The Gospel According to Jesus (2 of 2)

In Matthew 18, Jesus teaches Peter about forgiveness. Here are a few facts:

• Jewish law said one must forgive 3 times. Peter asked Jesus if 7 was enough, realizing that things were different with Jesus, and expecting that 3 was not enough.
• Whether Jesus said 77 or 70*7, he means a lot.
• In the parable, the 10,000 talents equals about $6 billion dollars in Omaha today. 100 Denarri equals about $16,000.

Gavin made a couple great observations in his talk at the college ministry he pastors. First of all, 16k is not a small number. Often we think of the story like the second amount is 50 cents or so, but it's much more than that. Gavin pointed out that Jesus probably picked this number intentionally, as if to say "I realize you have HUGE debts to forgive yourself." Jesus realizes forgiveness doesn't come easy, and in many cases can't happen when we try to do it ourselves.

What really sticks out to me now from this passage is the last line Jesus says. He tells Peter that forgiveness comes from the heart. This is huge! I am really bad at this kind of forgiveness. I am fairly good at forgiveness of the mind, in that I can rationalize anything to the point where I can let it go. There are also times where I just "make up my mind" to let it go. But forgiveness of the heart...there's a whole 'nother deal. I understand the heart to be the part of the human being synonymous with the will, or the character. It's who you are under the hood. And our actions flow from the heart/will/character. So for us to forgive from the heart, it means we are the kind of people who naturally have forgiveness flowing out of us. This is not a decision made or a hand shaken. This is a change of who you are inside.

How do I change who I am? Unfortunately, you can't. You are who you are. But by adding an outside force to the equation, you might have a standing chance. In order to change your heart/will/character, you must allow it to be influenced by something outside yourself. Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit is in the business of changing hearts. But so are many other driving forces in our world. When we look to Jesus to form our heart/will/character after his own, he is faithful to interact with us. So forgiveness becomes less about the person who is forgiven and more about the heart of the forgiver.

We have been forgiven for much more than 10,000 days wages; the wages of our sin is death. We should have to pay the debt we owe with our lives. But we don't. Instead we have a chance to share in the glory of God, and not as servants, but as heirs to the throne! Still, some of us are not able to forgive the people in our lives who have hurt us. Some of our wounds go too deep to heal. So we carry around a burden. We take it as ours to bear. And it eats away at us. Jesus is asking for each of us to look to him as the answer. There is power in simply looking to him instead of trying on our own. It may not happen all at once. Forgiveness may need to happen over and over, as some old wounds like to resurface. But the command is still clear: forgive from the heart.

As we allow God to form us into people who forgive, this will almost always present itself as an opportunity to forgive. We must pray for these opportunities, and we must listen to the voice of God when these opportunities arise.

May God's forgiveness break our hearts today, so we may forgive others out of a renovated heart.

The Gospel According to Jesus (1 of 2)

I've been thinking about this since it came up in conversation yesterday. Could Paul's account of the Gospel throughout the New Testament be different than the one preached by Jesus? Paul's Gospel could be summed up something like this: Jesus died to forgive our sins, once for all, and he is our only hope for righteousness before God. I don't think this is contrary to Jesus, but it seems while Paul's gospel is all about grace, Jesus was often preaching about how hard it is to live rightly. Take for example the parable of the unmerciful servant. Look it up: Mat. 18:21-35. Basically, Jesus is saying that unless we are forgiving, God will not forgive us. Would Paul agree? Or would he say God loves us in spite of our shortcomings of non-forgiveness? What would most Christians say today? I think we often lean on Pauline grace instead of living in light of the Gospel. The Gospel isn't a rule to follow (forgive those who sin against you) but a lifestyle change (you have been forgiven, so forgive).

I look forward to hearing more from the source of the discussion, and I'll post a follow up later this week. If you are reading this and you have thoughts, let's hear 'em!