Eccl 1:1-7; 11:7-12:8
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
First and Last Things Audio
Do you wonder how a book like Ecclesiastes got in the Bible? Did someone make a mistake, do you think? I don't know about you but I find the beginning of the book a bit depressing. Some people find it quite disturbing as it reinforces the doubts that they may already have about God's place in the scheme of things; particularly with the way it questions whether there's any purpose or meaning to life.
As one of the wisdom books of the Bible, Ecclesiastes seeks to make sense of what we find in the world. But where other books speak with great certainty and confidence about God's role in running the world, this book wants us to stop and think; to question whether we've got it right. Perhaps the world isn't as predictable as we thought. Perhaps the conclusions of some theologians need to be tempered by an awareness of the world as we experience it day by day. The book of Job deals with a similar question, but here we have it in much greater clarity: the world is an unpredictable and sometimes frustrating place in which to live, where simple answers don't always work, bad things happen to good people, wisdom too often falls on deaf ears, even the great advances of technology open the door equally to good and bad consequences. AI with all its benefits is going to wipe us out apparently.
The author, we're told, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. Clearly this is meant as an allusion to Solomon, though most commentators agree that it was written well after his time. But Solomon is the one who's chosen by the author to voice the observations and conclusions of one who has studied the world long and hard.
As you read through the book you’ll hear two voices speaking. In the introduction and at the end, the part we’re looking at today, and for one brief moment in the middle, there's a narrator who introduces the teacher and sums up his conclusions. The rest of the time it's the teacher himself who speaks to us. This is important because the words of the narrator form a framework around the main body of the book and it's that framework that we're going to look at today.
It's pretty clear what the motto of the book is, isn't it? “Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity” or in the version that’s in the pewsheet: "Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless!" Meaningless or vanity there is actually a word that has no simple translation. That's why we have two different translations. Other translations use vanity, or futility, or nonsense, or vapour. The word has the idea of something that's fleeting, momentary, impossible to take hold of, almost nothing, like a vapour or mist that's here one moment and gone the next. As he looks at the world his conclusion appears to be that the things of this world are not worth striving for because they all pass away in the end.
In fact it'd be easy to take him for a pessimist wouldn't it? The introductory poem seems very pessimistic, wouldn’t you say? At best you'd think he's a sceptic. But no, the Teacher is not a pessimist. He will come to the conclusion in the end, - a conclusion that fits with the rest of wisdom literature - that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But he wants us to get there by working through the ambiguities of life. He wants us to start by thinking about the world from the point of view of the humanist or secularist, the person who has no theological basis for thinking about life. What does the world look like if you take God out of the equation? What if you thought of the world as a closed system, created by God, maybe, but then left alone to run its own course; following the immutable laws of nature? What sense would you make of the world then?
In the end his conclusion is that such a search will be futile because without God there is no sense in the world.
But for that you'll need to go further into the book. Today we're going to think about the way he frames the book with first the impermanence of human existence in 1:1-11 and the inevitability of decline and death in 11:7-12:7.
Let's look at those passages in a bit more detail and see what we can find there.
Eccles 1:1-11
He begins with the impermanence of human endeavour. "3What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? 4A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever." "9What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun." It seems that in the end nothing is achieved. History repeats itself over and over again. They say the one lesson we learn from history is that we never learn from history.
"15What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted."
God has made the world, sure. But it seems to have these quirks that can't be fixed. It's as though there's a built-in resistance to humanity as planners and standardisers. If you're the sort of person, who likes to keep their office tidy you'll know that it's an impossible task. It's like painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge. No sooner have you got it done than it needs to be done all over again.
No matter what we try, the world continues on, oblivious to our existence, almost as if we were never here. Of course for those of us who are engineers and architects this can be a bit deflating can't it? No matter how hard we try we can't control the world. One of the things I discovered soon after I left engineering was that all the work I'd done for the previous ten years was suddenly obsolete. It had been superseded by something better. Technology had moved on. If you visit the sites of ancient civilisations you discover that no matter how great they were, now they mostly lie in ruins. If you’ve ever been to Angkor Wat or maybe seen Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, if you’re old enough, you’ll remember the ancient city with vines running through and over its walls as the jungle has taken over.
