Exodus
14:19-31
19 Then the
angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and
went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind
them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel.
Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to
the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea
back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were
divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground,
with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
23 The
Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen
followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the LORD looked
down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into
confusion. 25 He jammed[a] the wheels of their chariots so that they had
difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the
Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”
26 Then the
LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may
flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its
place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward[b] it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. 28 The
water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of
Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them
survived.
29 But the
Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their
right and on their left. 30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the
Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And
when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians,
the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
Matthew
18:21-35
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked,
“Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?
Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus
answered, “I tell you, not seven
times, but seventy-seven times.[a]23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[b] was brought to him.25 Since 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 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The 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 silver coins.[c] 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 it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged 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. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed 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 or sister from your heart.”
Prayer: God, as we
gather together to worship you this day we ask that would open our hearts and
our minds so that we might hear and understand your Word for our lives. We ask your Spirit to work in us to transform
first our hearts and then our lives.
Guide us Lord to move from our personal transformation to becoming
instruments of transformation for the world around us. Use us Lord to bring your kingdom near. Amen.
"Seventy times seven" is a lot of
forgiveness. Once is tough enough. Twice, almost unreasonable. "Seventy
seven times?" It Almost seems ridiculous, yet that is precisely what Jesus
commanded in his dialogue with Simon Peter. Keep on forgiving, he counseled,
even when forgiveness seems illogical. For often forgiveness is more of a gift
we give ourselves than a favor we bestow on others.
These are interesting and challenging words for
us on this particular day – but appropriate words as we look to the start of a
new school year and we think about the fresh start each new beginning gives
us. A new beginning that begins with the
principal of importance.
Jesus illustrated that principle with the story
of a servant who owed the king a fortune. "Ten thousand talents," to
be exact—several years, maybe even a lifetimes wages. No way possible he could
ever pay up! But his pleading for mercy touched a tender chord in the gracious
king, and the servant was forgiven. His account was marked "paid in
full."
However, the servant soon met another man who
owed him a mere handful of denarii—several days wages. The debtor pleaded for
mercy but received a sentence to debtors' prison instead. The king, upon
hearing of the first servant's refusal to forgive, rescinded his former offer,
and the servant wound up on the locked side of a prison cell "until he
would pay his entire debt" (v. 34). His refusal to forgive was his
undoing. So it usually goes.
Practicing forgiveness illustrates an awareness
of God's love for all of us. A love that
was shown to us without us first ‘deserving it’. God’s forgiveness represents a fresh start or
new beginning for each of us. When we
practice forgiveness in our own lives it allows space for God to cultivate new
relationships, fresh starts and the exact new beginning that we need.
We see this
evidenced in our scripture lesson from Exodus
The Israelites, through the Spirit of God, were granted a
miraculous passage through the Red Sea. They
are God’s chosen people, and they were delivered from the hand of Pharaoh so
that they could follow and worship God.
They were given a new start – not just because – but so that
they could live the lives they were created for. So that they could worship God with all of
their lives and they could worship God.
In order to fully and truly worship God and to really begin
their new lives they couldn’t dwell on what had happened to them - and it took them 40 years of wandering in
the desert before they were willing and able – before they were ready to move
on and move into the lives that God had saved them for. That God had created them for.
In our own lives, we can’t move on from what we are and what
has happened to us into the new beginning and the new, transformed lives that
God has for us without forgiveness. This
idea – the importance of forgiveness and the connection between the receiving
and the giving of forgiveness – is the meaning behind the parable of the
unforgiving servant in Matt. 18.
A new life in Christ begins with the forgiveness we have in,
through and because of Jesus Christ. But that forgiveness is only the
beginning.
We can only fully receive the forgiveness of God and only
truly be transformed into the new creations God is calling us to be when we
begin to share that forgiveness with those in our own lives.
We have to let God’s forgiveness take root in our hearts and
lives and flow out of us – even to those, maybe even especially to those that
have hurt us the most deeply and those that probably don’t deserve it.
Because
If Jesus loves others enough to die for them, perhaps our refusal to forgive
them is spiritually inappropriate.
And the truth of our situation is that we don’t deserve Jesus
Christ any more than those people that we are struggling to forgive – but Jesus
chose to come and live his life for us and eventually to die for us so that we
might spread the love and Kingdom of God – a love none of us deserve to every
person and every corner of this world – God’s world.
This is only possible when we move from looking at the world
through the lens of ‘what has happened to us’ or ‘what people have done to us’
and begin to see the world through the lens of Jesus Christ. So that when we see the world we don’t see
the pain we have suffered but the healing and transformation we have received
through Jesus.
Our view and
interaction with the world needs to be motivated not by the world’s actions to
us, but by Jesus Christ’s action for us!
Amen.
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