I read recently someone suggesting that the Scripture texts that we have been following of late from Matthew’s gospel are almost composed like a commentary on the different parts of the Lord’s Prayer (which is found in Matthew’s 6^th chapter). If that claim is true, then there is no doubt that our reading today is a commentary on the phrase from the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” The question with that phrase in the Lord’s Prayer is always – What is the relationship between God’s forgiveness to us and our forgiveness of others.

This phrase, “forgive us as we forgive others” is a challenge for anyone translating the Lord’s Prayer, since the word “as” could be translated any number of ways. Some of those possible translations make it seem that God’s forgiveness is contingent on our forgiveness. Other possibilities make it seem that God’s forgiveness is sure and therefore our forgiving of others is a response. It becomes a judgment call for translators to try to understand and express what, exactly, is intended in this prayer as the relationship between God’s forgiveness and ours.

The phrase “forgive us as we forgive others” is also a challenge for anyone thinking theologically about this prayer. On the one hand, one wants to give God’s grace and God’s initiative in forgiving the first word and never make it so that God is holding out on forgiving long enough to see if we can merit it. On the other hand, there is clearly some manner of participation implied in the phrase “forgive us as we forgive others.” God’s forgiveness does not exist completely apart from our participation in it. And sometimes we lack the kind of comprehension and vocabulary that it might take to express something that is both firm and true, yet calling for our participation.

But, most importantly, the phrase “forgive us as we forgive others” in the Lord’s Prayer is a challenge for those of us who read this prayer and pray this prayer part of our call to live the faithful life. It is not a challenge for us because of the syntax and all of its possibilities. It is not a challenge for us because we feel compelled to steer our way through thorny theological issues. It is a challenge for us because sometimes our own ability or willingness to forgive is put to the test in a world where people are capable of doing some pretty horrible things to one another. And so, while we want God’s forgiveness to be the one sure foundation on which we can rely, we know that our own ability or willingness to forgive is a very different matter.

Our Scripture reading today – by its very existence – suggests that the disjunction between God’s sure forgiveness and our own halting ability to forgive was a challenge to faith even as far back as the early church. Last week, we read the story in Matthew’s gospel of how the reconciliation takes place within the church. It begins with honesty, where the one who is offended openly and plainly brings that offense to the offender. And then – if the offender does not see the error and repent – there is plan B and even plan C, so that the church can be mutually responsible toward one another in making reconciliation a possibility. At each step along the way, if the offender repents, then the offended is to forgive and they are to be reconciled.

That assumption – that repentance is met with forgiveness – is what prompted Peter to ask the question that begins our reading this morning: “Lord … how often should I forgive?” Peter even throws out a possible answer, perhaps demonstrating that he has picked up on the significance of the numbers in the biblical tradition: “Seven times?” A lot of folks tend to criticize Peter for this question and for this suggestion. He is often described as trying to limit grace or trying to fix a number as a new form of legalism or something. I must say that I don’t quite understand the criticisms of Peter on this question. Forgiving someone seven times sounds incredibly generous to me! My guess is that Peter’s offer to forgive up to seven times was intended to be a heroic gesture, a way of reveling in the expansiveness of grace, rather than a limiting one. I mean, how many of us would be willing to forgive beyond three or four times without feeling as if we’re being played?

And yet, Jesus responds to Peter’s generous proposal with a view of forgiveness that is simply unimaginable. If we think that forgiving someone seven times is generous, Jesus’ answer that we ought to forgive seventy-seven times seems preposterous. [This phrase could be translated “seventy times seven times,” which is simply off the charts for anyone that I’ve ever met.] It is preposterous and it is impossible. The message is, for reconciliation to happen, you and I must be willing to forgive someone well beyond what we might consider reasonable or possible. But, before we throw our hands up in despair, there is more to the story. And that is this troubling parable that Jesus shares, beginning with the words, “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to this ….” And here’s the story.

The reign of God is like a king who discovers that one of his debtors in indebted to him an incredible amount of money. The story says that the slave owes 10,000 talents. Someone calculated that this would be equivalent to $4billion, but he was working on a scale of a living wage as $5.00 an hour. The point is that the number is simply ridiculous. If we think it is ridiculous to forgive anyone 77 times, imagine how crazy it is for a slave to owe 10,000 talents. But, those are the terms that Jesus uses to describe the slave’s debt and the king’s forgiveness. The point is, this is how much God forgives. God forgives ridiculously. And we – whose debtors are indebted to us a comparatively minimal amount – are called to imitate that kind of gracious forgiveness. That’s the point of the story, this parable of the ‘unforgiving slave’ as it’s often called. God forgives like crazy: Go and do likewise.

So, on the one hand, you and I are gathered here today as people of faith, hearing Christ call us into way of seeing the world that is contrary to reason and beyond imagination. It is a way of faithfulness that sees God’s ridiculous willingness to forgive our debts as our invitation to do the same toward others. At the same time, we are gathered here today fully aware that today is the 10^th anniversary of one of the most unforgettable events in most of our lifetimes. There are many crosscurrents of feelings that we share regarding this date. Some of us say “Never forget!” Others argue that the bombing of Kandahar on October 7, 2011 is equally a date that should be seared in our memories. Some count the lives that were lost 10 years ago today. Others count the lives that have been lost in the name of 9/11 since. We hear that we need to be evermore vigilant in a world of chaos and violence. We hear that we need to be evermore aware of our neighbors and their stories in a world that is getting smaller and smaller. And, on this day, here we sit, as people who have pledged our loyalty and fidelity to Jesus Christ and his crazy call to forgive those who offend us as freely as God has forgiven us.

When we hear the word “forgiveness” on 9/11, we are as astounded as Peter was when he heard “77 times.” It seems crazy to think that forgiveness is even a possibility, much less a practice to which we are called. And yet, there it is. We profess that because God has forgiven us, because Christ endured the worst expression of human violence imaginable and still uttered the words, “Forgive them” from the cross, we have been called and empowered to forgive those who sin against us.

I know there has been considerable controversy over the fact that no clergy were invited to participate in the leadership of the memorial service in New York City today. But, we have to wonder; would the people there be able to hear a word from Jesus Christ today? Would a clergy person even dare to hang onto a thread of integrity and to suggest that forgiveness is the only way out of a spiraling vortex of violence begetting more violence, hate begetting more hate? It’s a hard enough sell from the pulpit in a church dedicated to Jesus Christ! It’s hard for us to accept ourselves! In fact, it strikes us as darned impossible.

Jesus doesn’t offer Peter or us any easy way out of this dilemma. We are called to forgive beyond our capacity. But, what Jesus does, is to take upon himself the worst that human sin can do to another. In so doing, Christ never leaves us lonely in our wounding world. That is the one who is calling us to forgive, not one who is above the pain of transgression, but one who has borne the brunt of it. In this one is life and the power to forgive. 77 times. Thanks be to God. Amen.