In the next chapter he thinks about the issue of work. Is work a good thing or a necessary evil? Why should we work? Is it worth the trouble? How can we make the most of it? He says work too seems meaningless and a chasing after the wind. Anything you do has been done before. No-one will remember that you did it.
According to some commentators the Grand Final last week was the greatest game of the century and I’m sure it’ll stay so until next year’s Grand Final.
We find in chs 9 & 10 that chance and uncertainty rule us as much as any planning we might do. (Eccl 9:11-12 NRSV) "Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all. 12For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them." If you think about the past few months with floods and wildfires coming on people in various parts of the world you have to say he’s got it right.
(Eccl 10:5-9 NRSV) "There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as great an error as if it proceeded from the ruler: 6folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. 7I have seen slaves on horseback, and princes walking on foot like slaves. 8Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a snake. 9Whoever quarries stones will be hurt by them; and whoever splits logs will be endangered by them."
Murphy's law has been around for a long time hasn't it? So how do you deal with the unpredictable nature of the world?
There's also the natural rhythm of the world that we're at a loss to do anything about. The sun rises and the sun sets in a fixed fashion, day after day. In other words, time never stops. There are only 24 hours in a day. That's all you get. And at the end of the day if you haven't done what you set out to do, it's too bad. You can't do anything about it.
If you look at ch 3, there's a time for every matter under heaven. Sometimes we have a choice but often we don't. Often we find ourselves caught up in the events of the day with no control over them. Life rolls on irrespective of our attempts to control it.
And what about wisdom? Surely if we apply wisdom to the world it’ll help us. Well, the conclusion of the teacher is that even wisdom doesn't help, because even wisdom is limited by our human frailty.
So what about God's place in all this?
There's an interesting linguistic tool that the writer uses when he's describing the things that are done by people. Listen at vs 12-14. "12I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind." See how he uses 'under heaven' and 'under the sun' there? Mostly it's under the sun that he talks about. Only a few times does he use 'under heaven'. So is that important do you think? Why do you think he might use those two different phrases?
Well, it seems that he uses 'under the sun' when he's talking about his observations of the world from a purely human perspective. 'Under the sun' has that idea of the world as a closed system, a system where all you have to go on is what you can observe. This is the world of the pure scientist. This is the world of those who rely on human endeavour to explain and control what goes on in this world. 'Under the heavens' though, brings a broader perspective, a perspective of a world that's part of a greater system, a system in which God is sovereign. This is a world that only occasionally creeps into the discussion, but it's a world where God's wisdom is seen to be at the same time greater than human wisdom and unsearchable, unknowable except by fleeting glimpses and grasping guesses. God's wisdom is such that even though we can see his hand at work we still can't work it out: "He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." (Eccl 3:11 NRSV)
Eccles 11:7-12:7
The book finishes with the second half of the framework, with a summary statement that reminds us again of our frailty. "12:1Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no pleasure in them"."
Eric Bogle, an Irish Australian singer of the 70s and 80s sums up the sad reality of life like this: "From the moment we're born we start to die." Age catches up on all of us. Don't I know it!? And even those who are young and in the peak of health need to remember what a fleeting life this is. Enjoy it while you can, he says, because the days are coming when your body won't be able to keep up with your mind. And ch 12 has this wonderful series of metaphors that so wonderfully describe the pain of growing old. We don't have time to look at it now but you might like to read it later. Those who are getting on a bit I'm sure will relate to the description of "when the guards of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few, and those who look through the windows see dimly..."
But you know even as he finishes on what seems a fairly fatalistic note, he's aware that God is in control of all that happens. God is not just the creator and the one who controls what happens by his wisdom. God is also the sovereign Lord who will judge humanity according to their attitude to him. So he warns the young "Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment." He reminds his hearers that when "6the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern, 7... the dust [will] return to the earth as it was, and the breath [will] return to God who gave it."
Life is confusing. The world is uncontrollable despite all our human efforts, all our technological advances. We often wonder whether there's a purpose to it all. But here's the conclusion of the Teacher: God is the one who brings us into being, who gives us breath and who determines our life span. God is in control.
