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Gospel: Matthew 18: 21-35
Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had him put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Scholars have tried to calculate just how much debt these two characters owed. In dollars and cents, you might say one owed millions to the king, while the other owed a few pennies to his master.
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The parable begins with the multi-million dollar debt being forgiven by the king. Relieved, the once indebted man returns home.
Suddenly, he begins strangling one of his servants who owes him a few pennies.
How can someone who’s just received forgiveness for a massive debt be so petty? The story sounds ridiculous, as Jesus intended it to be.
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What might the Lord be saying to us?
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Asking God to forgive us our trespasses is like a servant asking to be relieved from a multi-million dollar debt – one so large we could never repay it.
Yet the King forgives us every time we approach him.
Why, then, can we be so petty with our neighbor?
A colleague gets underneath our skin; a person cuts us off on the road; a family member does something that leaves us nursing a grudge for weeks, even months or years.
“If your heavenly Father forgives you,” the Lord says, “then you also should forgive one another.”
“How many times?” Peter wonders in today’s Gospel. “As many as seven times?”
“No,” the Lord says, “seventy-seven times.” Meaning, without limit.
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By God’s grace, may we all have hearts that open – to both being forgiven and to forgiving those who trespass against us not seven times, but without limit.
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Image credits: (1) The Christian Broadcasting Network (2) Tabletalk Magazine (3) unveiledwife.com