Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Matthew 18,21-35. The Commemoration of the Reformation

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The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Matthew 18,21-35; Luke 17,3-4 5215

22. Trinitatis 067. The Commemoration of the Reformation

All Saints

1. November 2015

1. O Merciful God, Your Word bestows wisdom. Blessed are those who hear You. Help us to rightly fear, love and trust in Your Word so that the soothing gospel is a balm for our guilty conscience and that we receive Your promise that we are righteous by the merits of Christ Jesus our Savior. (VELKD Prayer for Prayer for the Commemoration of the Reformation § 1). Amen.

2. Then Peter went up and said to Jesus: „Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?“ Jesus said to him: „I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. Therefore the reign of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying: ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him: ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also My heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.“

3. On 31. October 1517, Martin Luther posted his Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences on the Schloßkirche (Castle Church) door in Wittenberg, Germany. His 95 Theses were an invitation to debate the issue of indulgences in the Medieval Church. Such debates on theological topics were commonplace in Luther’s day, but his treatise caused a firestorm to erupt that eventually culminated in the drafting of the Augsburg Confession in 1530 and the formalizing of Lutheran theology in the Church. We can summarize Luther’s treatise with 4 central points from his 95 Theses:

1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said poenitentiam agite [Repent], willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance. [Matthew 4,17]

36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without letters of pardon.

37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, participates in all the blessings of Christ and the Church; and this is granted him by God, even without indulgence letters.

62. The true treasure of the Church is the most holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God.

Did you notice how these theses dovetail with today’s Gospel pericope? St. Matthew writes: »Then Peter went up and said to Jesus: „Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?“ Jesus said to him: „I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.“«

4. This is often a far cry from how most people think about God. Recall Luther’s anguish as an Augustinian friar before 1517: „Terrible. Unforgiving. That’s how I saw God. Punishing us in this life, committing us to purgatory after death, sentencing sinners to burn in hell for all eternity“ (Luther movie). Luther was at this point only seeing God through the lens of the law. The Apostle Peter was also viewing God the same way 1500 years earlier when he asked Jesus: »Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?« If we calculate forgiveness that way, then we are assigning forgiveness with the value of law. How much forgiving must we do before we are allowed to stop? Where is the limit when we can say: you’ve reached your forgiveness quota; no more forgiveness for you! If we believe God runs forgiveness like a quota system then it is no wonder many people today think that God is petty, cruel and plagues mankind with suffering.

5. Isn’t it insightful how Jesus uses Peter’s calculation of forgiveness? Peter thought he was be gracious because the Pharisees used to say you are only required to forgive someone who sins against you three times. Peter’s seven is a doubling of their three plus one added on for good measure. He sort of has the right idea, but he was still thinking of forgiveness in terms of the law. Jesus counters with: not 7 times but seventy times seven! Jesus has just changed the nature of the discussion. Seventy times is a whole order of magnitude than a mere doubling. Jesus taught the apostles that with God forgiveness is a matter of grace. Jesus could have really driven the point home even farther if He had said: Furthermore, your Heavenly Father forgives you 70,000 times 7. Jesus didn’t use that example, but His parable shows us that God’s forgiveness has no bounds for it is merciful and limitless.

6. Luther’s 95 Theses began to unpack the gospel promise that he would later write about several years later in his Commentary on the Gospel according to Matthew: „Anyone who regards God as angry is not seeing Him correctly, but has pulled down a curtain and cover, more, a dark cloud over His face. But in Scriptural language to see His face is to recognize Him correctly as a gracious and faithful Father, on whom you can depend for every good thing. This happens only through faith in Christ“ (Luther 21,37).

7. We see this further developed a year later when Luther drew up 28 Theses for a theological disputation at Heidelberg in April 1518. The 26. Thesis reads: »The law says: „Do this!“, and it never is done. Grace says: „Believe in this one [Jesus]!“, and forthwith everything is done« (Heidelberg Disputation § 26). In God’s Divine calculation, we can never do anything to cover our sins. No amount of law-keeping, good morals, pristine virtues or any other good work can satisfy the demands of the law for sinfulness. Our debt is too high, our trespasses too many and our sacrifice counts as nothing. The Prophet Isaiah says: »We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness deeds are like filthy rags. We all fade like a leaf, and all our iniquities take us away like the wind« (Isaiah 64,6). In God’s calculation we needed a savior, and not just any human savior but a Divine Savior who would be both God and man. We sang about this Savior in our Hymn of the Day: „With might of ours can naught be done, Soon were our loss effected; But for us fights the Valiant One, Whom God Himself elected. Ask ye, Who is this? Jesus Christ it is, Of Sabaoth Lord, And there’s none other God; He holds the field forever“ (A Mighty Fortress 2).

8. God the Father placed all the sins of the world upon His Valiant Son. He paid the debt in full. He bore every trespass. He is the sacrificed Lamb of God. He has taken away all the sin of the world. Forgiveness is yours as a free and gracious gift. His forgiveness never ceases. He forgives you seventy times seven, and even more.

9. Absolute certainty of forgiveness is the hallmark of Christ and His gospel. We have this certainty because Christ on the cross has redeemed you from God’s wrath and His condemning judgment. The gates of hell are now barred and closed to you, and the doors into heaven are unlocked and wide open for you because the gospel of Christ Jesus crucified and risen for you and your sinfulness justifies you: all your sins have been paid for and you are now righteous before God the Father. The gospel sanctifies you: the Holy Spirit daily works in you to create good works by which your neighbors are blessed. The gospel is revealed by faith and received by faith. You are saved. You are righteous. You are sanctified. Christ has made it so. The gospel proclaims it. Believe it, for the gospel is the power of God the Son working in your life through the Holy Scriptures, Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and Absolution. The gospel is yours by grace and it is free all on account of Christ. You can be certain of it, for Christ alone is your Righteousness.

10. Let me be clear here, the emphasis is not on ourselves or the faith, but the emphasis is on the subject of the faith, which is Christ. Faith looks to Christ and only Christ (solus Christus). Faith looks to Christ Jesus who suffered on the cross as the ransom price for our sins and who then rose on the third day in victory over sin, death, and the devil. Christ on the cross and Christ risen from the dead are the only merits that please our Heavenly Father. Christ pleases God on our behalf, and faith trusts in Christ and therefore has Christ’s good pleasure credited to the individual who believes in Jesus. Thus faith pleases God.

11. Faith believes the gospel. St. Paul tells us: »The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The gospel of Christ crucified is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, but to those who are called to faith, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God« (1. Corinthians 1,23-24). »Righteousness will be reckoned to you who believe in God the Father who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead, who was handed over to death for your trespasses and was raised for your justification. Therefore, since you are justified by faith, you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. For while you were still weak, at the right time Christ died for, you, the ungodly. Therefore just as Adam’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so Jesus’ act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all, yes, for you!« (Romans 4,24-5,1.6.18). »There is therefore no condemnation for you who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8,1), for Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for you who believe« (Romans 10,4). »Now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord« (Romans 6,22-23). Jesus makes us saints and holy ones for He is the Holiest One. Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Lord, You heal those brokenhearted by their sin; bind up our wounds so that we may live peacefully knowing that You are not angry at us but that You are accepting of us. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Monday, November 2, 2015

Matthew 18,21-35. The Commemoration of the Reformation

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