Series on Luke
IV The Imperatives of the Kingdom
B Instruction in Rejection
19 Sin and Slavery
Text: 17:1-10
Introduction
The first part of Luke 17 contains two elements which appear quite different. Jesus’ advice concerning offenses and forgiveness and the story of the ten lepers where only one returned to give thanks. Actually we can look at these diverse elements as telling us the secret of a happy Christian life. The first tells us we must forgive, and the second that we must be thankful. Anyone who lacks these qualities will not be happy! In this passage today the background is the self-righteous, ruthless, unforgiving attitude of the Pharisees; a public, persistent, pervasive vendetta against all who disagreed with them. Jesus has already clearly identified this in Luke 12 as the “leaven” of the Pharisees. By their hypocrisy they were preventing others from entering the kingdom of God. Here he summarily deals with such offenses by declaring that it would be better, in the language of the twentieth century, if the mafia gave them a pair of concrete boots and they were dropped in the East River. There is at this point very little patience with such offenses, but his words to his disciples are that offenses of one kind or another are always going to be with us and the way to deal with them is to address them and forgive them. He is talking about our personal relationships. He uses the words you and your brother. All too often the inevitable offenses end in anger, bitterness, gossip and meddling, but here Jesus gives us the right way to deal with them. There are three phases to this instruction: pursuing forgiveness, pleading helplessness, and pulling rank.
I Pursuing Forgiveness
The first step is pursuing forgiveness in verses 1-4, Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” This is Jesus’ command. Obviously a sin has to be identified, and confronted. If there is no repentance further steps need to be taken according to Matthew 18, but that is not in view today. The scenario here is that he does repent, and you are not to grow tired of forgiving him. Seven times was a lot to the disciples. The rabbis said three times. On one occasion Peter said to Jesus, How often shall i forgive by brother? Seven times? Jesus replied, No seventy times seven. That’s 490. i remember a skit the done by a couple in our church once, where a husband was keeping count. He was proudly forgiving his wife over and over. He counted 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, and the next time he wouldn’t forgive. Obviously not what Jesus intended. How many married people, friends or spiritual brethren have said i have forgiven this person before, several times, obviously he’s not serious, I can’t forgive him again. However, we must. its not an option. This does not mean for example that an abused wife needs to keep on being abused! It does mean however that she must forgive even in the act of turning her husband into the law. Let’s face it, Jesus teaching on forgiveness is hard, hard to understand, hard to accept and very hard to do. That’s why the next step people usually take is to plead that they are helpless.
II Pleading Helpless
Pleading helpless is exactly what the disciples do in verses 5 and 6, The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. Any counselor will tell you that he hears again and again the refrain I just can’t forgive that person. or the lame and empty statement, I can forgive but I can’t forget. It’s a true statement, forgiving will not immediately erase the memory, but it’s usually an excuse for not forgiving. Forgiveness is a command not an option, and the disciples rightly recognizing the difficulty, focus immediately on the issue of forgiveness and ask that their faith may be strengthened. If I could summarize Jesus’ answer in one two letter word it would be no! He says you have enough faith. you want to sit around and get inspired. Jesus says the tiniest faith is enough to be able to forgive. The tiniest true Christian faith must believe that Jesus died so that you could be forgiven. That’s enough for you to know you must forgive others. The real issue here is not faith, it’s obedience. Lack of forgiveness is not forced upon us, it’s a choice we make. We dare not follow our feelings. We must begin treating the offending brother as a brother again and not as an enemy regardless of how we feel. In the end this will bring us true happiness.
III Pulling Rank
We’ve already mentioned the difficulty. Jesus doesn’t make it any easier by telling us we can do it. That’s not what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear that my anger and bitterness was justified. So, realizing the problem, Jesus gives, as always, the perfect answer in verses 7-10, “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” Jesus pulls rank. He says if you were the master you would expect your servant to obey. You would not reward him for doing all the things he is supposed to do. Well, I am the master and you are the servants. Do not think that I am going to let you off the hook. Forgive or else. I command it. It is your duty. When it comes to the realm of the spirit many times we regard duty as dirty, but love is a duty not an emotion. Worship is a duty not an emotion. Emotions become involved but wrong emotions do not excuse us from the duty. Forgiveness is a duty, and Jesus can pull rank here because the reason he is the master is that he died that we might be forgiven. We think of ourselves more highly than we ought. We are never any better than the fellow we are refusing to forgive. If Jesus died for us then we ought to always forgive others.
Conclusion
Paul sums it up in Philippians 2:5-11, Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Jesus is Lord because he was willing to die for our forgiveness. He paid the price. Therefore He may properly say, there’s no extra credit for forgiving your brother. If i died for you, this is what you ought to do for me, and i don’t want any excuses.
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