“You Must Forgive”

Luke 17:1-4

¹And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! ²It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. ³Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, ⁴and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

Jesus begins to teach His followers (first the Disciples, then the 70, and finally the crowd – which included the Pharisees) in a series of short sayings that appear to be unrelated. But taken as a whole, they will prove to be a vital tool for living inside of the Kingdom of God here on earth. First He takes up the responsibilities of those who have been brought into His Kingdom toward those who are being taught. “… but woe” comes as a bit of a shocker here because this is one of only two times that Jesus uses this phrase in the direction of His own followers. Generally, “woe to” is reserved for the religious leadership that is doing a terrible job. As a result, the hearer is alerted to the seriousness of these words. The community of disciples bear a grave responsibility.

As a teacher in a church I am always painfully aware of the fact that God holds me responsible for the words I speak about Him and His ways. It would be easy to make something up that isn’t true. It is easy to be swayed by the less than biblical words of someone who sounds authoritative. But God takes that offense very seriously. The eternity of your hearers is at stake! It’s not the time to play fast and loose with God’s Word.

Let’s take a moment to consider the descriptor “little ones”. I don’t think we can limit that phrase to mean only children. Of course they would fall into this category, but here Luke (Jesus) means anyone who is weak or perhaps new to the faith. Our responsibility toward those who might be counting on us to help them learn of the Lord is huge and needs to be taken seriously. According to Jesus’ words here, we must be constantly vigilant over our mouths and our actions if we are to serve Him well in our witness. Many years ago I was disciplining a young person who was new to the faith. At one particular Bible Study I asked the group what would “shake their faith.” The young person said something that shook my world; “If you fail.” In that tender time of new faith, they were watching me and judging the power of God to change a life based on what they saw in my personal walk with the Lord. That opened my eyes to the enormous responsibility we carry as His witnesses on earth.

Then Jesus takes up the responsibility to forgive others. It should not be lost on us that this follows closely on the heels of the admonition to treat the faith of the “little ones” with care. The new believer, or even the established believer who is struggling also falling into the category of “little one” are going to sin. That’s just a given. Jesus’ instructions are clear; you forgive them over and over again. When the sinner repents, you grant them forgiveness even if they just repeated the same process 20 minutes earlier and will do it again 20 minutes later. That’s the world we want to live in because that is the way we want Jesus to treat us – and He does.

The hearer cannot help but be reminded here of the petition in the Lord’s Prayer “forgive to us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who owes us” and the parable of the prodigal son. In other words, the disciples are not to become stumbling blocks by withholding forgiveness that should be extended to repentant sinners. This is to be so ingrained in the leaders that, even if these poor little ones who are being brought into the kingdom sin often and repent repeatedly—seven times a day—the disciples will forgive them (future tense!). The act of forgiving sins must be a constant in the Christian community because absolution is how creation is released from its bondage through the power of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Just, A. A., Jr. (1997). Luke 9:51–24:53 (p. 644). St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

And here’s the challenge that stems from this text. The next time someone tells you they are sorry for something, try speaking the words, “I forgive you” rather than “that’s okay.” "That’s okay" is a cheap sell-out. Until it becomes habit, "I forgive you" are rather tough words to say because they carry the force of God behind them, as He is only one who has the power and right to forgive; a power He has passed onto us. Let’s be strong in our words of forgiveness. I think it will change everything.