But we also need a New Testament perspective if we're to approach a book like this without despairing entirely. Paul sums it up beautifully in his letter to the Romans: (Rom 8:19-24 NRSV) "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in hope we were saved."
Our perspective is not a closed system but a world where God is in control, bringing history to an end and with a new world prepared for us where the futility and frustration of this world will be gone and God's perfect order will prevail.
In the meantime we continue to live in a world that is often difficult to understand, where sometimes we just have to trust that God is in control, even if it seems that things are upside down, even if we find we can't straighten out the things that are crooked in this world. But we do that always conscious of the fact that God is overseeing all that happens around us and all that we do and say. We continue to fear God because that is the beginning of wisdom.
Matt 21:23-32
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
By What Authority Audio
The story is told of a ship's captain during the war, who was sailing along on a dark night and saw a light on a collision course. So he got his signaller to flash a message: "Alter your course 10 degrees west." The reply came back "Alter your course 10 degrees east." The captain then signalled "Alter your course 10 degrees west. I am a Commander." The reply came back "Alter your course 10 degrees east. I am a seaman third-class."
By this time the ship's captain was getting furious. So he signalled: "Alter your course 10 degrees west. I am a battleship." The reply came back almost instantly: "Alter your course 10 degrees east. I am a lighthouse."
That story addresses the issue of our passage today. That is, the issue of authority. Where does authority come from and how do you respond to it? Sometimes it comes from rank or status, as the commander in that story obviously assumed. But sometimes it comes from something innate like the immovable nature of a lighthouse set above a cliff. So where do you look to for authority for your life? That's not an easy question to ask in this day and age. Life has changed so radically in the last 50 years that what was taken for granted 50 years ago can no longer be assumed. Truth is all relative, we're told. Conspiracy theories are rife. Alternative facts are the go. Authority comes in various shapes and forms.
In politics, we see various elected leaders who wield their authority as power; who use twitter because they don't trust the traditional media, or better yet their own communication app; who, even when large sections of the electorate show their dissatisfaction, continue to confuse leadership with autocratic rule. Or in our case, here in Australia, we see elected leaders who are forced to follow the wishes of one particular faction in their party, even if it undermines their authority.
So we're led to ask, is their authority authentic?
Well, that was the very question the Pharisees and Elders and the Chief Priests, the spiritual leaders of Israel, put to Jesus. Jesus had not only been outspoken about the social inequities of his time, he'd gone the next step of physical protest. Earlier in this chapter he'd come into the temple and cleared it of money changers and merchants. He'd healed people who came into the temple to find him. The children who were there started crying out "Hosanna to the Son of David" echoing what they'd heard people calling out on Palm Sunday and Jesus accepted it, quoting Psalm 8 when the chief priests complained about it. And now as Jesus again comes in to the Temple and begins teaching people, presumably about the kingdom of God, those same chief priests want to know by what authority he does all these things.
For us the question might be, do I, do we, have any authority for insisting that the moral and social rules that God has given us should be followed? Where do we look for authority for our lives? Do we take God's word seriously or do we allow ourselves to be swayed by the world around us, the clamouring voices of popular media.
Well, the answer to that question, I think, is very close to the answer that Jesus gives here.
Mind you, the answer isn't all that straightforward is it? He doesn't just come out and say, "God told me to do it." "I'm on a mission from God." No, he's aware that they're trying to trap him. If he says "God sent me" then they've got all the evidence they need for a charge of blasphemy. No, rather than give them a direct answer, he instead gives them an answer that allows them, in fact forces them, to answer the question for themselves. He says "I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me."
Now why ask that particular question? What does John's baptism have to do with Jesus' authority?
Well, you might need to go back to Matthew 3 where John first appears with this message: "2Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." Matthew goes on "3This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, 'The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'"
You see, John came to prepare the way for the Lord; that is, for the coming Messiah. So if he was sent by God, what does that say about the one who followed him, the one he proclaimed? Well, those with eyes to see and ears to hear will answer he must be the Messiah, God's anointed one. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's probably not a chicken.
