Some people ask, “What makes United Methodists different from other denominations?” I could say our emphasis on education or social justice work--both are true, but our key defining feature is our emphasis on grace. Grace is a part of all the Christian denominations, and for us, it’s underscored over and over again. John Wesley wrote a lot about grace and differentiates between prevenient grace, justifying grace, and sanctifying grace. Grace is a part of every level of our faith journey--including the time that is “pre-faith.” There is no time in our lives when we stand outside of God’s grace. Today, I’m not going to talk about Wesley’s terms
for grace, but just big picture overarching grace.
As I said at the start of service, grace is defined as an unmerited gift from God. And there are lots of ways we learn about grace from God and through Jesus. And, grace is also meant to be a part of our daily lives. We are meant to share grace with other people. Some days that might be profound--in the form of forgiveness or reconciliation, and other times it might be quite simple--with a smile, or a hug, or a word of encouragement.
Today’s passage invites us to have some perspective on grace. As Denise read, our story is about a rich king. He has a servant who owes him money. Presumably many servants who owe him money. But this one has a debt that is due and when it comes time to pay, he simply doesn’t have it. He begs for forgiveness. And, the king is gracious and offers it. Not for nickels and dimes but for 10,000 bags of gold. I’m not even sure how he would have accrued that kind of debt!! 10,000 bags of gold! (or 10,000 talents)---do you remember the parable of the talents? Where one servant gets 5, one gets 2 and one gets 1--that was a lot that was entrusted to them...a dollar equivalent of maybe $40,000 per talent….so 10,000 talents times $40,000--$400,000,000. It was a lot. Now, Jesus could have been talking in hyperbole, but the point is, the amount was massive.
And the king forgave the servant. And he was grateful. But only insofar as it benefitted him. Because then he goes free, out into the world, and finds the man that owes him pennies on the dollar and demands his debt be paid. And when that man can’t pay, he throws him in jail.
What incongruence! What hypocrisy!!! Can you imagine?
Of course, you can.
At least, I think we all can. We get how we become so consumed with our own issues that we can’t see the forest for the trees. The man owed an unimaginable amount. And when it was forgiven he refused to offer the same gift of grace and forgiveness to someone else.
Now Jesus tells this story to the people, in essence, to us, as a warning. Don’t do that!! Don’t be like that servant. Look at the big picture.
God is the king in the story. God is the one with tremendous abundance and endless grace. God is the one who offers forgiveness and freedom, in amounts we can’t even measure. And we are the ones who become hard-hearted. We are the ones who refuse to forgive others.
The grace we are asked to give doesn’t even compare to the grace we have received, and yet we dare to be selfish and keep it for ourselves.
It’s like someone coming and asking to play with just 10 of my legos here. Ten. Not thousands, just 10, and despite the fact that I have a zillion legos here, I say no. It doesn’t make sense. How can we possibly refuse so much and yet somehow imagine we have so little???
I’m not trying to throw stones. Please know the Bible is speaking to me here. There’s a convicting word here...stop for a minute...look at the grace has given you. Have you been forgiven? Is it a debt too large to even count? Forgiven for your greed? Forgiven for your selfishness? Forgiven for your lust? Forgiven for your hatred? Forgiven for your hardness of heart? Forgiven for your infidelity? Forgiven for your lies? That’s grace at work in your life. Abundant grace. Limitless grace.
And in receiving that forgiveness, have you treated it like you have only a handful of grace, or have you treated it like measureless grace?
I’ll invite you to reflect and decide for yourself. But I know I’ve been selfish with the abundance I’ve received.
Now, always when we talk about forgiveness, I find we have to be careful with abusive relationships. Some people take this invitation to forgive as carte blanche where you have to step back into a relationship, even if it’s unhealthy. They mistake forgiveness for reconciliation. They are not the same thing. God does not want us to be mistreated. God does not ask us to stay in a relationship that is unhealthy for us. Forgiveness means letting go of anger, hurt, and resentment. It is one form of grace. There are many others. Forgiveness can include healthy boundaries. Reconciliation is a restoration of the relationship that requires participation and trust-building by both parties. You can forgive without being reconciled.
When we hear Jesus offer the grace of forgiveness, what do we hear him say? He says, “now go and sin no more.” There is accountability in grace. Jesus doesn’t just forgive so we can keep doing the same awful things. He forgives us so we aren’t burdened by the weight of the past, so we can freely move into righteousness.
The king in our parable wanted the servant to be free to go and live well. The king gave grace for that to happen. But the servant stayed stuck in the past. He stayed stuck in the fear of his own debt, so much so that he couldn’t offer freedom to the one who owed him. That doesn’t have to be the case.
As the servant, we can receive God’s gift of freedom through grace and forgiveness. And in being free, we should take joy in sharing with others.