took off of you. Let's just go ahead and

agree that that's not yours to manage. In fact,

why don't you just stick close to me, follow

me, and I'll show you how it's done. We can do

that together. So Bonhoeffer by contrast also

talks about cheap grace. A grace that has forgotten

or overlooks what it took to be offered the cancellation

of the dead. A grace that has been assumed and

doled out without the discipleship of Jesus.

It's been removed from its source. So the king

in this parable bearing the burden of the servant's

shame. Because while the servant had the debt,

the king had the shame. And so he chose to cancel

that and take the shame. And keep the shame there.

And the servant shamelessly forgetting what was

taken off his back to carry. And the servant

moved on from his encounter with the king, treating

this grace like he deserved it, the condition

of his heart being in bleak shape. We have been

offered forgiveness, but it came at a cost for

the one that offers it to us, a debt we could

not conceive, a cost just as incomprehensible.

We are not meant to live with the constant weight

of the reminder of what God did for us. It's

not that God wants to lord that over us, in that

our God does not lord over and constantly remind

me, oh, by the way, remember when I canceled

that debt for you? I'm awesome. God doesn't have

to. God does not desire us to take back the shame.

God does not wish for us to be newly burdened

now with the weight of the knowledge of our new

circumstances. In fact, Jesus is quite clear

when he says, come to me all you who are weary

and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you

rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me

for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will

find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy

and my burden is light. But is not to be forgotten

or taken for granted. What the servant lacked,

was sincere repentance. He experienced the full

value of grace, but did not let it change him.

He did not then go and do likewise. He acted

as though the king was expected to cancel the

debt. That's how his response acted. He acted

as the king was expected to and didn't, and the

servant acted in the way that the old letter

would have prescribed. However, the servant should

have followed in the way of the king, multiplying

the king's way. And he did not. And in the end,

the servant was bound up by the chains of the

initial debt. He never received the full benefit

of grace because he himself didn't fully receive

it and then extend it. And so we're offered the

same. Grace has been offered. Your debt has been

paid. Christ offers us a place as a disciple,

an invitation to follow him. And what a gift

we've been given in the freedom of Christ, in

the love of God, in the power of forgiveness.

And we should go and do likewise. Let's pray.

God it is incomprehensible It is incomprehensible

to understand This debt We carry things around

us with us as humans that we don't we don't realize

we don't realize how much We've we've we've gained

in in what we owe, how we've hurt others, how

we've made decisions that have affected people

badly. It is just the way of humanity. And I

am grateful that you see us and you offer us

forgiveness. and the clearing of those things.

But you do invite us to follow you so that it's

not just simply that we receive your forgiveness

and we're on our way. That you offer us forgiveness,

but then the opportunity to follow you so that

we may continue to understand what it means to

live in a new way. So we need your help with

that. We need your help with that. So we ask

for your leading, we ask for your guiding, we

ask for your care. As we head into communion

today, Lord, I pray that you would help us think

through these things and if there's anything

that you need us to think on specifically, I

ask that you would bring it to the surface. put

it on our hearts that we may reflect on it. I

pray this in your name. Amen.