But that isn't all. What happened at Jesus baptism? As he was coming up from the water he saw the Spirit descending on him like a dove and a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
John didn't pull his punches either. Do you remember the way he spoke to the Pharisees? "3:7You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
So Jesus' question is a powerful one, isn't it? They know how the people felt about John so they can hardly disagree, but at the same time John's message was a dire warning especially to the spiritual leaders of Israel. In a sense, Jesus was asking them whether they'd taken any notice of this prophet's message. Had they repented? Had they changed their ways? Or were they no better than the priests in the Old Testament who oversaw the spiritual decline of the nation to the point where God sent them off to Babylon?
At the same time Jesus is also pointing them back to the start of his own ministry to remind them of what he's been doing. The teaching and healing miracles, the casting out of demons, point to an inherent authority that Jesus bears. Only someone who comes from God could do what he's been doing. Why can't they see it? The innate authority of Jesus is shown in his response to them: "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things." He refuses to accept their authority because their failure to answer honestly means they've forfeited the right to question him.
At that point Matthew recounts a parable that Jesus tells that reflects on this question of their response to his authority.
He says: "What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' 29He answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. 30The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?"
This is no trick question from Jesus. The answer is clear and they say so. "The first." But can they see his point?
Who do the two sons represent? Well, they're both described as sons of the father. So they both represent Jews of Jesus' day presumably. But which is which. The first group, represented by the first son, are those Jews who were looked down on because they weren't outwardly godly, respectable, spiritual. The great unwashed we might call them today. They didn't appear to take much notice of what God expected of them. They were not regular attenders at the temple or synagogue. Until John came along they just went about their lives as though religion wasn't that important.
On the other hand the second son represents the religious hierarchy of the day. They saw themselves as the spiritual authorities of the nation. They knew what God wanted and gave an outward assent to all his laws. In fact they went to great lengths to ensure that they were keeping that law to the tiniest degree. Yet they failed in following through and obeying the spirit of the law.
Can you see the difference in the response between the two brothers. One ignored his father's command yet later changed his mind and did it. The other outwardly acknowledged his father's authority but didn't do anything about it. And that is the crux of Jesus' judgement on them.
It's interesting that when you read through Matthew's gospel you find he puts a strong emphasis on the connection between faith and action, between believing and doing. Think back to the Sermon on the Mount. It's full of warnings about doing what is right. Think of the parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25. There God's judgement is based on the way a person cared for those in need: the hungry and thirsty, the foreigners and those in prison.
The religious leaders knew their scriptures, they knew the law down to the tiniest details, yet when God's Messiah stood before them they refused to recognise him. The tax collectors and prostitutes on the other hand, when they heard John the Baptist warning them of the coming of the Messiah, immediately repented and asked for baptism as a wiping away of their sins.
It's very easy, as well taught Christians, to think that we have the truth of the gospel. We can know our scriptures well, we can understand the theological arguments that arise from time to time but unless that great knowledge translates into action it doesn't actually do much good.
We saw that in the first reading today: "Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." It isn't enough to be united with Christ or comforted by his love. That has to flow out into being like-minded, one in spirit and of one mind, doing nothing out of selfish ambition but rather considering others above ourselves, looking to their interests not our own.
That's quite counter cultural isn't it? Particularly in today's context where everything is about me. It's a challenge that Jesus gives us. Will we be those who put our faith into action; who take seriously Jesus' call to go out into the vineyard and take up his work?
And it's not just a challenge that he gives us, it's also a warning. Look at what he says at the end of the passage: "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him." A couple of sayings spring to mind at this point: "Put your money where your mouth is" or "Actions speak louder than words". Both are applicable I guess.
So we're left with two basic questions to answer: do you accept Jesus' authority over your life? Is he and his teaching the benchmark for your ethics, your personal relationships, your behaviour towards others?
And secondly, assuming you're one of his disciples, are you taking your belief in him and acting on it. Does it impact on your daily life? What are you doing that can demonstrate God's love to those around you? What could you do to influence your world, to bring God's standards to bear on what happens in it?
