And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 1 Corinthians 15:49

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Free From The Prison of Unforgiveness

In case you think that this blog post will be a familiar retelling of this parable on forgiveness, then I would caution you to consider that you are probably mistaken, and if not, then you will be a rare person indeed who has learned this truth, and if so, you would not mind reading it shared again, since it is an astounding revelation of forgiveness that is not well known, but has the capacity to change your life in a momentous way. Read on to see if I am over stating this.

 I have always found it exciting to discover some new understanding in a scripture passage, that opens my eyes to seeing something that I never considered or knew before; usually a truth that unlocks a greater hidden meaning.  In Proverbs 25:2 it says: "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of a king to search out a matter." And while much could be said to expound that verse, I cite it only to draw attention to searching out a hidden meaning in a parable that Jesus told to the disciples on the subject of forgiveness. 

The parable is found in Matt 18:21-35 and is known as the parable of the unforgiving servant, or the wicked servant if you were to be more to the point. This comes on the heels of Jesus already telling Peter to forgive 70 times 7 as stated in the previous post.

It is important to point out that rabbi's taught in a different way than most teachers do today. Rabbis aren't interested in telling you the answer, but rather leading you to discover the answer for yourself. Rabbis point the way. It is up to the student to go look for themselves. We are told that Jesus only taught in parables. (Mark 4:34), and if you think about it, how many lessons have you learned from reading Aesop's fables?

Now, rather than rehash what is already known about this parable, I will focus rather on the concluding lesson in the last verses. Matt 18:34: " And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him." That seems pretty clear doesn't it? Or does it? Who exactly is the "he" and "him" mentioned in this parable? That depends on who you think the Master is in the parable as well, because it is very common to consider that the Master is God, and the unforgiving servant therefore must pay back the Master, all of the debt that he was originally forgiven! But doesn't that then make God's forgiveness dependent on your actions? Do you think that God will forgive and then take back His forgiveness? Seems to be what is said doesn't it, and that is always the way I was taught, but I must credit Marty Solomon, the host of the BEMA Podcast for this insight which I pass on you to, so read on and see if this other explanation does not clear up the message being told and still give honor to God.

There are three characters in this parable. The Master, the wicked servant, and the fellow servant. The key factor to consider is the truth that when a debt is forgiven, it does not go away, but rather is absorbed by the one who forgives! When the Master forgave the enormous debt of the wicked servant, the Master has to absorb that debt upon himself; the only difference is that that servant is released from having to pay what is owed, but that Master says in effect, I will pay the debt you owe me, so that you are released from any obligation to pay. 

It is as if you run up an enormous debt with a credit card of say, one million dollars, and cannot pay, and the credit card company says, you are forgiven your debt, that means that they have to come up with the money themselves to cover the debt; you no longer have to pay anything back. It is as if you never had any debt to pay. However, that debt does not disappear, it just becomes the obligation of the credit company to pay the expense as if it is their own debt.

So, now the wicked servant finds the fellow servant and demands payment. Consider what just happened here. If the wicked servant had learned his lesson from his having just been forgiven, he would have then absorbed the fellow servants debt, and not held it against him, the same way the Master absorbed his own debt! THAT is the lesson the Master is trying to teach in the parable. 

The wicked servant is not thrown into jail until he pays the Master all the previous debt he was forgiven for earlier, but rather until he (the wicked servant) pays all that he (the fellow servant) owes him (the wicked servant). In other words,  the wicked servant has to learn to absorb the debt that is owed himself from the fellow servant just as the Master absorbed his debt!  The wicked servant has put himself in a prison of his own making, by harboring unforgiveness,  and the Master has  given him the key to getting out! Learning to forgive what is owed to him just as he has been forgiven, is the key to being released; not learning that lesson is the (self) torture it talks about him suffering!

When you harbor un-forgiveness, then it is a prison of self torture! Hate, bitterness, anger, rage, fuming, all of these things are torture to your own well being and peace of mind. But if you learn to absorb the debt that others owe to you, like God has absorbed the debt of our sin, then you now have the key to get out of the prison of your own making, and living a life of peace and joy!

God's lesson on forgiveness is not 70 times 7, or any limited number, or even making it a habit to forgive,  it is learning the principle of living a life Free From The Prison of Unforgiveness




Sunday, October 17, 2021

Learning Forgiveness

If you could sum up the message of the bible in just a few key words, one of those key words would have to include the word forgiveness. Not only the forgiveness that God bestows upon us, but also the forgiveness that we are to show others. And while there have been countless sermons that I have heard over the years on the subject of forgiveness, I have heard something recently that expounded on a parable Jesus told  that I have never heard before, which completely changes the way I understand forgiveness. And while I do not have any followers of my blog that I know about, I am even writing this for my own future self as a reminder of what I have learned. 

I first heard this explained while listening to the BEMA podcast I have mentioned in a previous post. I  will not be brief enough to write it all in one post, and have to continue it in another part two, but lets begin and see where it leads. 

