Forgiveness 2.0
This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, Sept. 17 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Matthew 18:21-35. Last week’s gospel was about forgiveness, and I’m calling this week’s Forgiveness 2.0. Jesus focused last week on individual relationships and this week, he highlights forgiveness and the community of faith, beginning with fellow believers. When Peter asks Jesus if seven times were enough to forgive a repeat offender who asks for mercy, he thought that was an incredibly large number. For the Jewish people of Jesus’ day, three was considered the most that forgiveness should be sought. Peter was being quite expansive with seven. How does Jesus respond? Seventy times seven! Yikes! That’s a new way to look at forgiveness in relationships. Jesus tells a parable about what forgiveness looks like in the kingdom of God. In some ways, the king can be a picture of God. The first issue dealt with is the erasure of debt (v. 27). The slave had incurred an incredible amount of debt,