Matth. 18, 21-35.
Then Peter came to him and said, "Lord, how often must I forgive my brother who sins against me? Is it enough seven times? Jesus said to him, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king who began to reckon with his servants. And when he began to reckon, there came before him one that owed him ten thousand pounds. Since he did not have the money to pay, the master ordered him to sell his wife and children and everything he had and to pay. Then the servant fell down and worshiped him, saying, "Lord, have patience with me; I will pay you everything. Then the master of the same servant was sorry and released him, and he also forgave him the debt. Then the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him a hundred pennies; and he attacked him and choked him, saying, Pay me what you owe me. Then his fellow servant fell down and begged him, saying, Have patience with me; I will pay you all. But he would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw this, they were very sad and came and told their master everything that had happened. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, "Servant of the wicked, I have forgiven you all these debts because you asked me; should you not also have mercy on your fellow servant, as I have had mercy on you? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he paid all that he owed him. So shall my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not your brother his trespasses from your heart.
What the summa of today's gospel is, hear your love soon in the beginning. Peter asks the Lord how he should behave when his brother sins against him, how often he should forgive him, if it is enough seven times? Then the Lord answers him, "I say not seven times, but seventy times seven." That is, forgiveness of sin should have no measure nor goal among Christians; one should always forgive another, and be careful that he does not take revenge. For this belongs to God alone, to whom His majesty and power are to be left undisturbed. As the likeness shows by length, and we shall hereafter draw together and show such causes one after another.
(2) But here we must take special note of the little word which the Lord says: Let the kingdom of heaven be like a king who would reckon with his servants. For such a commandment of the forgiveness of sins is not to be carried into the kingdom of the world, since offices and persons are unequal, and therefore one always has power and command over the other. There one should not look upon wickedness, nor let anyone do what he desires;
but the evil should be punished and the people kept to discipline, respectability and fairness.
(3) Therefore, it is not the opinion of a father to forgive his children for everything and to watch their mischievousness. He should punish and not forgive. So lords and wives with their servants, secular authorities with their subjects, should not forgive what is done wrong, but punish. For naughtiness is in the world without this: the more it is overlooked, the worse and more wicked it becomes, so that in the end, where the children of father and mother do not want to let themselves be drawn, the executioner must draw them and ward off the wickedness.
(4) Therefore, this command does not belong to the kingdom of the world, where there are unequal persons and offices, as reported before; but to the kingdom of heaven, where we are all equal, and have only One Lord over us, whom we shall all enjoy. Such a Kingdom of Heaven begins here on earth, and is called by another name the Christian Church here on earth, since God rules in it through His Word and His Spirit. In the same church, unless you have a special office, where God calls you to punish wrongdoing, it should be done so that one person always
forgive one another, and no one should take revenge, but show all mercy and kindness to his neighbor where he needs it, even though he may well deserve something else for us, and we, according to the world, would have good cause to inflict all evil on him. But why our Lord Christ would have such things, he finely shows with several causes, in the likeness of the two servants and the king.
The first reason is that our dear Lord Christ wants his Christians to remember what grace God has shown them, who also, if he had wanted, would have had many and great causes to punish us and put us to all misfortune. But since we have received mercy without merit, we should do the same to our neighbor.
6 For this reason, this is to be remembered all the more diligently. For the Lord herewith shows what is the right way for us to come to the forgiveness of sins, and puts before us in the most real way who we are and who God is, what we deserve against God and what God does for us.
(7) For he holds up to us the parable of the servant who owes ten thousand pounds, in the same the Lord will teach us all what is our opinion before God's judgment. The word talentum, which we translate as pound, was used by the ancients to mean a certain sum of money, approximately six hundred crowns. Therefore, ten thousand pounds make an immeasurably large sum, in the six thousand times hundred thousand crowns. To such a great sum of money the Lord equals Our sin, to show that we can never put it away, or do enough for it. For sin is inherited upon us, that we bring it with us from our mother's womb. The more we grow and increase in age, the more the sins prove themselves, so that we add our own sins to the sins we have inherited from others, and grow so deeply in debt to God that we are just like this servant here.
