Forgive the idiots!

Jesus teaches us an extremely important principle. We've been forgiven so much we must forgive those who are idiots to us.

In Matthew 18:21-35 Peter asks Jesus a very interesting question. How many times should I forgive someone who sins against me? Let's look at the Lord's response:

Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?" "No!" Jesus replied, "seventy times seven! "For this reason, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn't pay, so the king ordered that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt. But the man fell down before the king and begged him, 'Oh, sir, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.' Then the king was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

At first Jesus provides an answer. We should forgive someone precisely 490 times, right? Get out the tracking spreadsheet! Wait a minute -- not so fast. Jesus proceeds to answer Peter another way, through a story of a servant that owes the king lots of money -- like millions of dollars! And this is not your average servant that is keeping up with his payments either. He's way past due. Well, after the king threatens total liquidation of this servant's assets and his family too, the servant grovels at his feet. Basically, this guy is in deep trouble!

Well, the king feels sorry for the servant and puts him on a revised payment schedule. Whoops, I mean, he lowers the interest rate by 2 points since the Feds just cut the rates. Nah! Not this king. This king forgives the servant his entire debt. Pretty sweet eh? (for the servant)

End of the story, right? Nope, let's look at how Jesus continues the story as he ties it back to Peter's original question.

"But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. 'Be patient and I will pay it,' he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and jailed until the debt could be paid in full. "When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him what had happened.Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' Then the angry king sent the man to prison until he had paid every penny. "That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters in your heart."

So, this servant who was just forgiven leaves the king and seems to have forgotten what just happened. He immediately finds a fellow servant who owes him a couple G's and demands payment. The fellow servant can't pay and begs for time, but no! Toss him in jail and throw away the key! It's gonna be awfully hard to repay while in the slammer, eh?

So what's the moral of the story? Clearly we see the king was not happy by this behavior. He imprisons the servant and demands full payment again -- ouch! Then Jesus says that God in Heaven will do the same to those of us that refuse to forgive those idiots in our lives.

A couple of weeks ago our pastor was talking about how all us have been down right mean, nasty, disobedient to God. I won't forget the basic expression my pastor used. He said, "We've basically been idiots to God!" We know what is right yet we do what is wrong. In every way, we are like this servant who owes a debt so huge that we have no choice but to grovel at His feet for forgiveness.

So when the Lord forgives those that ask for forgiveness (ah, you gotta ask!), how on earth can we not forgive those who are idiots to us? If someone hurts or uses me, speaks ill of me, owes me money and doesn't repay, or basically does anything to sin against me, guess what? I absolutely, positively gotta forgive them! I mean, whatever it is, it certainly isn't the kind of debt that Lord Jesus paid for me. Do you really believe that?

So what about the 490 times thing? Here's what I'm thinking on that. I'm thinking the Lord was probably being figurative by giving a fairly large number here. But just in case He wasn't, you probably aren't gonna find too many people that will sin against you 491 times in your lifetime. But if on the off chance that happens, you've found a real idiot! You probably got the "forgiving thing" down real good by this point so just keep on going!