Matthew 18:21-35
To understand today’s message, there are several background points that are helpful. First, Peter’s suggestion of seven was quite generous in contrast to the operative law which was “an eye for and eye.” Second, the ten thousand talents were the highest imaginable figure of debt in the mathematics of the day. Third, the servant’s debt was about three months salary. Fourth, the King was a gentile so his forgiveness of the debt was all the more shocking.
The main message the parable is the Kingdom manifests a sea of divine mercy. We need to see the consequences of this gracious gift in our responsibility to our sisters and brothers. This is our struggle, the reality of the weeds and the wheat within our hearts that are confronted with the obvious and overwhelming demands of forgiveness to others.
I like to describe it like this. When it comes to mercy and forgiveness we tend to use a teaspoon to measure our distribution to those who have offended us. On God’s part, mercy and forgiveness is like a torrential downpour that washes clean all in its path. The contrast is frightening, but so very real.
One of the most difficult human tasks is to forgive. The immensity of the hurt, the unfaithfulness, injustice or neglect consume our soul. For most of us, the journey from the hurt and pain to the “I forgive” is a long and treacherous road. Today’s message of divine mercy, so clear and overwhelmingly righteous, still has difficulty penetrating a hurting heart.
There are some things that we can do to help ourselves in this dilemma. We should have patience with ourselves and admit we need to let go of the hurt. We should pray for the person and ourselves. We should accept our weakness in God’s sight and seek to share the torrents of God’s unrelenting love and mercy for all. Getting real is important. We need to accept the fact that this unforgiving posture creates a barrier in sharing God’s life. We cannot and need not earn God’s love and forgiveness. However, we can lose it in our rigidity to withhold forgiveness.
Thomas Merton talks about the absurdity of our often trying to determine who is worthy of our forgiveness. He asks just who among our “unworthys” are persons Christ did not die for. We know well that Christ died for all, plain and simple. We need to share in that universal love in our life. It surely will be a struggle to forgive but it certainly cannot be a lie by our creation of a list of who is worthy of our forgiveness.