008 And what is the judgment of this servant, because of his great iniquity? This, that the Lord will sell him, his wife, his child and everything. By this the
Lord indicate that we poor sinners not only cannot pay, but we must suffer death for the sake of sin. As Paul says: "The wages of sin is death"; and the Lord threatened Adam and Eve in paradise: "The day ye eat of this tree ye shall surely die. This is what has happened to all of us poor human beings, that for the sake of our sins, the law of God has made such a harsh sentence against us and condemned us to death. For where sin would not be, no man would die. Where shall we go now? The guilt is before our eyes, we cannot deny it; so the Lord wants to be paid, but we cannot pay, it is impossible for us.
(9) Now this is the excellent, noble, and comforting thing, whereunto we ought to incline our ears, and open wide our hearts, if we may learn this art also, that we may come out of great trespasses, and escape from death. But this is done only by doing as the Lord says here, that this servant has done. He sees both his great guilt, and then his inability and the punishment. Therefore he falls down before the Lord, worships him and says: "Have patience with me" etc. This is what we call crawling to the cross and desiring mercy.
(10) This is what the Lord wants us to learn, if we want to be freed from guilt in any other way. For he that would not confess the trespass, but would deny it (as the Pharisees do, who think themselves pious and righteous), would only make his cause worse. But if we confess, we are imprisoned; for we cannot ever pay. Therefore it is a dangerous, horrible error that in the papacy people are directed to their own work and satisfaction to put away sin with it. The only way is for you to confess such guilt and sin, and fall down with the servant and beg for mercy, saying like the tax collector Luc. 18:13: "Lord, have mercy on me.
(11) Yes, you say, yet the servant here says that he wants to pay everything. He says whatever he wants, so we must confess, if he is serious, that it is not true, but quite impossible for him. Therefore
Christ wanted to show how it is for our hearts in such a case, namely, that we cannot grasp such grace, which is so plentiful and abundant. It always seems to us that it is too much, that God will not be so gracious as to let us off the hook for everything, that something still has to be paid, that it is too much to let us off the hook and give us everything. The Lord intended such thoughts of ours to indicate that the servant, although he asks for mercy, nevertheless offers himself as if he wanted to pay what he owes. Although this is true, he who desires forgiveness of his sins with all his heart must least of all have the intention that he will no longer be guilty, that is, that he will refrain from sins and amend himself and become more pious. For to continue in sins, and not to cease from them, and yet to ask forgiveness of sins, is to mock our Lord God.
(12) Therefore, whoever turns to God's mercy and asks for mercy, how will he find God? Most willingly and most graciously. For listen, what does the Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, say? "It grieved the master of the same servant," he says, "and he let him go, and the debt also he remitted to him." This is the right and proper color, since one can and should paint God and His heart in the most proper way. But whoever gives him another color, paints him wrongly and differently than he is in himself.
(13) For our hearts to think that God is a severe judge, since sinners do not find mercy in Him, but must fear all unmercy, is altogether a false thought; and there is nothing in it, although the law itself does not preach otherwise about our Lord God. For the law speaks of sinners who neither hope nor desire mercy. But sinners who confess their sins are sorry for them and wish they had not angered God in this way, and all their concern and care is that they have lived against God in this way and have not obeyed his commandments, and for this reason they ask for mercy: they shall find mercy, as it says here. Cause, God is a gracious God.
God, and has a fatherly heart. Therefore our misfortune grieves him and goes to his heart; and as the prophet says (Ezekiel 18:23), he does not delight in the death of the sinner; but this is his delight, that the sinner may repent and live. Therefore, if he finds in you such a heart that desires mercy, and is displeased with sin and refrains from it, he will gladly drop all guilt and show you mercy. As we see here in the servant who confesses his guilt and asks for mercy.
14 But what the means is by which God will be gracious to us, the gospel shows in other places, namely, that the Son of God, our dear Lord Christ Jesus, took care of sinners, took their sin upon himself, and paid for it with his death. Where there is such trust in the Lord Christ and his death, God's heart is won away, so that he cannot be angry or punish. For without this he has a compassionate heart, and he is grieved by our sorrow and misery. For this reason, as soon as Adam and Eve fell into sin and death, he offered himself to take away the devil's power through the seed of the woman.
(15) This then is our doctrine, which, praise God, we hold rightly and purely in our churches, that we have forgiveness of sins and eternal righteousness and life through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, that is, through God's grace and mercy. As we see here in the case of the servant who owes such a large sum, but by grace, without merit, without any works, it is forgiven him: only because he adheres to grace and asks for it.
