Grudge Not, Lest Ye Be Grudged

Last week, I happened to catch Fr. John Ricardo's radio show, "Christ is the Answer," on 1150 KWKY when he was talking about the parable of the unforgiving servant. I like that parable, mostly because we had a children's book that I used to read with the story in it, so it is very familiar to me. His meditation on this parable was incredible, and led me to some thoughts about what the Lord is asking from me when it comes to forgiveness. This post won't make much sense to you if you don't know the parable, so here it is, Matthew 18: 21-35:

Then Peter approaching 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 [literally 10,000 talents].

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 [literally 100 denarii]. 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 his brother from his heart."

Father Ricardo was giving some historical background that got my attention. A denarius (singular for denarii) was worth a day's wage, so the "unforgiving servant" was owed 100 denarii or over 3 months wages. No small amount! However, a talent was a unit that was equal to about 600 denarii, which would make the 10,000 talents equal to about 6,000,000 days' wages, or 16,438 years. If you made $40,000 a year, that would be like owing $657,532,000.

So, the debt forgiven by the Master ($657,532,000) was an unpayable debt, and the debtor's promise to repay it was as empty as they come. A slave could be sold for about 200 denarii, and even with all of the labor that the servant could give in 83 years of life, he would still fall significantly short, about 16,355 years short, of repaying the debt he owed. Jesus was making the point that his "tortures" would last forever, since the debt could not be repayed.

On the other hand, the debt that was called in by the "unforgiving servant" was not unpayable. 3 months' wages would have been a difficult debt to repay... That would be like making $40,000 a year and having some delinquent owe you $10,000. But if someone were to buckle down, he could repay it in a few years.

This parable, and Father Ricardo's meditation on it, got me thinking about Jesus' maxim: "Judge not, lest ye be judged." What is judging if it is not "Standing on your rights to proclaim, even in your heart, that someone else has done wrong he had no right to do and should repay the debt he owes and/or repair the damage he caused." This maxim is the teaching of Jesus that we are NOT to do that. We are NOT to stand on our rights, nor are we to demand repayment.

Well, it's not exactly true, we CAN stand on our rights, but it is foolish and dangerous to do so. Others may greatly harm us, hurt us, injure us, embarrass us cruelly, infringe on our space, slander us, persecute us, or even kill us, but the debt we owe is infinitely greater. While others may become indebted to us by taking and infringing on our rights, we are FINITE and our rights are limited when it comes to our fellow creatures. The debt we owe to our Creator and our King, however, is holiness and perfect obedience. He has the right to be our master because he is the only reason we even exist! The original debt of sin we have inherited, compounded by our personal sins we commit, lead us all to fall short of what we owe to God: an unpayable debt.

In this parable, the Master forgives the enormous debt owed to Him, but does He just write it off as a loss for tax purposes? We know that the Master does not write off the debt, but pays it Himself (more precisely, through His Son). This would be like being in forclosure on your house and having the banker selling himself, (taking the form of a slave) and satisfying your debt. He does not stand on his rights, and take your home, but absorbs the loss into himself and pays your mortgage for you--times ten billion.

So with such a great load of debt lifted from us, shall we be like that unforgiving servant and stand on our rights against our fellow servants? When Jesus taught us to pray the "Our Father," he taught, "Forgive us our tresspasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." Very clearly he teaches that our expectation of forgiveness from God MUST be accompanied by a commitment to forgive others. None of us would ever want the Lord to stand on his rights and call in our debt... so let's grudge not, lest we be grudged!