Mt 18:21-35The Forgiving Community
There is a clear message in this final section (Mt 18:21-35): Forgiveness is the life-blood of the loving community. To get this point across, Jesus uses a parable. Parables tend to make us glide over the surface and miss the depth of their main message. This is especially true with this parable of the unforgiving servant.In reading and experiencing this parable, we need to pay attention to the great exaggerations that are used to make a simple and clear point. The first hyperboles are about the debt of the unforgiving servant. In the context of Jesus’ time, it was the equivalent of billions upon billions of dollars. Yet, the servant pleaded for time as if he could accomplish the impossible task of retribution. The generosity of the king in his merciful forgiveness is like-wise pressing the limits of the imagination. Then, receiving the incredible mercy, the unforgiving servant almost immediately attacks the fellow servant whose debt is quite manageable. The second servant has an almost verbatim plea for mercy but it is rejected. He is cast into prison with no way to pay the debt and no way to freedom.
None of this makes any sense if the issue is paying back the debt. Of course, It is not. The issue is forgiveness received and forgiveness to be shared. The king does not condemn the unforgiving servant because he had robbed his money. The king’s main grievance is the failure to share forgiveness. The king’s question is directed to all of us: “Should you not have mercy on your fellow servant as I had on you” (Mt 18:34)?
The appeal is clear. We have been forgiven. In the divine economy, our forgiveness has consequences. We must share it with all our brothers and sisters. If the forgiveness is truly our gift, it will flow to others. Otherwise, we cancel it if we stay locked into the rigid and self-centered condition of the unforgiving servant.
Forgiveness is at the heart of the kingdom that Jesus proclaimed and lived. At the very beginning, he said, “Repent, the kingdom is at hand” (Mt 4:17)! Those who accept the invitation into the kingdom need to understand its demands. God’s intervention is unleashing an overwhelming explosion of divine mercy and forgiveness. This calls all to both absorb and share the lifegiving current of the new reality that Jesus is setting free. This great blessing of mercy is a healing power that must be shared. Forgiveness is to be extended to all in the gracious and abundant manner God has displayed. What God wants is “mercy, not sacrifice” (Mt 9:12; 12:7).
The point is so blatantly clear. We say it in the Our Father. We express it in the Golden Rule (Mt 7:12). The Sermon on the Mount is saturated with its implications. We need to forgive! If we do not, we block the flow of divine mercy. We cannot earn God’s forgiveness but the simple painful truth is, we can lose it by not sharing it.
The main message the parable is a summons into a sea of divine mercy. The consequences of this gracious gift is our responsibility to our sisters and brothers. Our ambiguity draws us into the struggle to let go of the hurts. The presence of both the weeds and the wheat within our heart pulls us away from the obvious and overwhelming demand to forgive others. Even with all the clarity and power of the revealed word, we know how difficult it is to forgive.
In fact, forgiving is one of the most problematic of any human tasks. The immensity of the hurt, the unfaithfulness, the injustice or the 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, is very slow to penetrate the hurting heart.
I like to describe it like this. When it comes to mercy and forgiveness, we tend to use a teaspoon to measure our distribution of mercy 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.
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 lean on God’s unrelenting love and mercy. We also should face up to another common self-deception. We label individuals as unworthy of our forgiveness.
Thomas Merton talks about the absurdity of 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 is utter foolishness for us to have a list of those who are not worthy of our forgiveness. Our obvious choice should be to use God’s list. God has made it clear that everyone is on the divine inventory.
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