(16) Therefore, it is an erroneous, false, even blasphemous doctrine that the papists, when they preach forgiveness of sins, point out to people who are in such debt that it is impossible for them to pay, that they should and must pay for themselves with their own works. But that we point people only and solely to God's grace through Christ, they call heresy and error. But take this gospel before thee, and consider which are nearer: we who preach of grace, or they who preach of their own.
preach works and repentance. In sum, this entire sermon is intended to teach us that God wants to forgive us and freely accept us for free, and to forgive all our sins. The Lord reminds us of this grace here, that we should also do this, and use all grace and kindness toward one another, and not reckon with our neighbor exactly; then we will be like Christians who have received grace, and for this reason we will also show grace toward everyone. This is the first reason the Lord gives, and also teaches, which is the right way to salvation, that we may come to grace and forgiveness of sins.
(17) The other reason is that the Lord wants us to take a good look at the harm and injustice done to us by others, and to move it well; so we will certainly find, if we put it on the gold scale, that the debt we owe to our Lord God will be like ten thousand pounds against a hundred pennies that our neighbor owes us. This will also move us, because God has left us such a large sum, that we will not count so carefully on the small amount, but will also turn in our owed money and let ourselves be found willing.
18 The word denarius, which is sometimes translated as penny, sometimes as groschen, is an old Roman coin that was worth half a place *) of a guilder. Such a penny, a hundred against ten thousand pounds, as each pound makes six hundred crowns, is a very small sum. So then the Lord says: "If you want to magnify your loss, because you think you have a reason to be angry, what is it? It is hardly a florin compared to hundreds of thousands of florins that you owe to our Lord God. If God closes his eyes against you, he does not want to count or see such a great debt: how can you be such ruthless, hard people that you do not want to slacken anything and count everything so exactly? Do not do it, for God's sake. Put your sin on a scale, and your neighbor's as well, and do not do it.
*) Place - quarter. D. Red.
more than your heavenly Father has done with your many and great sins, you are true Christians.
(19) The third cause is this, that the Lord in the likeness calls us all servants together. "The same servant," saith he, "went out, and found one of his fellow servants owing him an hundred pence." Such a thing should also move us to mercy and deter us from revenge. For we are but fellow servants, and have all one Lord over us, who can and will punish us for what every man wickedly does; to him we should leave his power and authority, and not fall upon him. For he will not suffer thee to take hold of his office, and to do that which is his alone to do. As the Lord says in another place: "Vengeance is mine, I will repay. For God's order is without this, that he wants to punish sin; and for this work he has not only the evil enemy, who can attack body and goods and damage them in many ways, if God decrees this for him; but he also has on earth father and mother, lord and wife, and temporal authorities. All of these have orders from God to punish evil.
020 Therefore, if thou be a child or a servant in the house, if wrong be done thee by other children or servants, beware; let not wrath pass thee over, that thou shouldest avenge thyself, and not forgive. Remember, it is my fellow servant, I have no power over him; I will have him punished who is lord over us both. If he will not do it and will not wait for his office, there is another one above all of us who will not let it go unpunished. So citizens, peasants, and all in all, each one of them should stand up to the other, and beware of revenge. This is what the Lord means by the word he says in the parable: "This servant found one of his fellow servants.
(21) The fourth cause is that he who would not follow such teaching, and would not consider God's great mercy toward him, nor his neighbor's little trespasses, who is his fellow servant over whom he has no power, and would go out of his head and yield nothing, but be angry and punish him: what would he accomplish thereby? Nothing else, but that such great
Unfairness and unmercifulness will not remain secret. Other Christians will see it and be very saddened by it, and will come before the Lord and tell him everything. This means in German: By such unmercifulness the Holy Spirit is grieved in the Christians; it grieves them and they sigh to God because of it. Let no one think that such sighing should be in vain and in vain. For if the Lord would otherwise pretend not to see and know, and would forgive and endure the punishment, he is moved by such lamentations and groans of the other Christians that he must take care of the matter and hasten to the punishment.
22 Therefore, just as the intercession of pious people is not in vain nor in vain, neither is the common curse, the common complaint against the wicked, in vain nor in vain. Therefore, the Lord wants to warn us herewith that we should not despise such common curses, but be kind and merciful to our fellow servants: so we will find Christians who will thank God for such mercy, and desire that God should pay us and do the same.
