Psalm : 53

Epistle : Rom. 3:21-26

Gospel : Matt. 18: 23-35     

Verse for meditation:

 

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through redemption that came by Jesus Christ” (Rom. 3:23, 24).

  The universe that God created was perfect.  When God finished his creation He was happy. At every stage of creating the universe God found his creation as ‘good’. But Genesis chapter three talks about how sin has originated in a universe which God found ‘good’. The fall of man and the consequence of God’s curse are found here. The fall of creation was so great that the Bible records ‘all have sinned’ and ‘there is no one who does good not even one’ (Rom. 3:10-17). St. Augustine says, “Man becomes a sinner not because he sins rather he sins because he is a sinner”. What he intends to say is that the inclination to commit sin is inherent in man. But the Bible teaches us that the long suffering nature of God has been revealed through his Son Jesus Christ and saved man. Salvation is received through this redemption. “Justified freely by his grace through redemption that came by Jesus Christ” (Rom. 3:24). Jesus bought men by paying his blood as a price (1 Cor. 6:19, 7:22). “Christ redeemed as from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…” (Gal. 3:13). All those who are redeemed belong to God. As we have been bought with a price, we should not be entangled under the yoke of slavery of sin, but live with freedom in Christ.

1. Fall and Sin (Gen. 3:1-10)

The disobedience with God ended up in sin. “… the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom…” (Gen.3:6). This is the nature of evil (sin). The man who disobeyed God went after evil. The fall of creation started here. A man who had authority and glory lost everything. He has been sent out of the happiness Eden. Leaving out God is the main reason for man’s fall. Jesus taught, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (Jn. 3:19). Thus, through one man’s disobedience sin and through sin death came into the world upon everybody (Rom. 5:12).

2. Fall and its Consequence (Ps. 53)

The consequence of man’s fall has come to the level of the following quotation, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Ps. 53:3; Rom. 3:12, 23). Through one man’s disobedience sin and through sin death has come into the world (Rom. 5:12). Thus, as all have sinned, death came to all (Rom. 5:12).  Paul proves this truth in his letter to Romans ‘by the one disobedience, judgment has come to all men’ (Rom. 5:18).

3. Deliverance from Sin (Rom. 3:21-26)

God gifted deliverance to the whole creation freely through faith in Jesus Christ. Divine justice is confirmed upon everyone who believes in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21). As sin came into this world through one man, justice also came into the world through one man. In the same way as death came into the world through one man life also came into the world through one man (Rom. 5:12-21). As punishment came to all men through the disobedience of one, through one act of justice by Jesus all men have received life giving justification (Rom. 5:18). This is the hope received by humanity.

4. Long suffering in mutual Relationships (Matt. 18:23-35)

We always remember with gratitude the forgiveness that God has given us by grace through his son. This great forgiveness is the major reason for man’s redemption. As we have received this long suffering, we should also forgive each other. We are forgiven when we forgive. A silver coin is a day’s wage. In those days a talent is considered to be the wage for a year. That is to say 10,000 talents count for the salary of 1,50,000 years! In other words it says of a debt an ordinary person can never pay back! Such a great debt has been forgiven to us, but we are to forgive very simple and negligible matters only – just as 100 silver coins. We are forgiven, when we forgive (Matt. 6:15, Mk. 11:25,26, Eph. 4:32, Col. 3:13). Thus, others will realize the love of Jesus through our long suffering and get up from their fall. The reason, we are justified freely through the redemption of Jesus by God’s grace.

Collect:

God of justice, who continues to seek for the lost ones; transform our lives to live a life of justice and righteousness; hold us close to you so that we would not fall when we are tempted even with familiar things in life; challenge us to forgive the debts of those who owes to us as you have forgiven our debts; sustain us in your wisdom to seek after you, so that we may be renewed constantly to be the embodiment of your love in our lives every day. This we ask in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, who laid down his life as a ransom for our redemption and reigns with you along with the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.