Matthew 18:21 "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" 

There we have it. Peter bringing up the subject of forgiveness to Jesus. Perhaps Peter is referring to his actual brother Andrew, (brothers do have a tendency to get on each other's nerve). And so it is considered why Peter said seven times to forgive. 

One of the main things I have learned from listening to the podcast, is how well Jews knew their bible, what we call the Old Testament, and what they called the Tanakh which includes the Torah, the Nevi'im, and the Ketuvim. That is the Books of Moses, the prophets, and the writings. From the time a Jew is 5 yrs old, they begin to memorize the Torah, and I mean memorize it! There are stages to their schooling which leads some of the more advanced students to study under a rabbi. The less academic students would then go back to their family's trade. 

All of that to say that perhaps when Peter asked if he should forgive seven times, he might be referencing a Scripture in Amos where the Lord repeatedly says " for three transgressions, and not for four will I turn away punishment.." Perhaps Peter also knowing the significance of numbers in Scripture to say that to forgive seven times is being very generous showing a growing heart of love and compassion.... and like us all, we reach our breaking point!

Jesus then, ever being the rabbi, and teaching like rabbi's always teach; instead of giving Peter the answer, rather gives him a shovel and shows him where to dig. Lets go back to Matthew 18:20 "Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." And here is where it gets a little tricky if unlike the Jews we don't know our bibles! In Genesis 4:23-24: "Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.” And so, what was Jesus actually trying to teach Peter, (and us) with this parable? Was Jesus just trying to tell Peter that he has to forgive seventy times seven, or 490 times, and then perhaps after that he can take revenge? Up until now that is what I have been taught, with the idea that after forgiving that many times, you would stop keeping count, and just get used to forgiving, which is all well and good, however there is more to the lesson rabbi Jesus is teaching, and it doesn't stop there, however we will stop this post here and continue in the next post as we keep learning more about Learning Forgiveness.





 

Sunday, October 10, 2021

The Tyranny Of Mundane Petty Things

 As I have related in past writings, I learned to fly about 10 years ago, and it has been one of my weekend passions. I will try to fly just about some time on every weekend that the weather makes it flyable. I have taken some pretty long trips in the airplane. One trip to "First Flight" Kitty Hawk N.C. which was three hours, and then on to Wilmington NC and back the next day. I also flew someone to Augusta Maine as a favor on one clear December day near Christmas. As well as a couple of flights to Ohio near Dayton.

This year, during the third week in Sept. we planned a vacation week to go to the annual conference held in Berkeley Springs WV, and it was canceled because of Covid, for the 2nd year in a row. Then we booked a cruise up the east coast into Canada for that same week, and it was our 3rd canceled cruise, so then we planned our second flight to South Haven MI, to visit Cindi's dad and Mary. And that is what we did. We left on a Sunday morning, and the weather did not permit us to return until Friday, but with a 35kt tailwind knocking off an hour of flight time returning.

As providence would have it, the worst weather was on Thurs. our planned return day, and since we had to wait until Friday, it turned out that Wayne Jacobsen was flying into Grand Rapids Michigan from California on Thursday evening, which was an hour's drive from South Haven. Wayne, I have mentioned in the past has a podcast called The God Journey which I have followed since the beginning of the year, as well as catching up to past episodes, and also hosts a life changing series called My Friend Luis 

After contacting Wayne, and trying to see if he had time to meet us on Thurs, since we could not stay for any meetings he was having, we made arrangements to pick him up at the airport, and drove him to the restaurant where he was meeting some other people later, and we could have that time in between, which turned out to be over an hour's visit. There was not any specific topic to discuss, but just hoping for a time of fellowship with what until then was only a voice on the internet.

As a follow up to the previous post, about the BEMA podcast, we were contacted by the co host, Brent Billings who requested a Zoom call to discuss how we came to hear about the podcast, which was a great time. Turns out they are going to be conducting a tour in Israel at the same time as we are going to be going there next year on tour with Brian Zahnd, from the Word of Life Church in St. Johns Missouri. Perhaps we will get to meet in person? Can Divine Providence permit such a thing again? 

Speaking of the BEMA podcast, I have only a few more episodes to hear to finish off the book of Revelation and then end of their journey through the whole Bible. Of course that does not end the podcast, since the next few after that deal with church history... one of my favorite subjects. 

As always there is much more to be said than a brief post will allow, this does some catching up, except to fill in an update begun at the start to do with flying, which is that at this point the club airplane I fly is grounded for what might be the next couple of months or more to get an engine rebuild done. Airplane engines have a TBO or Time Between Overhauls listed as about 2.000 hours, and we have some 2500 hours on the plane, and so it is time to get that done.

Since I have been a pilot flying for as many weekends as I can, I am at least fortunate enough to have access to a Piper Cherokee from a pilot instructor friend, who checked me out in it before, so that I do not have to be grounded the same months as the club Piper Archer. Since those that know me well would agree if I was to tell you that I am addicted to flying! Which is in part best described by the whole quote of which the title of this post is the last part, and it goes as follows: "I fly because it releases my mind from The Tyranny Of Mundane  Petty Things.