[AI translation] From the Apostles' Creed, the next item of which I always explain on the last Sunday of the month, there are two more items left. I believe in "the forgiveness of sins". This actually brings us to the end of the Sermon of Faith. It may occur to some of you that this Confession of Faith was written so long ago that it is very theoretical and not very concerned with the practicalities of our daily lives. For it talks about God, the creation of the world, Jesus, the work of redemption with its many agonies, and the Holy Spirit and his power to create the Church, but these are all abstract beliefs. But isn't there anything about man? Does the Creed say nothing about me, who "believe" all these things? It is precisely about man and man's practical life that is spoken of in this proposition. It is precisely the practical consequence of all that I believe about God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, when I say at the end here that I believe for myself the forgiveness of my sins.For here, precisely here, the whole Christian life begins in its practical reality. Here, then, it is precisely in the forgiveness of sins that the difference between Christian and Gentile, between Christian and Jew, lies. Whoever does not go over this sharp ridge: "forgiveness of sins" is not a Christian! The most and the greatest thing a man can say about himself is: I believe in "forgiveness of sins". We must and must begin each day with this confession, and at the hour of our death we can have nothing to say but this: 'I believe in the forgiveness of sins'. What, then, does this almost final clause of the Creed mean? I would now like to illustrate this, instead of a theoretical explanation, with the parable Jesus once told of the servant who was a debtor.
Here we have a man who is hopelessly in debt to his master. Jesus says: he owed 10,000 talents. This man was completely bankrupt. Obviously he knew that his accounts were not in order and that he would be in trouble if they were found out, but somehow he got over it, and with some incomprehensible light-heartedness he did not want to face the real situation, did not want to think about it, because then he might have gone mad. How can someone live with such a burden, walk, do his work, smile, look his children in the eye, solve the big problem of his life with such a light-hearted optimism that it will all work out somehow?!
In fact, this is the apparent calm that most of us live in today. They do not take their sins seriously, because that is what the 10,000 talents of debt represent. He knows, he feels that something is wrong, but with a kind of almost unbelievable carelessness he does not even want to think about what will happen at the great reckoning when he goes before the judgment seat of God. He doesn't want to face the reality of his sins, but he shakes off the question with a kind of baseless optimism: it will all work out! But God is so merciful that He does not leave you in this false calm for long. Behold, we read in the story: he "began to reckon" with his servants (Mt 18,24). When we get into some kind of trouble in our lives, and our apparent peace of mind gets a little shaken up and reveals some of the hidden bankruptcy. For example, once a man in public life began to be reckoned with by God in such a way that his family life began to be in disarray. Trouble with the children, a lot of pent-up bitterness from his wife, the temptation of a strange woman in his life, and suddenly he was forced to see, something he had never taken seriously before, that he had really messed things up! There were many things he should not have done as he had done them, and the memory of his old failings was tearing at him. He remembered the prayers he hadn't said, the conversations that had never happened and which had, lo and behold, broken the family apart...
I knew someone who had begun to reckon with God after the death of a friend of the same age, and this incident had shaken him out of his certain calm. It was the first time he seriously thought that the same thing might happen to him: what then? It was the first time that his heart began to be seriously troubled by what he had hitherto trivialised: sin! Debt. That was the first time he asked himself: what should I do with this unpaid debt? I knew a man who began to reckon with God in such a way that when his mother died, the pain of his grief was made almost unbearable by the accusation of his conscience that he had not done all he could for his mother while he still could. And so, through his failings, through a kind of crack, he glimpsed into the many other loose ends, mistakes and messes of his own life. Because that is how it is: when God begins to reckon with someone, then more and more details of the debts and bankruptcies of our lives are revealed, and one is horrified to see that here I have made a mistake, there I have made a mistake, there I have made a mistake, here I have made a mistake, there I have made a mistake, there I have made a mistake, there I have made a mistake, there I should not have made a mistake... Everywhere debt, burden, sin, bankruptcy!