(23) Therefore these are wretched, unhappy people, who despise both the common blessing and the curse, which both affect: the blessing the pious, the curse the wicked. As one learns when an evil time comes. He who then holds back the grain, as miserly men do, and waits until it is worth more money, the people curse him, as Solomon says, Prov. 11:26; but blessing comes upon him who sells it. The wicked despise both of these things. But let it be seen whether such a curse is in vain, and whether all misfortune does not befall them who bring it upon themselves. For, as we see here, the Lord instructs us to beware of this, and not to give cause for our fellow servants to be grieved, to come before the Lord and say what they have seen. For then hear what follows.
The Lord summons the servant before Him. This is the fifth cause: that where you do not want to show mercy to your neighbor, but want to avenge yourself and punish him, God will not be silent about it, but will make you speak. This will happen on the last day.
happen. Then the terrible sentence will go, that you will be handed over to the tormentors until you pay everything.
(25) What have you gained by your anger, you poor man? Since you would otherwise have a merciful God and could have gotten rid of all your guilt, if you had shown mercy to your neighbor and forgiven him for his wrongdoing, God will not forgive you either, and will count against you just as accurately as you count against your neighbor. That is a poor, miserable bargain, since you lose a hundred thousand florins for the sake of a penny, before you leave it behind. However, this equation is far too small for this matter, since a man cannot come to the forgiveness of sins and must remain in the wrath and disgrace of God for eternity.
26 Therefore the Lord concludes, saying, "So shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye forgive not your brother his trespasses from your heart. He calls us brethren one to another; there will never be any enmity or unkindness. But now we are all so frail that we will never live like this among ourselves; sometimes one will offend the other with words, works, and other things.
What should it be like? Shall we bite and scratch one another like cats and dogs? Oh no, but let us forgive from the heart and think, "What have I wronged my brother for? If God is gracious to me and has given me such a large sum of money freely, purely, for nothing, for the sake of Jesus Christ His Son, what would I want to louse myself for a penny or two? *) I will set off one against the other, forget and forgive, and thank God that he has also forgiven me and accepted me for mercy, when he would have had a thousand and a thousand times more cause to be angry with me and to punish me than I have against my neighbor.
28This is the teaching that our dear Lord Christ has preached to his dear Christians today, that we should break ourselves, not leave the bridle to wrath, but rather bear our guilt against
*) to louse - to be felted. D. Red.
We should be glad that we have come to this and that both are cancelled out.
(29) But there you see how we do not follow at all, and let the devil ride us and drive us to anger, revenge and all misfortune, with our great harm and damage. For it is decided: If you do not want to forgive, God will not forgive you either; if you want to avenge, anger, punish, God will also avenge, anger and punish. But it is an unequal anger and punishment. For God's wrath and punishment is an eternal wrath and punishment: you are imprisoned by a small wrath, which arises because of a small sin, against him, because you have no right to it; but God alone has the right to it, and is certain, if you only do not punish him and come to him, he will punish the sin of your fellow servant far more severely and cruelly than you can ever remember.
(30) That is why you see how one sin is always punished by another. The devil drives such vengeful, angry, intolerable people so far into wrath that they cannot nor will they pray the Lord's Prayer. For they see a sting in it, which they cannot let pass over their tongue, that a Christian should pray: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Then they feel very well that if God does not want to forgive them in any other way than forgiving others, then their sins will probably be forgiven them unpardoned.
remain. They do not want to speak such a judgment against and about themselves, but rather leave the Lord's Prayer unprayed. But do you not think that the devil has honestly taken such people under his spurs, so that they also lose their prayers for the sake of anger? But what does a Christian have if he has lost prayer? He has nothing, indeed, he is in a twofold disobedience to God!
So it also happens that such people abstain from the reverend supper of the body and blood of Christ, and for the sake of a small, petty, unjust anger against their neighbor deprive themselves of the highest comfort against sin and conscience. Would it not be better, a thousand times and a thousand times better, to forsake all wrath, to suffer and bear all injustice, than to wilfully and wantonly deprive oneself of God's grace and fall into His wrath?
32 Therefore, whoever finds his heart so hardened with anger and hatred, let him take this gospel before him and reflect well, and ask God's forgiveness for having so long kept his anger against his neighbor and lived so unchristianly; and let him soon come to and forgive from his heart, so that God's judgment and sentence may not overtake him, but that he may also come to forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Christ, our Redeemer and Savior of all. May this be granted to us all by our gracious God and Father in Heaven, Amen.