Monday 30 September 2013

Paid in Full


I won’t write out the whole “Parable of the Unmerciful Servant” here, but I’d encourage you to pause, and go have a read:


That, my friends, is one of the good ones.  Both tremendously encouraging, and tremendously challenging, as the best passages of Scripture are.  It exposes the radical love and grace of God, while simultaneously exposing our own radical hypocrisy at the same time.  It’s a “Wow!”-moment, and an “Ouch!”-moment, all at once. 

The heart of God’s message of grace, personified in the master character, is this: Your debt to Me is paid in full.  You owe Me nothing.  We’re good.  Not because you’ve earned it, not because you deserve it, but simply because I love you, and I am merciful.  You owe me nothing.

However, when the servant in the story is given this miraculous gift, he goes to his fellow servant, who owes him a few dollars, and demands repayment.  When he doesn’t get it, he has the man thrown into prison as punishment until he is able to repay the debt. 

“Hypocrite!” we cry.....except we can’t.  Because of course, we are that hypocritical servant.

We have been forgiven everything – yet are slow to forgive others ourselves.  Our debt has been paid in full – yet we continually demand “payment” from others.  God has chosen to let the past go, and release us – yet we choose to hold on, and release nothing.

God’s response to these choices is stern: “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” (v.33) 

Col 3:13 says “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”  How did He forgive us?  Well, freely, demanding nothing, but not just that – He forgave while reaching out to us, embracing us, drawing us back to Him, working to reconcile the broken relationship.  It wasn’t just an attitude of forgiveness that He held in His heart; it was a forgiveness that came after us, actively and intentionally, until the relationship was restored. For God, forgiveness is an action word, not just an attitude.

Jesus did the same, while on earth.  When Peter abandoned Him to His suffering and death, and then denied even knowing Him, Jesus does not see Peter again until after the resurrection, visiting them briefly on Easter Sunday.  Later, while out fishing one day, Peter sees Jesus on the beach.  There must have been an unspoken tension in the air; nothing has been said about Peter’s actions in the last hours of Jesus’ life.

What is Jesus’ response to Peter?  How does He address the one who wounded Him so?

“Come and have breakfast.” (Jn 21:12)

Come and share a meal with me.  Come and sit at my table.  Jesus then graciously restores Peter, making clear that his calling is still sure, his mission hasn’t changed, and that Jesus still believes in him.

God’s forgiveness is given freely; we are to give it freely as well.  Through Christ, God has gone to excruciating, self-denying, self-sacrificing depths in order to reconcile us to Himself; we are to work towards reconciling with others in the same self-denying manner.  God has taken wounds that He didn’t deserve without complaint; we are called to do the same.  God has actively shown us how much He loves us, even when we were His enemies; we are to love our enemies in a like manner. 

And honestly, in light of what He has done for us...lest we be called hypocrites....what else can we do?  

 

 

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