A, Post-Pentecost 15 Proper 18 - Matthew 18:15–20 "Remember & Forgive"

Matthew 18:15–20 (ESV)  “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.  But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.  If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.  Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

At the beginning of most Lutheran Services on a Sunday morning, we begin the new week confessing our sins for the past week and have them forgiven. 

We are forgiven, then we are fed with the word of God and Jesus’ body and blood in the bread and wine of Holy Communion.  Here again in the sacrament, we receive forgiveness of sins together with life and salvation.  You and I receive forgiveness for our sins while we endure here on earth, until we are taken to be with God.

God’s forgiveness of sin focuses us on the forgiving of our sin through our confession, together with his absolution, through words of forgiveness spoken by the pastor as his earthly representative.  One can view this forgiveness as God’s will being done in heaven, just as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer.  This is the vertical will of God!

However, this is only one half of God’s will!  We pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven!  What is God’s will for us on earth? 

As we also pray in the Lord’s Prayer, it is to forgive as we have been forgiven!  This is the horizontal will of God!

In the next couple of weeks as we hear the Gospel reading, we have opportunity to let God open us up so we can examine ourselves through the lens of this horizontal human to human forgiveness. 

In being forgiven we are invited to reflect on our forgiveness of others, and consider how we react within when we see others receive forgiveness.

Someone reminded me of the saying,  “We are to forgive and forget!”  At face value it sounds like a reasonable statement.  But in reality, who, ever really forgives and forgets?  Even when the most gracious person is wronged, they will not forget!  They’ll be just a little more cautious around the perpetrator next time.

However, the centrality of forgiveness is God’s will!  Forgiveness is the daily bread of our lives in Christ, as we are raised to new life, through the daily drowning of our old sinful nature.

At the cross the centrality of God’s vertical forgiveness meets the painful reality and suffering of the horizontal forgiveness we are called to share with each other.

Luke’s Gospel account of the crucifixion most clearly demonstrates the forgiveness theme of God’s will in Jesus Christ’s death!  We hear, “And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.  And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’” (Luke 23:33–34 ESV)

Outside of Luke’s Gospel account, both criminals writhed in agony on their crosses and railed at Jesus to save himself and them.  In Luke however, one of the criminals has a lucid moment of faith in his agony, realising Jesus as his Saviour, and the King of a kingdom greater than any earthly kingdom’s pleasure or pain.

We hear again, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ?  Save yourself and us!”  But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”  And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  (Luke 23:39–43 ESV)

Put yourself in the place of pain on the cross?  Would you ask Jesus to forgive you or free you from the cross?  If you were in Jesus’ place, suffering because of society’s sin, would you be able to forgive them, knowing that their sin is the reason for your looming death?

Forgiveness of another’s sin is the hardest thing we as Christians are called to do.  But after confessing our sin and telling others about our forgiveness because we believe, forgiving others is the next most important good work we do for their benefit to the glory of God.

In fact, this is all part of the believer’s new obedience in accord with the vertical and horizontal will of God to forgive each other as God has forgiven us.

The Lutheran Confessions tell us, “we cannot love God unless we have received the forgiveness of sin”[1].  Furthermore, we show God’s love by forgiving those who sin against us!  Just as God gives, just as Jesus gives, we need the Holy Spirit to work in us the ability to forgive.

Saint Paul tells us, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  …put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”  (Romans 13:8, 14 ESV)

Our old nature’s desire within, is not to put on Jesus Christ.  Rather, our flesh delights in having power over others, by not forgetting and withholding forgiveness, because of the wrong they’ve done.  In remembering their sin, the victim adds their sin to the perpetrator’s sin.

Jesus approaches our difficulty to forgive by calling us to name sin.  That’s a hard thing to do.  We can only do so by calling on God in prayer for the Holy Spirit’s help to do so.  In our fear to name sin and bring it to account, we actually leave the sin unlocked and loose.  And when we try to forgive and forget, we invariably do the opposite by remembering and adding our own sin to their sin!

However, Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  (Matthew 18:18 ESV)

This is the second time Jesus has spoken about binding and loosing!  God’s church is built on binding and loosing!  It is the key to the church because it’s the key to God’s will.  Here in Matthew eighteen Jesus speaks to the disciples in the plural, when one sins against another.  This is horizontal love shown through our forgiveness of each other!

Previously Jesus spoke individually to Peter as the rock on which the church would be built, saying, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19 ESV)

This is the vertical love God shows to the church by forgiving us our sins through confession and absolution!

However, like Peter, by our own will, we bind and loose the wrong thing.  He sought to bind his sinful self to Jesus by not allowing Jesus to be bound to the cross.  In doing so he was freeing his sinful self and seeking to separate Jesus our Saviour from the will of God.

Australians for whatever reason, don’t deal well with righting wrongs!  When someone says, “Sorry!”  We usually reply, “No!  It doesn’t matter!”   But it does matter, lest the person would not have said sorry in the first place.

When we do not deal with each other’s sin appropriately, by not naming it or overlooking it, we set the sin free and bind the person!

However, when we do good works that please God, sin gets nailed to the cross.  In forgiving sin and allowing it to be confessed between each other, Christ binds our sin to the cross, and Satan and his angels are bound and sentenced for hell.  That’s why he works to lead us away from forgiving each other!

The other reason the devil works tirelessly to make us forget about forgiveness is because the forgiven person is set free from sin and death, when sin is bound to Christ on the cross for our forgiveness.