It doesn't need to be a huge thing. Thinking about Jesus' parable, the son was probably going into the vineyard to do some pruning, a fairly humble task, but one that was essential to ensure the best harvest. At the church I normally attend we have a tub for people to put in a few extra groceries they've bought that'll be sent to the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre to be given out to people who have come as refugees but are still waiting for permanent residency. It's a small thing to add to a week's grocery shopping but it adds up to a lifeline for these people who are in such a precarious situation.
It would be good to think about your daily life, the interactions you have with people, the work you do, and to ask how can your faith in Jesus be translated into work for him in those situations.
Matt 18:21-35 2026
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The Unmerciful Servant Audio
I think we can all relate to this story. We empathise with the poor servant who only owes a few dollars and is thrown into gaol by the culprit of the story. We feel his sense of powerlessness. We feel the outrage of the other servants as they see this injustice being played out. We cheer when the master finds out and justice is finally done.
I wonder though, how often we find ourselves relating to the unmerciful servant? Could it be that Jesus is telling this story to warn us?
You know there’s a danger with a catchy story like this. That is, it’s so easy to take it out of context; to read it as a standalone event. But in fact it’s not.
Do you see how the story starts? Peter has asked Jesus a question. But it’s a question that arises from the previous discussion. There Jesus has jumped from the parable of the lost sheep to bring his point home to the lost person in the congregation who needs to be brought back into fellowship. Jesus has been talking about the question of discipline in the church. What do you do if someone in the church offends someone else? What do you do if someone breaks the rules, spoken or unspoken? What do you do if someone causes a breakdown in relationships with the congregation? The answer Jesus gives is that first you gently confront them in the hope that they repent and are restored to fellowship with you. If that doesn’t work then you take a couple of witnesses along and only if that fails do you take it to the whole church.
But Peter’s been around for a while and he knows the sort of behaviour you can expect from some people. He says: “Yes, but what if someone sins against me over and over again?” I guess we’ve all experienced this. Someone does something to you, but then they apologise, They’re really sorry! They didn’t realise. It won’t happen again. And of course it does! The very next week! And the whole process gets repeated. It doesn’t take long to get sick of that does it? It doesn’t take long before you begin to wonder whether you’re being taken advantage of; whether your kindness is wasted on this good-for-nothing so-and-so. That seems to be what Peter’s thinking.
So Peter asks, “Where do we stop? What’s the limit?” “Can we put a number on it? How about 7 times?” Now notice that he’s understood what Jesus has been saying. He wants to be a frequently forgiving person. But the weakness of his question is the thought that there might be limits on Christian forgiveness. What he’s forgotten is that at the heart of Jesus’ gospel is the understanding that wherever there’s repentance there will always be forgiveness.
So Jesus immediately corrects this misconception. “Not seven times but seventy-seven times” or “Seventy times seven” some versions have. That is, forever. More times than you can count. Unlimited forgiveness because that’s what God’s forgiveness is like.
This goes against our natural instincts, doesn’t it? Our natural desire when we’re hurt is for revenge. We love stories of vengeance. We love to see the wicked caught out, the con man conned, the murderer punished. It’s one of the great themes of movies and TV shows.
But here’s the interesting thing about this parable. The popular media teaches that it’s heroic to take revenge. Jesus teaches that it’s more heroic to conquer revenge, to forgive, even if it costs us dearly; to leave revenge to God’s final judgement. And he shows us, in a very graphic way, why this is the case. He tells them a parable that illustrates why Jesus expects unlimited forgiveness from us.
There’s a king who comes to settle accounts with his servants. One person is brought in who owes him 10,000 talents. Now a talent of silver was worth about $100,000 in today’s terms. So it’s an outrageous amount. Absolutely unpayable. So the king orders him to be sold into a debtor’s prison along with the rest of his family. Well, the servant falls to his knees and begs for time to repay. Now that in itself is a bit of a joke because the amount he owes is roughly 2,000 year’s pay, so there’s no way he could ever repay his debt. But still, he begs for mercy and to his amazement his master has pity on him. He forgives the entire debt.
Now put yourself in this man’s shoes. He’s been sentenced to be sold into slavery along with his whole family, he owes an unpayable debt and now the king has written it all off. He’s a free man again. He’s asked for patience and for a chance to repay the debt and he’s got infinitely more than he asked for: amnesty and a complete remission of the debt. He’s received a forgiveness he didn’t dare to ask for.
