I am forgiven; therefore, I forgive

 

Sermon on Luke 17:5 – 10

Last week’s story of the rich man and Lazarus painted a clear truth to us; eternity is real. The million dollars question is, where are we to spend our eternity at?

With that reality in mind, let us ponder upon Jesus’ commands to us – the command to be the true disciple waiting for that reality. We cannot afford to have the attitude of “tidak apa” as the time is nigh, the hour of judgment closing in. Each and every one of us will be accountable for the account of our devotion to God.

Now, imagine having to drive in the big city of Kuching nowadays without the assistance of Google-maps or Waze, one could easily get lost through the ever-changing traffic. Map is there to provide us the Bigger Picture; a heads-up to what is coming next ahead of us in our journey. Essentially, that is the purpose verses 1 – 4 of chapter 17. But the map drawn as farther as chapter 16 (ultimately it reveals to us the desire of Luke when writing this gospel – made known Christ purpose and our purpose as His redeemed people).

When the apostles said to our Lord to increase their faith (verse 5), one must not mistake it as the indication of failure (assuming the apostles of their lack in faith). Just like the map used to map out our journey, the previous verses (1 – 4) will map our journey to the next (verse 5 – 10). Let us put it this way; the journey of ministry demands forgiveness. Why? Because we have been forgiven, our duty is to be the agent of forgiveness. Isn’t Christ Himself blessed the peacemakers by calling them the sons of God (Matthew 5:9)? What a Christian then, if we can’t exercise forgiveness to the unforgiving?

Forgiveness. A big deal indeed. Imagine having been slandered, not by others, but fellow Christian. Imagine, as part of the service to Christ, you suffered malicious attack, be it psychological or physical. Instinct would tell us to fight or flight. Forgiveness; to forgo vengeance or personal retribution – certainly out of the window. O you Christian soldiers, take the higher road that leads to the cross – rest-assured in the arms of the Father knowing His grace through His Son sufficient for us. How?

Thus, the Lord said to the disciples, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ it would obey you” (verse 6). Often this verse use to propagate the idea of equal exchange. I pray more, God gives more. A BIG NO. That is not what the Lord says here. It is not the indication of personal pride; suggesting our part has anything to do with God’s ever-sustaining power within the cosmos. This is a plain and simple truth; a small faith that we can forgive even our worst enemy, when it is place upon our God to deal, it is not misplace! The basis is the forgiveness that we have received from God through His Son. That truth will uproot the deeply-rooted “mulberry tree” in our hearts – the root of evil; the selfishness of our desire for personal retribution or gain. Our faith needs to be described as a “what” rather than quantified as a “how”.

How easy that is for us to count our gain or losses in faith – quickly moved on to shake the dust of our feet by being bitter and unforgiving just because the person who offended us has put to shame to our name, has close the door to the future gain by being slanderous? Christians, I must decrease so that He may increase. His name should be remembered, not any of us – if that is all we ever care about. And there is no greater way to exemplify Christ in our lives than to be the humble servant of the gospel – the gospel of peace and reconciliation.

The mini parable of servanthood (verses 7 – 10) teaches us the most important thing that will prompt us to agree on the idea of forgiveness. We, the redeemed people of God, has a clear purpose in this life – to serve Him. The nature of the servant (bondservant if its according to this parable – servant bought with a price to solely dedicated his life for his master) is to make sure that we do exactly what our master demanded us to do. Our master is Christ, and His demand on us is to be the agent of peace; peacemaker. He will not give us the privilege of the master because He is the sole Master of our lives. We didn’t get to decide the field where we plough or the sheep that we tend. Go as we are called to. Go because it is our duty, not expecting or demanding a fair return from Him.

Because, clearly as the Lord has said in verse 10, we are unworthy of our Master’s thank because what we are doing is merely our duty – not a way to buy our salvation. Remember, a bondservant could not buy himself out of the bond, but the master can release or sell him back to the marketplace. If we are forgiving others in expectation that our fake-humility would go unnoticed in the kingdom of God, then we are only making a fool of ourselves. What God has done for us far greater that He should not even thank us for merely doing our duty. It would be very strange for Christ to thank us when we have many things left undone (i.e; forgiving our enemy).

On the other hand, our faithful service to Christ is our thanksgiving for what He has done to redeem us to His own. So, dearly beloved redeemed people of God. Be faithful in your service to Christ’s church by first forgiving those who stands against you and your way to truly experience God’s grace. Isn’t that the whole idea of the Holy Eucharist that we about to celebrate? To come in faith, knowing that His forgiveness has enable you and me to forgives. A big thing to ask indeed, but I pray that His will to destroys the enmity, the hates, the bitterness in each and every one of us be done as it is in Heaven. In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.