And now look what the servant in the story did when the bankruptcy came out. He vowed to pay it all back, if only he could get a reprieve - even though he knew he could never do it. This is very typical of us. Because when God sometimes reaches into our lives and starts to point out our failings, and we are forced to see that there is trouble here and there in our lives, we do our best to delay the reckoning. That's when you look for excuses and you run into them. One of these excuses is denial. It's not true, someone once said, it's just blamed on me! My wife, because of her morbid jealousy, fantasizes and makes up stories about me being unfaithful, etc... And you may succeed in lying, because people are easy to deceive, they believe what someone says in a loud voice, they fall for it - but God cannot be deceived! And sin denied remains sin! Another way out is to start excusing yourself. It is understandable what I did - someone once explained - I could hardly have done anything else in that situation! It's not really such a big sin: it's just human weakness. Anyone in my position would have done the same! And in this way, one almost manages to almost whitewash oneself as a victim of circumstances against one's will. I have often heard this excuse: I admit that what I did was wrong, but I cannot help it. I am not to blame, I got myself into this situation almost against my will. And I almost manage to put the awakening conscience to sleep again. And yet, however much one may want to escape accountability, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ one day, as it is written! And from there, no one can hide in denial or excuse, but neither can he swear any more or make any excuses! My brethren, there is no use in any conscience-suppressing artifice, in procrastination. It is best for a man to come before God himself, and voluntarily confess all his debts, to confess before him honestly and truly all his acknowledged wickedness and sin.
Look, what Jesus says here in the parable about this Lord, this God, who is accountable, is the very heart of the Gospel. Behold, "And the Lord had compassion on that servant, and sent him away, and forgave him his debt." (Mt 18,27) This is the great good news that Jesus brought into this world. "And the Lord had compassion on that servant..." This means that God is not an angry God. No one thinks God is angry with him! Of course not! He pities us. Pity is an expression of kindness, of helpfulness, of love. Yes, God loves even such a hopelessly indebted servant, because he is His child! He loves not our sin, but us, ourselves. Not the rubbish, but the precious pearl lost in the rubbish. It is the very fact that the man whom He loves is in the trash that causes Him compassion. It shouldn't be there! Behold, the incarnate proof of God's compassionate love, Jesus Christ! If he had no pity, if he had no anger, what would have been the point of Jesus' birth, suffering and death?! And this compassion goes so far that, lo, we read, "he forgave him the debt". The most divine act of God is to forgive the debt, to forgive sin. He does not even attempt to collect, but simply cancels everything. There is no other way to settle this matter but in this royal way! There is only one thing to be done with an unpayable debt: it must be forgiven! There is only one true solution to sin: forgiveness!
Behold, this servant asked for respite and was granted full remission. God wants to give us more than we expect. We always ask for help with the details, but He wants to give us a whole new foundation for our lives: forgiveness of sins. He is waiting for you with a ready-made forgiveness! This is salvation! That is why Jesus came! To redeem our debt. That cross at Calvary speaks precisely of your life's ransom being paid, no more debt! Jesus has taken it from you, the satisfaction is done. You are absolved! The blood of Jesus cleanses you from all sin. All this achievement of yours can only consist in your acceptance of what God has done. So forgiveness of sins is not like a stockpile of goods that anyone can help themselves to, like in a self-service store, but forgiveness of sins is always again in the repentant person's encounter with Jesus in faith! You accept it by believing in Jesus.
But many people could have saved themselves insomnia, nervous illness, despair, suicidal thoughts, if they could have known the goodness of forgiveness in a true confession of sin! And how many a stumbling, whining, so-called Christian life would be renewed and become victorious, beautiful, authentic, attractive, blessed in this world if it could truly experience the power of forgiveness! For forgiveness is a power that really works: not only a bridge that will help you through to eternal life at the coming of death, but a positive divine power that penetrates into you! And it becomes real by the fact that a life bound, burdened and crippled by sin begins to be healed. Man is set free and begins to love, serve, comfort, help and overcome his own sin: to live differently! Those who are not moved by forgiveness of sins to a new life, that is, to true love, service and victory, are faking it. Just like the debtor servant in the story, who did not let the grace he had received from his master pass on to his fellow human beings, and so lost it himself! The pretended forgiveness of sins will one day be an even greater accusation and burden than the whole bankruptcy of life! For God wants to forgive in order to give us a new lease of life, a new impetus, a new impetus for activity, because forgiveness is a reconnection with God.
Isn't it true that the greatest thing a person can say about himself is: I believe in the forgiveness of sins?! Even though at the end of all life on earth, that would be our ultimate certainty: I believe ... "forgiveness of sins!"
Jesus, who art my soul
Thou hast redeemed with thy blood,
You have saved me from damnation,
My sinful heart, O take it away!
Grant that I may repay thee,
That thou hast not left me in death,
And showed me that thou wouldst give me anything,
You are my only protection.
(Canto 295, verse 1)
Amen
Date: 30 October 1960.
Lesson
Mt 18,21-35