Now remember that this is a parable about us. What Jesus is saying is that each of us has amassed an unpayable debt before God. That may not be something you’ve ever thought about. Most people if you ask them what God might think of them will say something like “Oh I’ve lived a pretty good life. I’ve never done much that was really wrong. I try to help my neighbour. I don’t think God would think too badly of me.” But here Jesus is saying the debt of sin we’ve each built up is running into billions, if not zillions. There’s no way you could ever repay it, ever make up for it. But then comes the amazing news of the gospel: God is a gracious King who willingly remits our debt, who gives us free and unconditional forgiveness, wipes the slate clean, so we can walk away free. That is good news, isn’t it?
But, as is so often the case in Jesus’ parables, the story doesn’t end there. There’s a sting in the tail. With the receiving of forgiveness comes the responsibility of the forgiven.
So what happens? The servant leaves the king’s presence and runs into a fellow servant who owes him a small amount of money, a couple of thousand dollars perhaps, a mere pittance compared to the amount he owed the King. And what does he do? Does he share his good fortune with him and forgive his debt in turn? No! He grabs him by the neck and orders him to pay the lot.
Now you can imagine the incredulity that this turn to the story would have raised among the first hearers. We feel the same don’t we, even having heard it many times before? How could anyone act like this so soon after getting such a reprieve from the king? Even when his fellow servant gets down on his knees he doesn’t relent. He doesn’t show any mercy or pity. Despite the mercy he’s been shown by the king, he shows none to his fellow servant.
As is often the case in these parables the end of the story is a dire warning for us. The man refuses to give his fellow servant time to repay the debt, but throws him into prison, where of course he’ll never be able to repay it. But
He’s made a mistake, hasn’t he? Do you see it? The mistake he’s made is more than simple ingratitude. What he’s forgotten is not just that the king has forgiven his great debt, but that the king is still the king; that the king’s job is to maintain justice in his realm.
The other servants don’t forget it though. In their distress at this injustice, they go and tell the king about it. The king calls the man in and says “You wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt, just because you asked me. And yet you couldn’t show mercy on your fellow slave!?” And he’s so angry with him that he hands him over to be tortured until he pays the lot. “This”, says Jesus, “is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” It’s a chilling reminder, isn’t it?
This is a repeated message in the gospels. (Mat 6:15) "if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Mat 7:2) "For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get." So we mustn’t take it lightly. Our forgiveness is in a sense dependant on our willingness to forgive others.
So does that mean we have to earn our forgiveness after all? Does forgiving others make us worthy to be forgiven? It could sound like that, couldn’t it, if we weren’t careful. But there’s two things that we should notice about this parable. First of all the servant’s debt is forgiven right at the outset. It’s the fact upon which the rest of the story hangs. And secondly the debt is so great that no amount of forgiveness of others’ debts could ever equal it. So there’s no sense that his response to his fellow servant somehow repays his own debt. No, the remission of that debt is a free gift from the king.
So why does the king change his mind? What’s so drastically wrong with what the servant has done? Well, it shows that he’s failed to take up the style of life, the sort of character, that the king expects in his subjects. The king’s mercy is meant to be reflected throughout the kingdom. If this servant were a true follower of the king then he’d show the characteristics that the king puts great value on: in this case, mercy and forgiveness. So his forgiveness of others isn’t so much a condition of his being accepted as a faithful servant, as it is a sign that that’s what he is.
Let me give you an illustration of what I’m trying to say. Remember the story of King Solomon when he first became King and he asked God for wisdom? The very next day two prostitutes come before him. They’ve both had babies, but one of them claims that the other’s child has died and she’s switched the babies on her. No-one was present at the time so there’s no way of proving whose child is whose. Do you remember what Solomon does? He says “Bring me a sword.” He says he’ll cut the baby down the middle and they can have half each. The real mother of course says, “No. Don’t kill him! Give the living baby to her.” While the other one stupidly says, “Go ahead and cut him in two then neither of us will have him.” It’s quite clear from that who the mother is, isn’t it? But let me ask you this: did she become the mother by giving Solomon the right answer? No! Did the right answer in any way affect the truth of her claim? No! It certainly helped Solomon discern the truth but it in no way affected that truth, did it? Her motherhood came from a prior event - from giving birth to the baby. And it’s the same when we think about this parable. Forgiving one another because God first forgave us helps us discern the truth of our relationship to God, but it doesn’t determine it. Our relationship to God comes from the prior event of God’s forgiving us our unpayable debt of sin. His requirement that we then respond with mercy and forgiveness towards others is to show that we’ve truly changed sides. In other words it’s a sign that the repentance that accompanied the forgiveness was genuine, and that we’re now relating to God with the awe and reverence that our respective positions warrant.