Rather than binding the person and setting sin free, when one graciously forgives and humbly receives forgiveness, sin is bound and locked up.  Therefore, we are loosed to love and loosed to be loved, we are free to forgive and free to be forgiven, knowing we are yoked to the resurrected Jesus Christ.

Forgiving sin is a hard thing to do!  It requires the sacrifice of the old nature within.  That is why the Holy Spirit works unceasingly for us, and within us, to lead us to forgive as we are forgiven!  He works tirelessly so we do not forget to forgive!  We might think we have to forgive and forget, but within us the Holy Spirit wills us to remember and forgive.

He works when we remember those who’ve sinned against us, reminding us of God’s great love for us, in the descent, death, and resurrection of his Son, so we are led and learn to love each other with forgiveness.

Rather than “forgive and forget”, let us “remember and forgive”!  Amen.

Dear Heavenly Father, you have forgiven our sins from heaven.  As we wait for Jesus’ return here on earth, send you Holy Spirit into our hearts so we can forgive those who sin against us, and so we can receive forgiveness from those whom we have sinned against.  Amen.

[1] Apology to the Augsburg Confession, Justification, Article IV:311 (Tappert edition)

C, Resurrection of our Lord, Easter Sunday - 1 Corinthians 15:22–26 "Nailed to Jesus"

1 Corinthians 15:22–26 (ESV) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.  Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

The proclamation of Jesus Christ does one of two things!  It causes belief or it causes unbelief!  For the person who believes, knows they are a sinner and freely accepts what Jesus does for them. 

But one who doesn’t believe, rejects his work, for whatever reason, and continues on being his enemy.

The criminals crucified on the cross paint a good picture of humanity and their acceptance or rejection of Jesus.  Jesus as friend or foe!

In the gospels there seems to be a discrepancy over how the two criminals treat Jesus.  In Matthew and Mark’s Gospel accounts, both the criminals revile Jesus, along with everyone else.  These two accounts demonstrate Jesus’ complete humiliation, but in Luke we hear differently. 

Luke’s Gospel says, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’  But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’  And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’  And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’” (Luke 23:39–43 ESV)

Modern day scholarship, focusing on exact detail, might assume one view to be wrong.  However, the criminals and Jesus hung there for a period of time.  I would expect if I was hanging on a cross, I would say and do anything to get off it and be relieved of pain.  So too the criminals hanging there, hearing the jeers of those standing around making fun would have railed at him too!  Not in disbelief that he would not save himself though!  But they railed him to save himself in the hope they too would be rescued.  But they are not rescued, and nor does Jesus save himself.

Both men crucified beside Jesus are both criminals.  Both are there because they were caught in their crime.  Both do not want to die but live.  But both know they will die.

It’s at this point I get a picture in my head, of the Industry Superannuation advertisement, where one puts their future in the advertised super and holds their hands in that diamond box shape as they ascend up an escalator.  The picture represents their superannuation profits rising faster than the other who doesn’t use the advertised super.

In the same way, the one criminal, who has been invested only in himself, has a lucid moment, and scalds the other crucified criminal still reviling Jesus.  Instead of holding up a shape of a diamond box, he holds up Jesus and puts his death into Jesus hands.  Perhaps instead of making a diamond box with his hands,  in his heart he makes the shape of his Saviour’s cross and says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  From little things big things grow, so the jingle in the advert goes.  So, from a glimmer of faith, Jesus causes big things to happen to the guilty criminal, saying, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Imagine here today, that we are there that first Sunday Easter morning.  We see the crosses now empty on Calvary.  The tomb is empty, it’s the first day of the week.  Jesus has died, Jesus has risen.  But what of the two criminals?  How did their investments pay off?

They both now exist outside of time.  One experienced Jesus as he descended into and passed through hell on the Sabbath, knowing forever and smarting that he missed having a Saviour by “that much”.

The other criminal has ascended hand in hand, with his Saviour, the firstfruits of heaven, with Abel, the first human to die, and with everyone since, who trusts in God’s Saviour.

Are you there with them at the ascension?  Or have you seen the backside of Jesus, as he has departed hell forever, and you now live in eternal separation from God?  The itches of pleasure you placed your trust in, now eternally nailed to you as festering forever sores, but still itching without relief.

The two criminals on the cross are a perfect picture for humanity.  Like the criminals we are all eternally guilty as enemies.  Like the criminals we will have our guilt nailed out for all to see as God sees it now.  Like the criminals we can do absolutely nothing to remove the guilt of our sins and the guilt from its reality.  But like the one criminal we can appeal to one who can save us.

This criminal came to know he was nailed beside a king.  He was nailed up beside the King of Kings, the King of Heaven.  He reviled this king yet still entered the Paradise of Heaven.  He was a sinner but was saved by a Saviour.  He turned to Jesus, from being a foe, to being a friend.  He now worships God in heaven for his salvation! 

But in heaven, there is only one who still bears the scars of the cross, and everyone worships him, our Lord and Saviour, who bears these healed wounds.  The criminal no longer bears the scars of his nails, that is, his sin, since he now glorifies God with a risen and glorified body.

You too will have all your scars of sin removed forever.  Like the criminal, you will have the blood of the Lamb wash you clean, and you will enter paradise to worship God the Father, Jesus Christ, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, in all their oneness and glory.

But for now, as we wait in time, you remain nailed on your cross!  So, carry your cross, and like the guilty criminal, look to Jesus on his cross.  Like the criminal, you too are guilty, like the criminal you too will die, but like the criminal you too will receive the sentence of eternal life.  You are in Paradise with him today! 

O the sweet joy this sentence gives, to know my Redeemer lives on this day of sweet, sweet, resurrection victory.  Amen.