At the beginning of the sermon on the mount Jesus says, Judge not, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.

We do not have choices about everything. For example we don’t usually choose to be sick or we sometimes don’t lose our jobs because of anything we either did do or did not do. But at the same time we do have a lot of choices that we can make and how we think about what happens to us in our lives can also have consequences and change outcomes. The idea that you by your own actions determine your own outcome I think is a very useful idea. You can choose to stay in the corrupted world of Adam and Eve or you can step into the Kingdom of God. It is your choice. You can pick one or the other, but not both. The decision is ours.

Today’s gospel is about this very choice. Peter starts with both feet firmly in the kingdom of Adam and Eve by counting. He is adding up and keeping track. Peter won’t step into the kingdom of God he can’t do it yet. He is asking how much is that going to cost? He can’t see that the important thing is to do the right thing regardless of the cost or even the outcome. Jesus taught that it was more important to be an authentic child of his Father than to be honored, successful or comfortable.

The servant featured in our parable for today is faced with a choice of which world he wants to live in. He lives very much in a world based on keeping debts. If he didn’t pay his debt, the consequence would be slavery for himself and his family. The world is all about debt and the shadow that debt of all kinds casts on our lives.

The servant is called in to discuss his debt. He makes a ridiculous request. That he be given time to pay back a debt nobody could pay. This guy is seriously defective in his thinking. He can’t think outside of the rules of our debt keeping world so all he can do is to make this ridiculous request. He doesn’t say please forgive me rather he says promises to pay back.

His master suspends the rules. He forgives or removes the enormous debt as if it did not exist. He invites his servant to step out of debt and into the world where debt is forgiven.

But the servant chooses to love debt rather than forgiveness. He can’t conceive of a life based on forgiveness rather than debt. He can’t share abundance because he clings to scarcity. He makes a choice to love debt because he can’t forgive as he was forgiven. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors is an alternative translation of our Lord’s Prayer.

The servant is immediately presented with the consequence of his choice. A fellow servant comes to ask for the same mercy he was shown. But he wants to keep the debts that others owe him and he picks debt instead of forgiveness.

So what are the consequences of his choice? When you live in the debt keeping world the debts you owe to others remain unforgiven too. The king comes back to this unforgiving servant and says: “I gave you a choice. Either live in a whole new world, of forgiveness or you will be handed over to the consequences of your own value system. If your choice is for debt rather than forgiveness well, then, here go enjoy yourself.” He is handed over to the consequences of his own actions.

The choice is between death and life, between Adam and Eve’s hellish world and the Kingdom of God. Many find this concept of debt forgiveness offensive. It causes some to stumble. It is not a matter of knowledge or teaching but rather transformation. You are challenged to change the way you think about it. When you begin to think about this the way Jesus thinks about it you enter into his grace and forgiveness.

Jesus lived by forgiveness and that led him to the cross. His Father raised him as a sign to us that the way of forgiveness is the only way. It is hard to step out of the world we know so well. It is hard to step out of the world of credits and debits and into the kingdom of God. It is extremely hard to imagine what a debt-free world would be like to live in. It is scandalous! Because he is scandalized the servant clings to debt and he can’t forgive. He has a choice between heaven and hell and he picks hell.

The scandal or stumbling block that Jesus places in our path is the invitation to step out of the debt-keeping world and into a world of grace. Blessed are those who are not scandalized by the grace of God. This parable is the perfect invitation to each of us to change the way we think, to step out of hell and into God’s kingdom.

In a few moments we will gather around the meal of the forgiving victim our lord Jesus who gave us the meal of forgiveness so that our feeding can be a sign for the world of this different way of life. And then he taught us to pray.

Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth, as in heaven. Forgive us our debts as we forgive those indebted to us. And deliver us from Evil. Amen

1. Today’s lesson is an important part of our weekly liturgy. Why is it important to measure ourselves by the same standards as we measure others?

2. What happens when we are handed over to the consequences of our own actions?

3. Why is it so helpful to give up trying to get even and instead to just forgive and let it go?