So, here we have both a reminder of just how great God’s love and mercy is and a warning about the need to respond appropriately, to demonstrate by our attitude to others that we’ve truly joined God’s family.
You know we pray the prayer of repentance every week and are reminded of God’s unfailing love and grace that continues to forgive us, even if we’ve confessed the same sin over and over again. But it mustn’t stop there. We need to respond every time with a determination to turn away from sin. That’s what the word repent means: changing direction, looking to imitate God’s righteous response to others.
So while we must never condone sin or ignore it, when the sin is against us, we’re to follow the example of our Lord and King, to forgive unreservedly and without limit. We’re to be so overwhelmed by God’s love and forbearance that we can’t help but be loving and forbearing towards one another. If we’re Kingdom people then the way we relate will be the way the King relates. We’ll show by our lives that there are no limits to forgiveness in God’s kingdom.
Perhaps it would be an interesting thing for each of us to go home today and think about those people we have a problem with, a grudge against, or who’ve done some wrong towards us, and to think about the possibility of showing them the level of forgiveness that God shows us week after week after week.
Matt 11:16-30
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Clear Up Your Thinking Audio
Let me just fill you in on what’s gone before in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus has spent an extended time teaching on a mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee, what we refer to as the Sermon on the Mount. He’s gone from there into the nearest city, Capernaum. He’s performed a number of miracles of healing there as well as in other places around the Lake and people have flocked to hear him. Then we come to the calling of the 12 disciples and then sending them out to tell people about the coming of the kingdom of God, with a warning about the opposition and persecution they might face. Then at the start of this chapter John the Baptist sends his own disciples to check on this Jesus he’s just heard about so Jesus begins to talk about John, He calls John the greatest of the prophets, Elijah who was prophesied to come, yet, he says, he’s no greater than the least member of God’s new kingdom. Remember that because we’ll come back to it later.
That brings us to today’s passage. Here he challenges his hearers, and us, to be clear in our thinking.
Jonah 4 - When God is Too Gracious
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
When God is Too Gracious audio
How strong is your sense of Justice? Do you get hot under the collar when you see someone behaving badly, doing things that hurt others? When you read about gangs running around with knives and machetes doing house invasions do you wish someone would do something about it? When you hear about the rorts being foisted on the government’s big build program, are you outraged? Do you blow your horn when someone cuts in front of you in peak hour traffic? Do you smile in satisfaction when you see someone pulled over for speeding?
What about when someone is found guilty of a major crime and is let off with just a minor sentence? The proverbial slap on the wrist with a wet lettuce? It sounds all wrong doesn’t it? Those who live by the sword are supposed to die by the sword, aren’t they?
Of course the problem with that strong sense of justice, that I imagine most of us have, is that it’s all too easy to look at other people’s behaviour without thinking about the hidden biases that we may have, the blind spots of various sorts that distort the way we see things.
Eph 4:1-16 - Becoming One in Christ
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Becoming One in Christ audio
We come today to the core issue of the letter: If we’re to fulfil our destiny as a church, if we’re to demonstrate the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, as we read last week, then we must be united in heart and mind. But can we do it?
Here in ch 4, Paul begins to outline how being the new people of God is to be worked out in the down-to-earth, concrete realities of life. As we read on we discover that there are two challenges for us. First, it’s to build ourselves into a single united people without any of the social and economic divisions we see everywhere else; and then to be a holy people, showing in our lives the purity and righteousness that belongs with the people of God.
So today let’s think about the unity of the Church. How does that unity arise and how is it to be maintained?
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