“Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
‘Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive?
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 the fellow servant 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.’”  Matthew 18:21-35

The king, dutifully overseeing his accounts, asked his servants to settle their overdue debts. Interestingly he didn’t let attentiveness to his goal – settling accounts with his servants- keep him from being attentive to his servants. Instead, his attentiveness to them allowed him to respond mercifully, if need be. So when one servant, unable to repay, plead for mercy, the king didn’t just give the servant a time extension on his loan. He forgave the loan.

Up to this point in the story, we think the servant, knowing he has erred in not making good on his side of the loan agreement, is humbled, remorseful and grateful to the king whose compassion toward the servant cost the king a significant financial loss. But the seemingly selfish servant misses this, and later fails to absolve one of his own debtors of a much smaller debt. The Bible’s commentary on this passage say that he acted this way because he is “unmerciful.”

This is true, but another contributing factor may be that, like many of us today, he fails to spend time reflecting on being forgiven for not being able to repay a loan, freedom from the burden of a debt and forgiveness shown him by his king. What if you  were this forgiven person  – forgiven for not being able to repay a loan and freed from the burden of a debt?  How much time would you spend thinking about what this forgiveness means to you and your future? Can you picture yourself thinking about what it feels like to be graced like this?  . . . or why the king would forgive such a large debt, and what the king could have done with the money which was rightfully his?

Like this servant, we owe debts to many people, including God. Let’s spend some time during the coming week thinking about the mercy and forgiveness we have been shown by God and by others. Let’s also consider the mercy and forgiveness we should be extending to others, even those who are continuing to “offend” us in many ways.

“’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.’”  Matthew 18:21-22

Sister Loretta

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