Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost September 12-13, 2026
“The Point of the Story” Matthew 18:21-35
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Forgiveness is impossible. That was the conclusion I came to after listening to Bill. I met Bill through his wife, Irene. She was a member of my church, but he was not. When I first began visiting her, Bill would stay in the room as we engaged in chit-chat. But when the time for the devotion began he excused himself and I had time with Irene – for a devotion, Holy Communion and prayer.
For a long time that was routine. Chit-chat, small talk and then Bill would leave when the religious part of the visit began. But that changed. Bill would stay then for the devotion but before the Lord’s Supper he would head to another room. And that pattern went on for some time.
One day Bill told me why he struggled so with the religious part in his life. A number of years ago – before I met Irene and him, their son had been murdered and then the man who had committed the murder, tried to cover up the crime by setting the house on fire. With emotion and pain, he said more than once, “I will never forgive that man.”
Forgiveness is impossible. Somebody steals money from you, robs you of what your inheritance should have been. Forgive them? Forget it. Someone robs you of your innocence to satisfy their lust. Forgiveness? That is not going to happen. Your ex makes your life miserable and at that point you realize that you had every good reason to say to them, “We’re done.” Forgive? Forget? Oh, my!! I don’t know if it is coming.
Our reading from Matthew 18 follows last week’s reading which said, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you, you will have won your brother over.” (Matthew 18:15) Jesus is telling us what steps toward reconciliation and peace are primary. In light of that Peter says, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus says to him, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:21-22)
The Rabbis, the Jewish teachers, gave a generous amount of how many times you were to forgive. Their number was 3. Peter, with great generosity, multiplied the 3 and added one. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Fool me once, shame on you.” “Fool me twice, shame on me.” We may forgive once willingly. But if we have to do it twice – we do it with gritted teeth.
And, then, Jesus blows forgiveness out of the water. Seven? No, how about 77, or as another translation says, “70 times 7”. He is saying: “Stop Counting”.
Did you know that forgiveness is impossible? So Jesus tells a parable that is actually quite easy to understand. There is a man who owes a king a huge amount of money. If you worked at your average job back in those days you received a denarius for your work. This man owed 10 thousand talents. That was equal to 60 million days of work. 164,000 years – without having any days off. When Jesus throws that number out the folks hearing it had to chuckle or be in awe. Impossible. He’ll never be able to pay that!!
The parable, the story, continues – the king is going to throw this guy in jail and have his wife and kids sold as slaves so he could recoup at least some of this loss. The man begs the king – “Give me some time, I just need a few more days. I’ll come up with it.”
And what does the king do? He forgives him!! He cancels the debt. This man now doesn’t owe him a penny or a denarius. He rips up the IOU and sends him on his way.
But what does this lucky guy do? Head to the bar, and as he enters, shouts, “This is my lucky day…and yours! Drinks on me today, buddies.” No – forgiveness is impossible, right? We read about that man’s ungrateful heart, “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. (Three months’ worth of wages.) He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ His fellow servant fell on his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.” (See Matthew 18:28-30)
You know what the parable is about, right? It’s pretty plain. God is the King. We owe Him a debt so large we could never pay it. We have too many sins. Too much on the ledger. But He forgives us this debt. He cleanses us. We leave without owing anything.
But now we are the ones who are owed something by another. If someone has wronged us, sinned against us, we are not so quick to release the debt. Though we have been forgiven by God we find forgiving another quite impossible.
Forgiveness is impossible. It is too hard. And it is so necessary. The Bible says, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” (Hebrews 12:15. An unforgiving heart is the bitter root in one’s soul. Paul would give this practical advice, “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Ephesians 4:26)
Jesus doesn’t always give the conclusion to His parables. But here He does. The man who had been forgiven, but who would not forgive, received a harsh penalty. The king says, “You wicked servant, I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.” And then Jesus adds, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (See Matthew 18:32-35)
Impossible? Yes. Necessary. Even more. Years ago I read a book called “The Hiding Place”. It was a book about a Christian woman, named Corrie Ten Boom, who was unjustly imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII. After the war she became a powerful Christian speaker, speaking in front of thousands of others, talking about the power of forgiveness.
After a speaking engagement in Munich, Germany, she was approached by a listener who thanked her for her message about Jesus’ forgiveness. As he reached out his hand to thank her, she looked at him and recognized him. He was one of the SS guards from the concentration camp. He had brutalized her and many others. Her hand froze in unforgiveness and her heart felt only bitterness. This was too much for her. She couldn’t shake his hand.
Then Corrie remembered what Jesus had done for her and asked Jesus to give her a heart of grace toward that man. She reached out her hand. She offered forgiveness to a man who had hurt her. She forgave as she had been forgiven.
Forgiveness is impossible unless… Did you ever think about the king and that debt that he was owed. That debt, that 164,000 years of work that man owed him, that billions of dollars, became the king’s debt. The debt just didn’t evaporate. It didn’t just go away. The king payed it.
Your sin didn’t just disappear, like a fart in the wind, it went somewhere. It went to someone. It went to Jesus. He was a magnet, attracting your sin and your filth. “The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.”
I told you about Bill earlier. Bill’s journey to Jesus was amazing. What I am going to tell you about Bill didn’t happen overnight. It was not instant. But Jesus did something in that man’s heart. His son had been murdered. His son’s body was desecrated in the arson that followed the murder. And Bill said he would never be able to forgive that man.
But Bill started staying for the devotion I had with Irene and then began to stay to witness his wife receiving the meal and then would stay for the prayer, including the Lord’s Prayer – with that petition that is so hard to speak – “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” And then Bill asked if he could receive the meal of Christ’s body and blood. Joyfully, I gave the greatest gift of Christ to him.
What was impossible – faith and forgiveness – became God’s gift to Bill and a gift that Bill could share with others.
Impossible? Sure, this is all impossible. Forgiveness and forgiving. Faith and hope. By us it is impossible. But with Jesus nothing is impossible. Lord!! Do the impossible in us. Amen!!
